Hi Gang…

I’m back – and with more energy than ever….

What an amazing first three months of 2010 for vintage fiberglass cars.  Just keeping up with the fiberglass events across the nation was hard enough for me.   The “Fantasies in Fiberglass” exhibit opened at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles California in February 2010 and now the “Forgotten Fiberglass” class debuted at Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in March 2010.

I’m not sure how much more I can take 🙂

And…to add spice to this Spring, Rick D’Louhy and I succeeded in completing the restoration on the 1955 California Sports Special with a gang of experts (Scott Miller of Tampa, Jonathan Rucker of St. Petersburg, Tom Jaudon of Tampa, Tim Masters of Tampa, and a cast of seeming thousands…) in record time too.  And Merrill Powell from Victress chipped in during the last few days up to the event, and brought the restoration right on home (with the help of partner Scott Miller).  It certainly took the wind out of me just watching all the activity.

Well….I’m back with batteries recharged, so watch out for stories over the next 1-2 weeks.  I’m going to try and do a story a day for awhile – to get caught up.  Keep your e-mail boxes clear…. lots of cool stories to come.

So….let’s start with the most recent event – the 2010 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.  We had 12 fabulous cars turnout in two classes – the “Forgotten Fiberglass” class and a “Race Car” class as well.  Let me share some of the pictures of the cars in both classes with you:

FORGOTTEN FIBERGLASS CLASS – NINE CARS
Phil Fleming, Lee LaFleur, and Phil’s Devin	Dudley Cunningham, Chris Cassidy and Dudley’s Kurtis Meteor SR1	Guy Dirkin, Carole Jackson with Guy’s Byers SR100
Dawn Fisher’s (attending with husband Mike) Glasspar G2	McHeel Hagerty’s Bocar	Rick D’Louhy’s 1955 California Sports Special
Steve and Linda Steer’s Victress S1A	Clark Mitchel and his full size Clearfield / Almquist Speedster	Darren and Max Crispin’s Allied / Multiplex Swallow Coupe

Luminaries attending from the history of fiberglass cars included Merrill Powell from Victress, Ed Almquist from Almquist, and Clark Mitchel – who along with Harry Heim designed and built the car for Clearfield Plastics that ultimately became the Almquist Sabre.   Harold Pace and his lovely wife Shelly drove in from Texas to participate and document the historic event.  Thanks to them, we have wonderfully professional photographs from the event (not to be mistaken with the pictures in this story from both my camera and Rick’s as well).  Mike and Kathleen Wittman who own a Meteor SR1 and LaDawri Historian Emeritis John Gulow and hiw wife Marie suprised us with visits too.  If I slept that weekend at all, I would have been a lucky man!  For now, here are some background pictures taken throughout the weekend at Amelia…

From L to R, Merrill and Gerianne Powell, and Fiberglass Friend Susan Gunn	From L to R, Clark Mitchel, Harold and Shelly Pace	Ed Almquist and Rogers Adams (Original Almquist Builder)
Guy Dirkin and Carole Jackson in their Byers SR100	Merrill Powell and Scott Miller Putting Finishing Touches on the California Special – 30 minutes Before Sunday Opening	Gerianne Powell and Susan Gunn at “Camp Victress” behind the Forgotten Fiberglass Class

And….not to forget…we also had three more fiberglass cars appearing in a Race Car class at the other end of the field.  There were vintage fiberglass cars all over!  What a showing…here are the three that appeared as well:

MORE FIBERGLASS CARS…IN THE RACE CAR CLASS AT AMELIA…
Dudley Cunningham’s Bocar Stilletto	David Rex’s Glasspar G2 Comet

But wait gang…the last two weeks since Amelia has not been quiet.  There’s been quite a bit of information on the internet and here’s just some of it now…

Article on Dudley Cunningham and Chris Cassidy and Kurtis Meteor SR1:

http://www.boston.com/cars/newsandreviews/overdrive/2010/03/new_englanders_win_at_amelia_c.html

Phil Fleming Lee LaFleur and Phil’s Devin:  Two Youtube Videos:

[vsw id=”c18cW9OJGrg” source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”] [vsw id=”X91gdppwC4k” source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”]

Forgotten Fiberglass at Supercars.net (about 60 pictures of the cars in both classes):

http://www.supercars.net/gallery/119513/2364/13.html

Forgotten Fiberglass at Conceptcarz.com:

http://www.conceptcarz.com/events/photos.aspx?eventID=557&catID=2288&whichPage=1

Sports Car Digest: Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance 2010 Photo Gallery:

http://www.sportscardigest.com/2010-amelia-island-concours-delegance-photo-gallery/comment-page-1/#comment-15765

So I hope each of you enjoys the pictures as much as we had taking them.  I have many more pictures to share, and if some of you would like some more pix of a particular car – just e-mail me.  I’m happy to help.  Likewise, be sure to send me pictures from Amelia – for those of you who attended.  I’ll be happy to share with all.

One final note….our thanks to Rodney and Bill Packwood who sent two bottles of wine to us to celebrate the event.  We opened one on the grounds of Amelia and saluted their good cheer and our great luck in having such a great collection of cars and budding new friends to celebrate….at Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in 2010.

Cheers to all gang…

Geoff