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The AACA Museum

Presents

A brief history of fiberglass & plastic cars

and the AACA Museum's

1955 Flajole Forerunner

While not constructed of fiberglass,

this Pontiac can be

considered one of the earliest

plastic-bodied cars.

Here’s the famous photograph of Henry Ford whacking the trunk lid of the soybean car with an axe to show its strength. But it was all staged. He wasn’t hitting the experimental car, but his own personal Ford which had been fitted with a plastic rear deck. (After splitting the plastic panel the first time he tried it, the sharp end of the axe was then fitted with a rubber boot and when it struck the car it would fly out of Henry’s hands about 15 feet in the air.)

The "Soybean Car" was actually a plastic-bodied car unveiled by Henry Ford on August 13, 1941, at Dearborn Days, an annual community festival.

The frame, made of tubular steel, had 14 plastic panels attached to it. The car weighed 2000 lbs., 1000 lbs. lighter than a steel car. The exact ingredients of the plastic panels are unknown because no record of the formula exists today. One article claims that they were made from a chemical formula that, among many other ingredients, included soybeans, wheat, hemp, flax and ramie; while the man who was instrumental in creating the car, Lowell E. Overly, claims it was "… soybean fiber in a phenolic resin with formaldehyde used in the impregnation"

Henry Ford first put E.T. (Bob) Gregorie of the Styling Department in charge, but was not satisfied. He then transferred the project to the Soybean Laboratory in Greenfield Village and to the care of Lowell E. Overly, whose formal training was in tool and die design. His supervisor, Robert A. Boyer, a chemist, aided him.

The car was exhibited at Dearborn Days in 1941. It was also trucked to the Michigan State Fair Grounds for display later that year.

There were several reasons why Henry Ford wanted to build this car: 1.) He was looking for a project that would combine the fruits of industry with agriculture. 2.) He also claimed that the plastic panels made the car safer than traditional steel cars; and that the car could even roll over without being crushed. 3.) Another reason was due to a shortage of metal at the time. Henry hoped his new plastic material might replace the traditional metals used in cars.

The outbreak of World War II suspended all auto production, and therefore the plastic car experiment. A second unit was in production at the time the war broke out, but the project was abandoned. By the end of the war the idea of a plastic car had fallen through the cracks due to energy being directed toward war recovery efforts.

According to Overly, the car was destroyed by E.T. Gregorie.

The 1936 Stout Scarab was indeed made out of aluminum. The FRP-bodied version started in planning stages in 1944 and was completed

a year later in February 1945. The body consisted of 13 FRP panels. Over-engineering caused the body to weigh the same amount as aluminum.

The materials cost $76, but the fabrication was estimated at $100,000. Only one was made.

This is considered the first FRP, or Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic, car.

This running prototype was created on a Kaiser chassis in 1945. "Dutch" Darrin was working for Kaiser during this time period,

so a short time later...

...Darrin approached a California boat builder, who created this car in 1946. Obviously he was enamored by the use of fiberglass...

Introduced in a press release in January 1948.

Prototype debuted in late Summer/ early Fall 1949 and on sale by year's end, making it the first production sports car in America. It was advertised in being available in both "kit" and "completed" versions.

November 1951 Peterson Motorama

5 fiberglass cars on display

Bill Tritt of Glasspar started his FRP career after the War in 1946 creating fiberglass sailboats masts, the entire hulls in 1947. He was approached in 1949 by Army Major Ken Brooks to build a light-weight roadster body for his home-built sports car. Tritt molded the body, and once completed the Brooks Boxer was born and Glasspar was in the fiberglass sports car business. The Brooks Boxer was then renamed the G2

Eric Irwin literally wrote the book on building fiberglass cars. His pamphlet, "Building the Plastic Car", was published in 1952 and consisted of 9 pages for $1.00. It detailed everything from design to mold making, body prep and finishing.

The Skorpion was designed by co-owners of the company Ralph Roberts of LeBaron Coachworks fame and John Wills. In 1953 they sold the company to Viking-Craft.

It was designed to fit on a modified Crosley chassis.

(Actually the prototype for the Skorpion)

Like the production Skorpion, the Wasp was designed for a Crosley chassis. It was a one-off built by the Wilro Company (WIlls-ROberts).

Built by Mouton Taylor in Washington State, six different Aerocar prototypes were built from 1949 through the 1960s.

