U.S. Fiberglass Co.

This was the company contracted by General Motors to do all their glass work specifically the Corvette..Studebaker later hired them to do the Avanti (someone please correct me if necessary on this)
Does this company still exsist? I've always wondered what molds were stashed away in their warehouses, prototypes, show cars,
one-off experiments etc.
Can anyone shed any light on this? can I please be the first one to open the doors and wander around?

 

Corvette was done by That division ( GM's corvette ) to control quality.... Never heard of US glass

 

It was Molded Fiber Glass Co or MFG of Ashtabula, OH

http://www.moldedfiberglass.com/about-us/corvette-story/#

And here is info about the building of Avanti bodies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker_Avanti

And more

http://www.theavanti.net/fiberglass.html

They also made some pretty cool boats

http://www.glassicsonline.com/mfgboats.htm

 

Arkie.........Thanks for posting the links...especially the first one! What an inspirational video about a fellow who made things happen!



Ray

 

Amazing video Arkiehotrods! I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the Corvette-Morrison story!

 

Great info Arkie

 

They probably kept the molds for years and dusted them off once in a while to make OEM replacement parts.How long they kept them, or if they still have them, who knows.

If they do have them the chances of ever getting them to make replacement bodies or parts for you is practically nil. I seriously doubt they keep any molds over 10 years old but they might out of sheer carelessness.

(This is based on my knowledge of a local factory that makes dash boards and interior parts for GM, Ford and Chrysler. They did have a warehouse full of molds dating back to the sixties. A few years ago a new plant manager ordered them scrapped, I mean sold for scrap iron. At about the same time Year One was paying $5000 to have 1 new mold made.)

 

Since this wasn't GM's first Rodeo, I suspect GM had exclusivity clauses in all their supplier contracts........maybe for a defined number of years........probably in perpetuity. May even have stipulated that the molds were the property of GM.

 

Thanks Arkie for the info..now I got the name of the company right..anyone know if they still exsist? roadtrip to Ashtabula to snoop around some dusty warehouses?

 

They are still around

http://www.moldedfiberglass.com/

 

Robert Morrison...What a testimony to grit,determination and pure-ass drive to succeed..
The best line in the documentary...."we work Saturdays !!!"

 

The corvette is often said to be the first domestic car with a glass body.

The Kaiser Darrin actually went on the market a month before the corvette.

Rich

 

Old tooling is normally scrapped after production ends and Parts and Service puts in their request for an "all time run".

Warehouse space costs money, personell comes and goes. For OEM's, production and new products are what makes money. Nostalgia is for us and the aftermarket.

 

Fiberglass Corvettes are a thing of the past ... the material is now called "composite"! .... sounds sorta uppity doesn't it?

 

AO Smith Co. made many mid year Corvette bodies for GM. There primary business ... water heaters.

 

They also make hundreds of thousands of hydro formed chassis for GM trucks..........yes, they DO make water heaters.......but do not think that is the primary moneymaking product line..

 

A O Smith also makes crappy electric motors.

 

Did you know Corvettes are made by the world's oldest vehicle maker... General Motors of Canada? originally known as McLaughlin Carriage Works, Oshawa Ontario. Now a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors of Detroit.

The last time I went past the Corvette facility in Bowling Green it said General Motors of Canada in small letters at the bottom of the sign.

 

Can't mean much. Their parent company is only about five years old.


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Kaiser Darrin