Hi Gang…

A new trend is happening at Forgotten Fiberglass – and it’s an exciting one at that!

More and more, our readership is expanding overseas.  You can see this on our Home Page in two ways.

1: If you scroll down and look at the right hand side of the screen, you can see the “Live Traffic Feed.”  This shows the location of people currently viewing the website, the country they live in (or are viewing from), and the story / page they are reading.

Early in the day (USA time) we see more European visitors and late in the day we have visitors from Australia, New Zealand, and the Far East.  Here’s a sample from around 6pm yesterday:

2: Another way of looking at this expansion is by clicking on the option for viewing the “Map of Visitors” which is on the bottom right side of the Home Page.

When you click on this link, it automatically shows red dots for viewers who have visited our website from across the globe in the last 30 days – as shown below.  You can click on the image below to make it appear larger on your screen – and easier to read (this is true for any image that appears on Forgotten Fiberglass.)

Studying these maps and lists over time, we see that we are now expanding our reach to a new area of the globe – the Middle East.

Today’s story comes in from a new friend who lives in Dubai.  He’s asked me to keep his name private for now, and as always, I protect any requests for confidentiality and privacy.

But…he’s so excited about his new purchase – a Kellison J6 Panther – that he wanted to share not just the story with me but with each of you out there in Forgotten Fiberglass-dom.  So let’s review his story, and for now he wishes to be known as “The Man From The Land of Sand.”  Let’s take a look at his first letter:

Letter From: The Man From The Land of Sand

Hi Geoff,

Pleasure talking to you on the phone the other day.

I have been a Kellison enthusiast and wannabe since the day I first saw one on BAT a few years back. I will be writing to you about that story and its interesting owner as a “Part II” to this adventure.

In hunting around the usual places Kellisons go to be put up for sale, I found no car that satisfied the fibreglass itch I had for them. I looked high and low and waited patiently for years.

My next thought was to track down the owner of the car I had seen on BAT. After much effort and emails and phone calls, it transpired that the vehicle – a J6 Panther – as supreme as it is – was not meant to be for me.

Four weeks later I found another Kellison (yes, another J6 Panther) and looked at it from top to bottom, spending countless hours on the phone and researching the cars quality with my friend and mechanic here who helps me with my cars of the classic kind.

With shipping rates, insurance, trucking and the rest in place, it looked like that may be the Kellison for me. But it needed a lot of work, so my hesitation persisted in holding me back from executing the purchase from abroad.

Having said that it seems my hesitation was not in vain. A few days before I was going to make a negotiation call, I got an email from the lovely gent who runs the Kellison website. He had a collector who was looking to part ways with his Kellison and was willing to take an offer on it prior to putting it up into the public domain.

His representative was unsure of the car. His employer had it bought for him at auction at RM in 2007 with little history behind it.

It was sitting in a private collection from 2007 and was in excellent company along with Hot Rods, Movie Cars, Restored muscle cars and a very large number of Formula racers in a purpose built facility run by ex-racing team mechanics.

On looking at the car for 5 minutes via email, I placed a call to the owners representative and within 24 hours, bought the car. I am now the proud owner of a 1962 Kellison J6 Panther ! 🙂

The paint, the mechanics and the rest all seem to be in great condition. The recessed engine intrigues me, since I have not seen that on many Kellisons and am curious to know more. There is much to be done on the windows, interior and a few other things to match my taste and I will do my best to stay period correct with whatever information I can find.

After purchasing the car (sight unseen or undriven), it is currently making its way all the way from the East-coast to the West-coast, where it will sit in the hands of a dear friend who I consider to be one of the very quiet – yet supremely well informed pillars of the classic car community internationally.

He will be looking to take the next steps to bring the car into a state where I can enjoy it and show people what Kellisons are in my part of the world.

It will take time, but it will be worth it – as the best things in life are not rushed (but shouldnt be overdone either!)

Having said that, I am struggling to piece together the entire history of the car. While it is being reworked, I would love to trace it back to the original owner and try and even meet them in person with the car. It’s an adventure I am looking forward to and appreciate the help in writing it all down. At the same time, it would be interesting to know what it started out as and how it has changed and where it has been.

At some point, I would also like to enter it into certain shows, where I know people are partial to Kellisons as well as shows where people want to know more and showcase the car.

Love the Forgotten Fiberglass website, love the group and looking forward to having many more conversations and meeting you in person soon and visiting the FibreGlass Farm.

Best regards,

The Man from the Land of Sand

Summary:

What a great car and story – and a big “WELCOME” to our newest member from overseas.  It’s great to have you with us as we celebrate vintage ‘glass across the world.

We very much appreciate the enthusiasm shown for this new acquisition and terrific sports car.  And…we look forward to reviewing the next part of his story and sharing it with all of you here at Forgotten Fiberglass.

Hope you enjoyed the story, and until next time…

Glass on gang…

Geoff