Evaluation: From the Horton Museum collection. Shown at Amelia in 2007. Dull, swirled paint with cracks around the door edges. Worn leather. Tidy engine with some grime on the carburetors. Fascinating early American sports car and a pioneering use of fiberglass two years before the Corvette.
Bottom Line: Fiberglass was an exciting, fresh technology in the postwar years mostly thanks to its light weight, which had obvious advantages to performance cars. The boat industry had a slight head start in fiberglass techniques, however, so it makes sense that Glasspar – one of the very first fiberglass automobiles – came from a boat manufacturer. Bill Tritt had founded the company in 1947 in California and it quickly became one of the largest fiberglass boat companies in the country.
The G2 was his first automotive endeavor, its basic shape coming from a Willys-based prototype made for the 1951 Los Angeles Motorama called the Brooks Boxer. It was sold as either a complete car or as just a body shell. Fiberglass sports car bodies and kits would be hugely popular in America throughout the ‘50s, but Glasspar was among the first. We’ve seen this one at auction before, first in 2007 for $40,700 then again in 2009 for $38,500 and once more in 2013 for $52,800. It presents a little rougher than it did 10 years ago but sold for significantly more, which is a bit of a surprise. Since these cars so rarely pop up for sale, though, this was a rare buying opportunity.
