Hi gang…

Well…. it’s starting to happen.

More people are noticing the “Forgotten Fiberglass” cars of the 1950’s and they’re doing something about it.  More museums are recognizing these cars for exhibits.  More Concours d’Elegance events are creating classes around these cars.  More magazines are publishing articles about these cars.  And now… even book publishers are looking to join in.

Enter Veloce Press of San Antonio, Texas.

Veloce Press: San Antonio, Texas

Fiberglass friend Erich Schultz recently shared with me that he purchased a book from Veloce Press that was a reprint of the 1950’s Victress book on How to Build a Fiberglass car.  With a bit of sleuthing, I found the following information concerning this publishing company:

“VelocePress is a publisher of books, manuals, buyer’s guides and technical works for niche markets. Using cutting edge technology VelocePress is able to cost-effectively produce short-run titles while simultaneously providing excellent exposure and global distribution.

Launched in 2000, VelocePress specializes in automotive niche markets. With our print-on-demand technology we excel at publishing rare, previously out-of-print and original titles with limited, but dedicated, audiences.

To date, VelocePress has acquired the rights to republish over 200 titles, including all of the pre-1970 Floyd Clymer titles, the Autobooks Workshop Repair Manual Series (in association with Brooklands Books, UK) and a wide selection of specialty books focusing on European automobiles.”

Very impressive!  Especially the last paragraph above, which identifies where they got their wonderful collection of Victress documents.   You see….the book Erich bought was much more than just a reprint of the “How to….” book.  In fact, what it contained was reprints of nearly every Victress document produced from 1952 thru 1961.

Where’s the Beef?  What’s in The Book?

Here’s a sample of what’s in their book:

• How to Build a Fiberglass Car (using the Victress S1A as an example) – 1954
• 1954 Advertisement and Victress Brochure
• 1956 Brochure
• 1956 Poster
• 1957 (sic) Hellings Flyer (research has shown this to be 1952-1953 and not 1957)
• 1960 Brochure

Not a bad collection for those of you interested in starting and nearly completing your Victress collection out there.  And…as I head toward my 49^th year on this planet (did I tell you that of all the planets, Earth was my favorite?), Veloce Press did another favor.  They printed the contents on 8 and ½” by ll” paper making this easier to read than the smaller brochure and booklet’s original size.

Thank you Veloce Press!

How to Order A Copy:

I called the publishing company and spoke to Dave, the owner of Veloce Press and thanked him for his confidence in reproducing these materials, and let him know that I would do my best to share this new resource with our group.  Here’s a link to their website so you can review details on the book and consider purchase:

Click Here to Learn More about The Victress Book at Veloce Press

It’s 88 pages long, and I’ve included some sample pages in the photo gallery below.  A pretty good deal for the money (this would have save me sooooooooo much time if I would have started with this in 2006 instead of searching worldwide for this material).  While there are a few stray Victress pieces that Merrill Powell, Bill Quirk, Steve Cowdin, and I have in our collections, most of the important Victress materials are in this book.  An absolutely wonderful resource.

So….. just in time for Christmas.  Let the bells ring and go grab a “first printing” of “How to Build a Fiberglass Car” from Veloce Press.  You might even talk Merrill Powell or Bill Quirk into signing a copy for you too! *wink*

Until next time gang….Glass on….

Geoff

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Click on the Images Below to View Larger Pictures

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