The best fibreglass cars

Since its debut in the 1953, first-generation Chevrolet Corvette, fibreglass has played a small but significant role in the history of car production.

This lightweight material – essentially, plastic reinforced with layers of glass fibre – has a few advantages. For one thing, it’s not susceptible to that deadly enemy of all classic cars: rust. Yes, these strengthened-plastic cars can live outside under even the angriest of British weathers without (the fibreglass parts of them, at least) succumbing to corrosion.

Another key factor in fibreglass’ favour is its light weight when compared to the traditional steel. Look at the cars we’ve featured in this list and you’ll find some of the most featherlight automobiles that man has produced (and then chucked deliriously around hairpin bends), from the 650-kg first-gen Lotus Elite to the tiny half-ton Ginetta G15. It’s also a very pliable material, easy to mould into those sinuous shapes beloved of car makers, from the muscular haunches of the Corvette to the sinuous, flowing lines of the Ferrari 308.

So, what’s not to love? Well, although fibreglass is resistant to rust, it would be a mistake to think of the cars in this list as immune from the ravages of time. Fibreglass does have its own pitfalls. Problems can include ‘crazing’ (surface fractures caused by stress), cracks to wheel arches, and shrinkage of the paint job. And, let’s not forget that although much of the body may be immune from rust, the chances are that the chassis is made of steel, which will remain as susceptible as ever to corrosion.

So, while many of the cars in this list make an enticing ownership prospect, our advice would be the same as for any other classic: get hold of some specialist classic car insurance to protect your beloved investment.

However, at their best, fibreglass cars were lightweight, elegant, nimble marvels of the road. Here are some highlights from seven decades of fibreglass frolics.

Lotus Elite SE (1958-63)
Weight 656kg

When discussing fibreglass cars, you kind of have to start – in terms of influence, if not chronologically – with the first Lotus Elite. Founder Colin Chapman had a central philosophy for his cars: light weight and simplicity, leading to plenty of on-road agility and a pure, involving driving experience. And the Elite embodied this perhaps best of all.

Other cars of the era were dabbling with fibreglass, perhaps using it for a few of the car body panels, thus bringing down weight. The Elite went forth much more boldly into the still relatively new world of fibreglass construction: its entire monocoque, or external structure, was made from the stuff.

This was the first time that a fibreglass shell performed a genuinely load-bearing role – and Lotus stole a four-year march on Formula 1, where the technique wouldn’t be adopted until 1962. Hence the Elite’s extraordinarily low weight – just over 650kg – which combined with its aerodynamic shape to produce a car of astonishing agility and on-road thrills. Lotus, we salute you.

Chevrolet Corvette C3 (1968-82)
Weight 1,644kg

Despite the material’s debut in the first Corvette, we haven’t many American entries in this list, as fibreglass and light weight was not so much of a priority over there (because those huge engines were doing all the work, perhaps?): however, we have to mention the ‘Vette, which used fibreglass through several of its early generations – and for us the iconic, long-produced third generation is the pick of the bunch.

We also love the C3 Corvette because the concept car that inspired it, the astonishing-looking Mako Shark II, is – to our eyes at least – one of the coolest automobile creations of all time. If the production Corvette C3 didn’t keep all of those aggressive looks, it retained enough of them to make it one of the most eye-catching, assertive cars on the road.

Ferrari 308 GTB (1975-77)
Weight 1,050 kg

The Ferrari 308 truly eased its way into global consciousness in around 1980, when Tom Selleck drove one in the American TV crime drama Magnum PI. In fact, though, it had been around for a few years before then – and it enters the history books as being, in GTB guise, the very first fibreglass Ferrari.

The 1975-77 308 GTB vetroresina (Italian for fibreglass) was produced in numbers of just 808 from its 1975 launch to the decision to switch to steel bodies in 1977, making it a rare and covetable beast indeed. That fibreglass body may (or may not) keep on going forever, but everything else about this wonderful sports car demands protection from some specialist classic car insurance.