We're still waiting for our flying cars!

This Motorama showing is Considered by the fiberglass 'gurus'

as the "Big Bang" of

fiberglass cars!

The early 1953 Corvette's body was produced outside of GM by the Molded Fiber Glass Company in Ohio. About 300 cars were produced in late 1953. The bodies consisted of 62 separate parts that were made in male and female molds, with poor results and quality issues.

Tooling costs for the Corvette's body was estimated at $500,000. If it was metal, the cost would have been a staggering $5 million! The body weighed only 357 pounds, about 1/3 of what a metal body would hit the scales, and had 13 times the impact resistance of sheet metal.

And soon after fiberglass hits the Big Time on the

Silver Screen!

Which brings us to our Star...

So what -or who- the heck is a FLAJOLE????

Born in Flint Michigan in 1915 and adopted

by Henry and Katherine Flajole of Bay City, Bill grew up with a passion for sketching automobiles.

At age 15, he entered in a design contest sponsored by the Chrysler Corporation. His sketches impressed Walter P.Chrysler so much that he offered Bill a job.

After graduating high school in 1933, Bill packed his belongings and $20 in his pocket and headed for Detroit for his first job at Chrysler.

Over the next 6 years, he moved to General Motors, Murray Body and Ford Motor Company as the rival companies offered bigger salaries. In 1937 his did some design work for the Lincoln Continental.

In 1939 he opened his own design firm, to create innovative car designs. In the postwar years he became an industrial designer, designing yachts, appliances, clock and other gadgets.

Bill noticed a huge shift in demographics after the war. Families were moving to the suburbs, and were in need of a second car; a car a woman could drive.

Bill started designing cars that were smaller, easier to park, keeping a 'modern' woman's dimensions in mind.

After taking his sketches to the Big Three without success, Bill eventually met with George Mason, Nash CEO and was contracted to build both a quarter-scale and full-size model of his design.

This project became known as the NX1

Bill Flajole with NX1

Fiat 500 Topolino- based

It was unveiled at the Waldorf Astoria in 1950

1954-1962

Sponsored by Johnson Wax...

Who evidently didn't care much for it,

as he didn't keep it long.

Like many designers of the times, Bill was captivated by the Jaguar XK-120. He bought one in 1951 and began to experiment with new designs for the Jag's capable chassis.

In 1953 he purchased a second XK-120,

an M model with performance cams. After racing it and winning First in Class, he decided it was time to create a new body of his design for it.

The Forerunner was Bill's

personal transportation until the 1970s.

This was the 50s- anyone could build a car!

Ok, let's get back to our brief history of FRP cars...

Like the Corvette, bodies for Studebaker's Avanti

were produced by the Molded Fiber Glass Company in Ohio. Also like the 'Vette, the FRP bodies were mounted on conventional steel frames.

The 1957 Lotus Elite was first production car with an all-fiberglass body encompassing chassis and all. Colin Chapman, the company's founder, was a big proponent of 'adding lightness'...

"The car weighed just 1,455 pounds,

minus me!"

Producing cars from1947-2008,

TVR went through a number of owners (and bankruptcies!)

Like many other small British car builders, Marcos changed hands often and floated in and out of receivership. The company produced cars from 1959-1972, 1981-2000, and 2002-2007.

Up until 1969, this particular model's chassis was made from wood!

Introduced in 1975, the early Ferrari 308GTB's

were made of fiberglass (Vetroresina) through 1977 when production switched to steel bodies.

Because of the light-weight fiberglass bodies, these were the fastest of the 308s, and now the most desirable. Plus, if you remember Italian steel from the 1970s...

The SV-1 (Safety Vehicle 1) was created with a built-in roll cage and numerous other safety features

Colored acrylic sheets were bonded to the fiberglass body panels

Come see our Bricklin (and Betty White's Seville) at the AACA Museum!

Fiberglass was instrumental in starting other car 'sub-cultures'...

...From the Dune-Buggy craze...

...to the kit car revolution...

...to completely other worlds...

Created in the 1960s by Finnish Architect

Matti Suuronen, the Futuro house was constructed of 4-16 FRP panels.

While fiberglass still lives on with boats and Corvettes, other non-metal body panels have become popular...

Fiberglass panels have given way to

"conventional" plastic panels.

