Glass Sport Motors
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| GSM | |
|---|---|
| Type | Former |
| Founded | 1958 |
| Headquarters | Cape Town, South Africa |
| Key people | Bob van Niekirk co-founder Willie Meissner co-founder |
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Glass Sport Motors (GSM) was a South African motor manufacturer based in Cape Town between 1958 and 1964. They produced the Dart and Flamingo sports cars. The name Glass Sport Motors is due to their use of fiberglass and the fact that they produced only Sports cars.
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[edit] History
The company was founded by Bob van Niekirk and Willie Meissner[1] in 1958 after Meissner went to England and stumbled upon fiberglass [2], a new technology at the time. He wrote a letter to van Niekirk asking him to come to England and further study fiberglass crafting. They came into contact with Verster de Wit who helped them style their first car design and taught them the design process. The pair finally found an attractive design and produced a mould. On returning to South Africa, they built the first prototypes of the GSM Dart.
[edit] The Dart
The Dart was GSM's first production model[3]. The car used a variety of engines including Coventry Climax and Ford Anglia 100E and 105E units fitted into a ladder type chassis with transverse springs at the front and coil springs at the rear. Most cars had a glass fibre open two seat body fitted, but some coupés and fastbacks were also produced.
The Dart was also manufactured at West Malling, Kent, England by GSM Cars where it was known as the GSM Delta due to 'Dart' being a registered trademark of Daimler sports car.
[edit] The Flamingo
The Flamingo coupé[4] was produced by GSM from 1962. It was powered by a 1.7 litre Ford Taunus engine. Although similar in appearance, the Flamingo is a very different car.
