Glasspar G2 - or how a small American company revolutionized sports car construction

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Glasspar G2 - or how a small American company revolutionized sports car construction

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Created on February 23, 2019

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

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Rasy Ran - Courtesy RM/Sotheby's

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Archiv www.forgottenfiberglass.com

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - William Tritt is said to have been inspired by European sports cars in his design

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - one of the first American post-war sports cars

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - long hood, short rear - classic sports car recipe

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - deep door cut-outs promise plenty of fresh air

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - was one of the fastest cars on American roads at the time

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - started with the ignition key, shifted with the stick on the steering wheel

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - optimistic speedometer up to 160 miles

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - Rear-view mirror on the dashboard

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - bench seat, divided by cardan tunnel

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - hardly any of these cars were so carefully equipped at the time

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - longitudinally mounted engine

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - DeSoto Hemi engine with a displacement of 4.7 liters

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - DeSoto Fire Flight Eight

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - with whitewall tires

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - steel wheels and chrome hubcaps

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - Brands/Type designation

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - Air for the DeSoto engine

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - artistic frame for the windshields

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - Manufacturer's badge

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Glasspar G2 (1953) - documents from back then, concours price from today

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To demonstrate the stability of their fiberglass body, Glasspar makers Jerry Niger, William Tritt, Otto Bayer and Louis Solomon stand on it

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Forgotten plastic cars from the USA - Glasspar G2 (1954)

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Woodill Wildfire (1955) - plastic sports car with Glaspar body - at the Rétromobile Paris 2014

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Summary

Even before the Chevrolet Corvette existed, the small brand Glasspar had already built and sold sports cars with plastic bodies. There weren't many, but Glasspar pioneered the use of plastic in car construction. Only a few dozen of the original Glasspar G2 sports cars have survived, one of which is portrayed in this report. It also tells the exciting story of the small car brand Glasspar.

This article contains the following chapters

Plastics pioneers
Actually only car bodies
Positive experiences
One of the few survivors
Further information

Estimated reading time: 7min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Imagine Enzo Ferrari, Battista Pininfarina, Gioacchino Colombo and Sergio Scaglietti standing on the front of a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso to demonstrate its stability and future orientation. Unthinkable and probably bad for the sheet metal/aluminum skin of the sports coupé. Yet this is exactly what four men did in California in the early 1950s, only their names were Jerry Niger, William Tritt, Otto Bayer and Louis Solomon. The car they stood on was called the Glasspar G2 and it was one of the first American sports cars with a plastic body. Niger, Tritt, Bayer and Solomon had already started building plastic hulls for boats in Costa Mesa in 1951. With some success. Shortly afterwards, they were commissioned by a Major Brooks of the US Navy to build a sports car body. This was to be mounted on a mass-produced chassis with correspondingly widely available technology.

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