History
Byers Sports Cars (1955 – 1968)
Design By Jim Byers
— The World’s Most Beautiful Sports Car —
Road & Track, February, 1957
Byers Sports Cars
Road and Track featured a Byers SR-100 on the cover of their magazine in February, 1957. John Bond who owned Road & Track felt it represented one of the finest designs for an American sports car he had ever seen and proclaimed it “The World’s Most Beautiful Sports Car” in his feature article. This was quite an achievement for Jim Byers and this helped him launch his sports car company to greater heights.
Jim Byers got his start working on the first Victress body in 1952. Next, he partnered with with Dick Jones to create and build the 1953 Meteor SR-1 sports car which made its debut at the 1953 Petersen Motorama at the Pan Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Jones and Byers amicably separated in 1955 and each continued with their own design. Byers changed the lines of the Meteor SR-1 body by adding a kick-up over the rear fenders, and a completely new rear design. This new body was called the Byers SR-100. Within a year, Byers had designed another body called a CR-90 for a shorter wheelbase race car, and built limited number of custom one-off bodies for customers from thru 1963.
Each body was hand laid fiberglass, and several bodies were tailored to the owner’s specifications. Total production of Byers SR-100 bodies is estimated at 25. Kellison later purchased the SR-100 molds, made small changes to the design and offered a “chopper gun” version of the body for another 5-7 years with production approximately at 25. Fiberglass Trends purchased the CR-90 molds and began producing these bodies in 1966.
John Bond, owner and publisher of Road and Track Magazine, ultimately built just one sports car during his life. He partnered with Jim Byers and built his own “Byers SR-100” Sports Roadster in 1958-1959 – a testimony to the design and craftsmanship of Jim Byers and his vision.
Byers SR-100 Rendering: Dan Palatnik, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Explore The Links Below
Byers Brochures, Advertising and Specifications
Byers Sports Car Brochures
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Byers Advertising
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SR-100 Specifications
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CR-90 / CR-90S Specifications
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Byers Blueprints and Wireframes / Cutaways
Provided to Builders By Byers To Assist Their Builds
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Articles About Byers Sports Cars
Vintage Articles
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Modern Articles
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Articles Posted on Undiscovered Classics
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Byers Communication, Artwork and Photography
Byers Sports Car Artwork
Dan Palatnik Artistry
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Vintage Byers Photography
Vintage Collections of Historic Photos
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Original Byers Communication
The Rollie Langston Collection
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Byers Sports Car Registry
SR-100 & CR-90 Registry
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Build A Brand New Byers SR-100
The Beautiful Byers SR-100 Returns To Production – With A Modern Twist
Autoweek: April 30, 2019
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Miscellaneous
Jim Byers Boats
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Byers Custom Bodies – Fairchild Panhard
Coming Soon
Contributors To Byers Sports Car History
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Watch For Our Latest Book
The World’s Most Beautiful Sports Car: The Byers Sports Car
Available 2023
Click Here To See Our Current Book Offerings