These panels pop on & off in a matter of a couple of hours.

A new and novel way to change colors of your car!

Other examples of plastic-paneled cars include...

The Pontiac Fiero of 1984-1988

Which leads us into a whole new

world of light-weight fiber materials...

Carbon-fiber!!!

(CRP)

Not to be confused with Kevlar, which was created by duPont in 1965 and is used mostly for personal protection

in bullet-proof clothing applications.

Incredibly light-weight and strong, and still expensive, carbon fiber has gone miles beyond what Ignace Dubus-Bonnel could have imagined!

But what does the future hold????

Carbotanium!*

This is the new Pagani Huayra hypercar

Since the beginning of the company's founding, Pagani has been creating their cars using massive amount of carbon fiber.

Now they've developed a new product- Carbotanium! Created by weaving carbon with a titanium, it offers the utmost in rigidity and weight savings.

For $1,070,500 it can be yours!

Special thanks to Michael Lamm, author of

"The Fiberglass Story"

And Geoffrey Hacker, fiberglass historian

and "Forgotten Fiberglass" founder.

Thank you for attending!

Any questions???

"Standard" Nash Healey

Bill Flajole with his 1951 redesign...

1915-1999

The "Father of

the Metropolitan"

The AACA Museum

Presents

Donation courtesy of Mark Hyman

(Shameless plug here)

...for baseball's Ted Williams

Mechanix Illustrated

September 1955

Lotus Elise 1996- current

This is the new Pagani Huayra hypercar.

Carbotanium!

Carbon Fiber is used in a myriad of applications

from this McLaren F1 tub...

...to intake manifolds...

...to suspension and brake parts

Fiberglass-reinforced

plastic (FRP)

Pontiac Trans Sport

By 1940 Owens- Corning had produced glass-wool insulation that was less expensive than mineral wool. Just prior in 1939, the US Navy acknowledged fiberglass as the preferred insulation for all new warships. But the O-C team had realized that fiberglass encased in resin created a moldable material that could replace plywood and sheet metal. FRP was born! A second O-C plant was built to produce FRP for military usage, enabling precious aluminum to be used for other important applications.

Early uses for glass fibers were used in clothing. A British silk weaver made a dress out of the material in 1842, and in Germany in 1879 a shop was opened selling fashionable attire made from spun glass including cuffs, collars, veils, and ladies' hats of "softest glass feathers".

At the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, the Libbey Glass Company exhibited a dress made from silk and glass fibers. Weighing over 13 pounds, it was not practical.

After WWII, fiberglass use spread to civilian applications, notably fiberglass fishing rods at first, then to boats.

Let the fiberglass boom begin!

In 1836 a Frenchman named Ignace Dubus-Bonnel received the world's first patent on a method for making glass fibers. In 1872 the Franklin Institute reported that 'mineral cotton' had been produced by blowing a jet of steam through liquid glass, resulting in a product that could be used for insulating steam boilers and pipes.

No method of making glass fibers thin enough to remain flexible or mass producing them existed until the 1930s when the Owens-Illinois Glass Company created a way to glass fibers similar to cotton. It became popular material for air filters. They also developed a way to spray molten glass to create glass wool for insulation. In 1935 the company worked with Corning Glass on other projects, and in 1938 Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation was born.

Saturn S-Series

1939/40 Pontiac

"Ghost" Car

Meyers Manx

...to the custom car trends...

1974-76 Bricklin SV-1

1969 Marcos 1600

Ok, back to the

Forerunner

1949 Kurtis Sport

Circa 1941

Ford Soybean Decklid

1941 Ford Soybean Car

1945 Stout Scarab

1945 Kaiser Prototype

Glasspar G2

Irwin Lancer

John Wills'

Skorpion

...and

Wasp

1/4" Thick Plexiglass roof

Aerocar

"Dutch" Darrin 1946 Roadster

1954 Kaiser-Darrin

This thing will never catch on!

Just think of the babes

I can pick up!

1953

"Mystery"

Car??

GM had been playing with FRP since 1949, and by 1951 had produced a body for a '52 Chevrolet convertible using FRP. During high-speed testing the car rolled over with minimal damage compared to a all-metal body, proving how durable the material was and how easily it could be repaired. For small production runs or one-off concepts, FRP was the way to go!

2010 Amelia Island Concours display

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