Hi Gang…

Victress Manufacturing started as a dream by Doc Boyce-Smith and his good friend Hugh Jorgensen who was an Art Center student of Los Angeles, at the time.  While Doc was the owner of the company, Jorgensen was the initial dedicated designer and with Doc launched Victress as “The Boyce-Smith Company” in late 1952.

Together they designed and debuted their first car – the Victress S1 followed soon by the Victress S4 in 1954.  Click here to review the first brochure printed by Victress showcasing both the Victress S1 (now called the Victress S1A in ’54 with a reduction in wheelbase from 102” to 99”) and the Victress S4.

Merrill Powell joined Victress in late ’53 and became a partner with Doc in early ’54, and both set to work.  Within a year they would launch two more cars:  The Victress S5 which was a smaller version of the S1A, and the Victress Dragster – the dream of Bill Quirk and Bill Powell – Production Managers of Victress.

Let’s take a look at the brochure Victress printed in 1955 – a 16 page brochure which was the largest brochure ever printed by a fiberglass sports car company thru the late 1950’s.

It’s a striking example of a company at its very best in the industry.

Off we go…

1955 Victress Brochure:  The Victress S1A, S5, S4, and Dragster

 

 

 

Summary:

Victress was just getting started.

You can feel the energy they must have had in ’55.  In ’53,  the Guy Mabee Special set the world speed record at Bonneville making the Victress the “fastest sports car body in the world.”  In ’54 the movie “Johnny Dark” premiered with a Victress prominently featured and driven by Don Taylor (the actual driver in the movie was Dick Freeland of Indianapolis 500 fame.)  And in ’55, Merrill Powell, co-owner of Victress, was hard at work at designing the Victress C2 and C3 coupes, which would become the first fiberglass coupes of original design built in the world.  Way to go Merrill, and we’ll discuss those accomplishments in the near future here at Forgotten Fiberglass.

Hope you enjoyed the story, and until next time…

Glass on gang…

Geoff
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