1953 Victress S-1A. Photos courtesy Geoff Hacker.
The American sports car market was in its absolute infancy in the early Fifties, but that doesn’t mean the desire to own a sleek, powerful open-air automobile didn’t exist. But with the demand for inexpensive, racy machines far outstripping the supply, a number of crafty automotive enthusiasts took matters into their own hands, and the results of their work will appear later this month at the Hemmings Concours d’Elegance.
After World War II, exotic European race cars and street-legal equivalents had left an indelible impression on returning GIs and race enthusiasts alike, but even when available, those cars were prohibitively expensive. There were even fewer choices domestically, the notable exception being the Corvette which even then was a limited-production vehicle upon its introduction. As a result, a few enterprising men opted to fill the market gap with original creations based upon the European styling cues. Although they were built in limited numbers, the handful of designers most often used a chassis and drivetrain from an American automobile as their foundation because they were relatively inexpensive and much easier to maintain. And rather than hand-fabricate bodies out of aluminum, they chose a relatively new material: fiberglass.
“Back then, fiberglass was the ‘carbon fiber’ of its day, and fiberglass-bodied sports cars received immediate and national attention,” said Geoff Hacker, who curated the fiberglass class. “Lightweight, strong, readily able to conform to beautiful shapes and designs, and cost effective too, fiberglass was the optimal choice for designers building race cars, sports cars and concept cars alike. Sometimes just one car or fiberglass body was built by a company or individual, but in most instances, individuals or small companies went into limited production, usually building just 10 to 20 examples. American ‘grassroots’ sports cars were born into this postwar environment of the early 1950s.”
Their popularity among the masses waned as safety mandates popped up, more affordable European sports cars were imported, and production of the Corvette escalated through the Fifties and Sixties. Yet, in recent years, these unique vehicles – including the 1953 Victress S-1A above – have been returning to the spotlight as surviving examples restored to their former glory.
Among the cars scheduled to appear at this year’s Hemmings Concours d’Elegance will be the 1953 Victress S-1A sponsored by Guy Mabee Drilling Company. Appropriately known as the Guy Mabee Special and restored to its period livery, it had the distinct honor of becoming the fastest sports car of its day after setting a class record at Bonneville. It will be accompanied by examples from Devin, Almquist, Woodill, Kellison, Glasspar, LaDawri and others. The class will also feature another famous fiberglass marque: Kaiser-Darrin.
“Not much has been done to tell the story of these cars, and the historical reality is that not every handcrafted car was beautiful and/or well designed. Many were innovative, some were departures from traditional thinking, and several were indeed stunning. The importance of the various 1950s fiberglass-bodied cars on display at the Hemmings Concours d’Elegance rests not so much in them as individual examples, but rather in their collective contribution to a postwar movement with far-reaching influence in automotive development and design,” Hacker said.
The Concours weekend begins on Friday afternoon, September 27, with our annual opening event and rally from our home office in Bennington, Vermont, to the Saratoga Automobile Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York. Our Cruise-In Spectacular, open to all cars, trucks and motorcycles, starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the museum, and the concours itself will take place on Sunday, also at the museum; gates open at 10 a.m. For more information about the Hemmings Motor News Concours d’Elegance, visit Hemmings.com/events/concours.
