Hi Gang…

Another mystery for you – and this one’s from New Jersey – a place that we’ll be talking more about in the future concerning fiberglass cars.

As for fiberglass cars made in New Jersey, I can think of the Gazelle/Navajo being built in New Jersey in 1953.  Another car called the US Mark II which debuted in 1956 (we’ll discuss that soon).  And….today’s mystery car, a body purported to be made, in 1953 in Teterboro, New Jersey by the K.C. Fiberglass Sports Car Body company.

Here’s the only ad I’ve seen for the car.  It appeared in the program for the 1953 World Motor Sports Show of New York:

I’ve only seen mention of this car one place before and that’s in a newspaper article that appeared in the “New York World-Telegram and Sun” on Friday, March 20^th 1953.  The article was titled “$500 Custom Car Body?  You Can Do It Yourself.”  Here’s what the excerpt said:

“For the gent who doesn’t want to build, several companies are offering sports car bodies.  In this area there’s a 112 inch wheelbase body being made in Teterboro, New Jersey, while the Rockefeller Yankee on a modified Ford V8 chassis sells for around $2000 on Long Island.”

That’s all that’s known about this company from Teterboro, and perhaps with the publication of this story, more information will surface.  Here’s a few more tidbits concerning the ad for this car:

• The ad appeared in the program for the 1^stannual Motor Sports Show in New York City.  It prominently mentioned “Teterboro Aero Parts” at the Teterboro Air terminal in Teterboro, New Jersey.  Perhaps there is a connection with the “Aero Parts Company” and this fiberglass company at the Teterboro Airport?
• The wheelbase is an unusual size for cars of this period.  Most fiberglass sports cars had a 100” wheelbase, but this one reported a 112 to 116 inch wheelbase.  The closest one in size to this in 1953 would have been the Maverick at 127 inch wheelbase and the Grantham Stardust at 110 inches.  This advertised car would have been “massive” in size compared to the normal fiberglass sports car of the day.
• I checked the programs for the 1952 and 1953 editions of the ”International Motor Sports Show” in New York City – a competitor to this show that started one year earlier.  In 1952, one of the exhibitors of this show was the “Teterboro School of Aeronautics,” and they exhibited an aircraft engine and information about their school in a booth on the show floor.  However, in 1953 there was no evidence I’ve found of them participating in this show.
• In the John Bond archive at Kettering University, Michigan, I found a copy of the ad for this company with Bond’s handwritten note as follows, “Charles, didn’t we write to this company?”  This suggests to me that they requested information, but nothing in the files shows that a reply was received from the K.C. Fiberglass Sports Car Company (the Bond Archive has an extensive file/boxes on fiberglass cars of the day that John Bond collected information on).

Summary:

So….that’s all I know about this one gang – and apparently that’s all John Bond from Road and Track learned about this small company from Teterboro, New Jersey.

Who of you out there is brave enough to tackle some research on this one?  You know…the “Teterboro School of Aeronautics” is still in existence….you might find a fiberglass stash of information in a very unexpected location from someone with some history at this school.  Stranger things have happened.

Anyone ready to be the next “Indiana Jones” of fiberglass sports cars?   Let me know…I’m a great sidekick and stand ready to help too 🙂

Hope you enjoyed the story, and until next time…

Glass on gang…

Geoff

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