Gilbern - rare plastic rarities from England
The story of Gilbern, a car manufacturer from Wales in England, began adventurously. Bernhard Friese, a German engineer, and Giles Smith, a Welsh butcher, produced the first plastic sports cars in an abattoir in 1959.
The name was created by combining the first three or four letters of the company founders' first names( Gil+Bern ). After initial trials, the two carmakers launched the Gilbern GT, a very attractively shaped 2+2-seater coupé that was sold as a kit for £845. As was usual for this type of vehicle, the kit included a tubular frame platform chassis, components from various British mass-produced vehicles and an engine from Austin, Coventry Climax or MG. The MG version was particularly popular.
In 1966, Gilbern introduced the "Genie", this time powered by a brand new Ford V6, even before this engine was officially available from Ford. The Genie was followed by the "Invader".
A mid-engined Gilbern never made it out of the prototype stage, and a coupé powered by a 3.4-liter Wastlake Ford was never launched either. The company had to make do with model upgrades to existing vehicles. The company went bankrupt in 1973 and despite a few attempts at revival, Gilbern never got off the ground again. A significant proportion of the production of a few hundred cars is likely to have survived.
We plan to publish an article about Gilbern and the most important cars in the next few months.
