This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2008) |
Company type | Former |
---|---|
Founded | 1958 |
Headquarters | Cape Town, South Africa |
Key people | Bob van Niekerk co-founder Willie Meissner co-founder Verster de Wit designer |
Glassport Motor Company (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. GSM narrowly missed being South Africas first sports car maker, beaten by the GRP Protea. A Dart, Flamingo and Protea can be viewed at the Franschhoek Motor Museum in South Africa.
The company was founded by Bob van Niekerk 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 Niekerk asking him to come to England and further study fiberglass crafting. They came into contact with South African designer Verster de Wit (who was working on the Sunbeam Alpine) 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. One body was made and sold in England to fund Bob's trip back to South Africa. On returning to South Africa, they built the first prototypes of the GSM Dart. GSM's were mainly sold in South Africa and England although several seem to have made it to Canada.
The Dart was GSM's first production model. [2] The car used a variety of engines including Coventry Climax Ford Anglia 100E and 105E as well as 4 fitted with Alfa Romeo 1300cc units nestled into a ladder type chassis with transverse springs at the front and coil springs at the rear. Cars had a glass fibre open two seat body fitted, but a hardtop was later available which had a reverse slanted rear window which later Fords also exhibited. Yet other versions included Alfa Romeo S.V. engines. Ernest Pieterse was the first to try this form of motive power. Requiring a machine for the Nine Hours Race (S.A.'s classic sports-car race), and having to beat such machines as Porsche Carreras, Ernest bought a Dart and fitted disc brakes, Alfa S.V.+ engine, etc. In the said Nine Hours Race, the car led for a while but retired with boiling brake fluid. This let John Love's Carrera into the lead but it too retired, or was delayed, and another Dart with 1,100-c.c. Climax engine stepped into the breach and was leading after nine hours. This was 1959. Since then Porsche Spyders and Lotus Fifteens have been used in the Nine Hours, rather squashing anyone with aspirations of further wins in a GSM Dart.
Pos. | No. | Drivers | Car | Entrant | Distance (km) | Pos. | Gr. | Div. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 6 | Carrington / Fergusson | GSM Dart Climax | H. M. Carrington | 922.959 | 1st | S2.0 | Sports |
2nd | 13 | van der Merwe / van Heerden | Porsche 356 Speedster | S. D. van der Merwe | 908.797 | 1st | GT+1.5 | G.T. |
3rd | 2 | Mennie / Wright | MGA Twin-Cam mod. | G. E. Mennie | 882.242 | 2nd | S2.0 | Sports |
4th | 3 | Fraser Jones / Fergusson | Porsche 550 RS Spyder | Team Porsche | 877.897 | 3rd | S2.0 | Sports |
5th | 15 | Wilson / Wilson | Volvo Sport | O. G. Wilson | 875.322 | 1st | T2.0 | N.S.P.T.C. |
6th | 12 | Pieterse / Lupini | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint | Continental Cars | 867.597 | 2nd | T2.0 | N.S.P.T.C. |
7th | 16 | Boyden / Lupini | Volvo Sport | H. C. Boyden | 866.149 | 3rd | T2.0 | N.S.P.T.C. |
8th | 24 | Bramley / Celliers | Simca Montlhéry | Rillstone Motors | 827.686 | 4th | T2.0 | N.S.P.T.C. |
9th | 26 | Lennox / Beerstecher | Simca Montlhéry | Rillstone Motors | 818.673 | 5th | T2.0 | N.S.P.T.C. |
10th | 22 | Theobald / Smith | Saab 93 GT | Truck & Car, Vereeniging | 815.455 | 1st | GT1.0 | G.T. |
11th | 21 | Langmuss / Frisby | Saab 93 GT | Truck & Car, Vereeniging | 811.270 | 2nd | GT1.0 | G.T. |
12th | 25 | Woodley / Austin | Simca Montlhéry | Rillstone Motors | 6th | T2.0 | N.S.P.T.C. | |
13th | 8 | Gous / Love | Porsche 356 Carrera | D. S. Gous | 800.327 | 1st | GT1.5 | G.T. |
14th | 23 | Burford / Porter | Fiat 1200 | Lucys Motors | 793.889 | 1st | T1.25 | N.S.P.T.C. |
15th | 4 | Pieterse / Bosman | GSM Dart Alfa Romeo | E. Pieterse | 785.682 | 4th | S2.0 | Sports |
16th | 20 | Gilinsky / Aukema | Saab 93 GT | Truck & Car, Vereeniging | 760.576 | 3rd | GT1.0 | G.T. |
17th | 28 | Porter / Reeves | Fiat 1100 | Lucys Motors | 740.298 | 2nd | T1.25 | N.S.P.T.C. |
5 | Lupini / Pheiffer | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider | Scuderia Lupini | Sports | ||||
7 | Sacke / Humphries | MGA Twin-Cam | Premier St. Garage | G.T. | ||||
9 | van Niekerk / Meissner | |||||||
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 Chrysler, the Daimler Dart also had to be renamed.
The Flamingo coupé [3] was produced by GSM from 1962. The original intention was to use a forthcoming Ford V6 but it did not appear in time and so it was initially powered by a 1.7-litre Ford Taunus engine and later by the 1.5-litre Ford Cortina (non-crossflow) engine. Although similar in appearance, the Flamingo is a very different car. The front suspension replaced the transverse leaf springs of the Dart with two wishbones compressing Mini rubber cones, and later small coil springs. The rear was cleverly designed to stop one wheel spinning faster than the other under power through the use of different trailing arm setups on each side. [4]
Owners include Gordon Murray who has a 1964 example.
