Fibreglass Cars

Glass reinforced plastic, popularly known as fibreglass, was developed by the Owens-Corning Co. of Corning New York just before the Second World War. It was marketed as Fiberglas (one ess), but fibreglass (two esses) eventually became a generic term for all glass reinforced plastic. Fibreglass was improved during the war and proved resistant to impact and wide temperature variations. It held a high paint lustre and the military used it for radar domes and other protective structures. Lightweight and strong, fibreglass was found to be an excellent boat construction material and in 1946 California boat builder Bill Tritt was commissioned to build a 20-foot, high performance fibreglass sailboat. It was so successful he made four. In 1949 hot rod enthusiast Ken Brooks asked friend Tritt to build a fibreglass body for a modified car he had constructed using a Jeep chassis. The resulting 1951 Brooks Boxer was exhibited at the Los Angeles Motorama show and generated favourable features in several magazines. This motivated Tritt to add car bodies to his boat business. In 1950 Tritt and partners formed the Glasspar Company based in larger Santa Ana quarters. Using the Boxer pattern he produced the first Glasspar G2 sports roadster. Tritt was also commissioned to build a G2-based roadster called the Alembic for the Naugatuck Chemical Co. to publicize their new “Naugahyde” leather-like upholstery material. . The Alembic was inspected by General Motors and very likely influenced their use of a fibreglass body in the Chevrolet Corvette. It was introduced as a concept car in January, 1953 and placed in production with a fibreglass body in June of that year. Fibreglass has been a Corvette hallmark ever since. In 1952 Glasspar began production of its G2, a trim and handsome roadster in the genre of English sports cars like the Jaguar XK120 that were becoming popular, especially in California. The G2’s wheelbase was 2,565 mm (101 in.) compared with the Jaguar’s 2,591 (102). The 862 kg (1,900 lb weight was considerably less than the Jag’s 1,247 (2,750). Its $2,950 price was about $1,000 lower. The tubular steel frame was designed to take 1939-1948 Ford running gear. Although almost any engine such as Cadillac, Chrysler, Lincoln, etc.V-8s could be installed, the majority of Glasspar’s came with Ford side valve V-8s, usually modified for higher performance. The engine was set back in the chassis for 50-50 weight distribution, and this plus a 1,448 mm 57 (in.) average track (the Jaguar’s averaged only 1,283 mm [50.5 in.]) and low centre of gravity gave the Glasspar stable handling characteristics. Tritt built 10 G2 roadsters and gained publicity when Glasspars were bought by such celebrities as actors Rosemary Clooney and Clark Gable. Glasspar also offered them as owner-assembled kits. From 1951 to ‘55, when production stopped, Tritt produced more than 200 Glasspar G2s. Glasspar also built cars for others, including the Woodill Wildfire bodies for Robert “Woody” Woodill, a Downey, California Willys dealer. Woodill mounted them on Willys chassis usually fitted with a 2.6 litre Willys F-head (inlet valves in the head and exhausts in the block) 90 horsepower inline six. Some Woodills were sold complete but most came as kits. Total production was estimated at 200 cars in two series. Another Glasspar project was the fibreglass-bodied Kaiser Darrin. After he left Kaiser-Frazer employment, stylist Howard “Dutch” Darrin built a sporty two-seater car on a compact K-F Henry J chassis. It was styled and built in Darrin’s California shop and its distinguishing feature was Darren’s patented doors that slid forward into the fenders. The Kaiser-Frazer Co. was impressed enough to adopt it as a production model. Bodies were constructed by Glasspar craftsmen and built in a K-F plant in Jackson, Michigan. Production is estimated at 435. In the 1950s Glasspar was commissioned to build bodies for the sporty Volvo P1900, forerunner of the popular P1800. Only 67 were produced before Volvo pulled the plug. Another manufacturer who used fibreglass was Britain’s Colin Chapman. For his first production car, the 1957 Lotus Elite, Chapman went further than others by making virtually the whole car out of three large fibreglass mouldings glued together like a sandwich. This made it a sturdy, light, good performing car. When Studebaker launched its stylish Avanti model in 1962 it chose a fibreglass body. Although by then Studebaker was in financial difficulties, the Avanti was lauded as a very daring design. Intermeccanica of Vancouver, B.C. uses fibreglass for its replica Porsche 356 roadsters and Volkswagen based Jeep-type Kubelwagens and others. Although always a niche product, fibreglass continues to be used in a variety of applications. While the Chevrolet Corvette can be called the patriarch of fibreglass cars, Bill Tritt of California certainly deserves the honour of being called “The father of the fibreglass car.”