AutoCult Glasspar G2 (1952) (USA)

About the Original:

Revolutionary Side Entry

The inventor of the Glasspar G2 Roadster was Bill Tritt. During World War II he was working for Douglas Aircraft, doing product planning and design. Then after the war, he began studying architecture and boat building before eventually he started his own business.

1947 was a very busy time for Bill. His main project was developing a race boat with a length of about 20 meters. He built four of these boats, and he used a new material called fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP). This new formula led to great things for Bill and Glasspar.

The company experienced tremendous growth, and moved into new facilities in Santa Ana, California. In the early 50s, Glasspar was producing 15 to 20 percent of all fiberglass boats sold in the USA. The Glasspar G2 automobile was born in 1949, and it was the first production of a fiberglass sports car body.

The idea of the Glasspar G2 came to Bill Tritt while he helped his friend to design a hotrod vehicle. The hotrod consisted of a stripped down Willys Jeep chassis with a highly modified V8 engine mounted on it. This vehicle was called the “Brooks Boxer” and was a fiberglass Roadster which was shown in 1951 for the first time at the Los Angeles Motorama. The Boxer mold was then modified and used to produce the beautiful Glasspar G2 sports car later that year.

About this time, the Koren War was raging, and Bill Tritt was having difficulty acquiringthe polyresin material needed for the fiberglass. He also realized that he was going to need investors to make production a reality so he took The Glasspar Company public and sold stock to raise capital.

Eventually, only a few Glasspar G2s vehicles were manufactured as complete cars. Most of them would be sold as car bodies and were assembled on different chassis. This experience led Bill to realize what the core business of his company was, building high quality boats.

A few of the Glasspar G2 cars still exist today, and are viewed as a representation of a wonderful time of innovation in Glasspar’s history.