In the 1980s a series of accurate replicas known as Levy Darts were built by Jeff Levy with involvement from one of the original trio, Verster de Wit. In the 1990s a visually similar mechanically different replica in the form of the Hayden Dart II was manufactured; these are still being made and have evolved to include independent rear suspension. Engine options are wide as with the original GSM's: the Kent 1600 and Toyota 4A-GE are the most common options, but there are examples with Mazda Rotary Turbo, Toyota 4A-GZE, and various other engines.
The Porsche 924 is a sports car produced by Porsche in Neckarsulm, Germany, from 1976 until 1988. A two-door, 2+2 coupé, the 924 replaced the 912E and 914 as the company's entry-level model.
The Porsche 914 or VW-Porsche 914 is a mid-engined sports car designed, manufactured and marketed collaboratively by Volkswagen and Porsche from 1969 until 1976. It was only available as a targa-topped two-seat roadster powered by either a flat-4 or flat-six engine.
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in early 1902 and are currently produced by many manufacturers around the world.
The Porsche 906 or Carrera 6 is a street-legal racing car from Porsche. It was announced in January 1966 and 50 examples were subsequently produced, thus meeting the homologation requirements of the FIA's new Group 4 Sports Car category to the number. The type would also compete in modified form in the Group 6 Sports Prototype class.
The Porsche Carrera GT is a mid-engine sports car that was manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 2004 to 2006. Sports Car International named the Carrera GT number one on its list of Top Sports Cars of the 2000s, and number eight on its Top Sports Cars of All Time list. For its advanced technology and development of its chassis, Popular Science magazine awarded it the "Best of What's New" award in 2003.
The Porsche 997 is the sixth generation of the Porsche 911 sports car manufactured and sold by the German automobile manufacturer Porsche between 2004 and 2013. Production of the Carrera and Carrera S coupés began in early 2004, all-wheel drive Carrera 4 and Carrera 4S began to be delivered to customers in November 2005, the Turbo and GT3 derivatives went on sale in late 2006 and the GT2 in 2007. In addition to the coupé and cabriolet versions, Targa versions of the Carrera 4 and Carrera 4S were also available, which carry on with the "glass canopy" roof design used since its first application on the 993 until the 991, which reverted to the classic targa top layout used on the early 911 Targas.
The Porsche 964 is a model of the Porsche 911 sports car manufactured and sold between 1989 and 1994. Designed by Benjamin Dimson through January 1986, it featured significant styling revisions over previous 911 models, most prominently the more integrated bumpers. It was the first car to be offered with Porsche's Tiptronic automatic transmission and all wheel drive as options.
Basil van Rooyen was a South African racing driver, race car developer, inventor, and engineer. His career comprised racing a motorcycle, Anglia, Lotus Cortina, Mustang, Alfa Romeo, Capri Perana Chevy Can-am, Fiat/Ferrari saloon cars, sports cars, single seaters and Formula 1.
A spoiler is an automotive aerodynamic device whose intended design function is to 'spoil' unfavorable air movement across the body of a vehicle in motion, usually described as turbulence or drag. Spoilers on the front of a vehicle are often called air dams. Spoilers are often fitted to race and high-performance sports cars, although they have become common on passenger vehicles as well. Spoilers are added to cars primarily for styling purposes and either have little aerodynamic benefit or even worsen the aerodynamics.
The De Tomaso Pantera is a mid-engine sports car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer De Tomaso from 1971 to 1992. Italian for "Panther", the Pantera was the automaker's most popular model, with over 7,000 manufactured over its twenty-year production run. More than three quarters of the production was sold by American Lincoln-Mercury dealers from 1972 to 1975; after this agreement ended De Tomaso kept manufacturing the car in ever smaller numbers into the early 1990s.
Elva was a sports and racing car manufacturing company based in Bexhill, then Hastings and Rye, East Sussex, United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1955 by Frank G. Nichols. The name comes from the French phrase elle va.
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a line of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national and regional Porsche Carrera Cup and GT3 Cup Challenge series, as well as the international Porsche Supercup supporting the FIA F1 World Championship.
The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced in 1968 to continue the Porsche 906-Porsche 910-Porsche 907 series of models designed by Helmuth Bott (chassis) and Hans Mezger (engine) under the leadership of racing chief Ferdinand Piëch.
Timothy James Harvey is a British racing driver, best known for being the 1992 British Touring Car Champion, and the 2008 and 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain champion. A household name in the 1990s, Harvey won sixteen races in the British Touring Car Championship between 1987 and 1995, and competed in the series until 2002. He was also the winner of the invitational Guia Race of Macau touring car event, in 1989.
The 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans was a motor race staged at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France on 10 and 11 June 1972. It was the 40th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the ninth race of the 1972 World Championship for Makes.
The 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 36th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 28 and 29 September 1968 on the Circuit de la Sarthe, in Le Mans, France.
The Brabham BT49 is a Formula One racing car designed by South African Gordon Murray for the British Brabham team. The BT49 competed in the 1979 to 1982 Formula One World Championships and was used by Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet to win his first World Championship in 1981.
The Protea was South Africa's first production car. The two seater sports car was built in Johannesburg by G.R.P. Engineering between 1957 and 1958. Either 14 or 26 units were completed. The Protea was the first South African sports car, followed less than 6 months later by the Glass Sport Motors with their Dart and later Flamingo
The original Porsche 911 is a luxury sports car made by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. A prototype of the famous, distinctive, and durable design was shown to the public in autumn 1963. Production began in September 1964 and continued through 1989. It was succeeded by a modified version, internally referred to as Porsche 964 but still sold as Porsche 911, as are current models.