BMW M1 (1978-81)
Weight 1,300kg

BMW’s first mid-engined supercar was also its first fibreglass model. The M1 was conceived out of the German marque’s desire to break the stranglehold of rival Porsche over Group 5 racing in the late 1970s. Developed with some help, at the start, from Lamborghini, the M1 was the first product of BMW’s new Motorsport division, from which all future M models would come.

Styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro at ItalDesign, the gorgeous, wedge-car-influenced M1 featured riveted fibreglass panels which were attached to a lightweight steel space frame chassis.
In the end, the car was hamstrung by changes to regulations within Group 5 racing, plus delays with the construction process and a slightly steep price tag (£37,500 for a six-cylinder sports car in 1978 was no small amount of money: the 12-cylinder Ferrari BB 512, with around 100hp more in the tank, would set you back £35,000). Just 399 M1 road cars were made, making them an uber-desirable sports car today.

Studebaker Avanti (1962-63)
Weight 1,404 kg

A glorious one-off, the Avanti grand tourer was one of the last hurrahs from Indiana wagon and automobile manufacturers Studebaker, before the company folded in 1967.

The gloriously original-looking GT featured both safety features and high-speed performance that were ahead of its time. Briefly occupying that halo spot as the world’s fastest production car, an Avanti could manage 178mph from its 4.7-litre engine – no mean feat, that, in 1962. We read that it broke no less than 29 world speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Interestingly, the Avanti’s chief designer, Raymond Loewy, already had a few design icons under his belt – including the updated 1955 Coke bottle. It was this that informed the design of the Avanti – and, indeed, birthed a whole new design catchphrase for cars, with models throughout the 60s and 70s such as the MK3 Cortina copying the Avanti’s ‘Coke bottle’ shape (essentially, a narrow ‘wasp waist’ and wider front and rear fenders).

It turns out that the Avanti’s adventurous contours would simply have been too challenging and expensive to create in steel, so Studebaker plumped for the far more malleable fibreglass instead. And we are very glad that they did.

Ginetta G15 (1968-74)
Weight 501kg

The Ginetta marque has always sounded glamorously Italian – however, the firm started producing its successful racing and sports cars in the quintessentially English town of Woodbridge, Suffolk, relocating to nearby Essex around the time of the G15’s production.
The pintsized, fibreglass G15 was the company’s smallest model, and could be acquired either fully built or in kit form.

The little speedster had a fibreglass body, set over a chassis of tubular steel. It borrowed its engine and four-speed gearbox from the ubiquitous Hillman Imp – and, like that car, stowed the engine in the boot, from where it drove the rear wheels. Steering and front suspension, meanwhile, came from another 60s/70s British stalwart, the Triumph Herald.

Not a car to take on a long holiday, this: the front compartment, freed up by sitting the engine at the rear, was totally filled up instead with the fuel tank and spare wheel, meaning zero boot space. What it was good for, though, was pounding around a track or snaking along Britain’s B roads – its threadbare weight, just a kilo over half a ton, made the Ginetta exceptionally agile and really quite pokey, even with its diminutive 875cc engine. Definitely a car from the Lotus ‘light is good’ school of motoring…

Some 800 were built, meaning that any still out there will command quite the premium and will demand protection with some specialist classic car insurance. If you can get hold of one, though, hours of exhilarating motoring await.

Lancia Stratos HF (1973-78)
Weight 980kg

This was what the future looked like in 1973. Yes, the Lancia Stratos, designed by Bertone’s Marcello Gandini – he of the Lamborghini Miura and Countach, as well as the frankly extraordinary Alfa Romeo Carabo superwedge of 1968 – must have looked nothing less than otherworldly when it hit showrooms in a year whose other innovations included the Austin Allegro and Reliant Robin.

Gandini’s mid-engined Stratos was built specifically with rallying in mind, with its curved ‘clamshell’ nose and tail sections, made from fibreglass, which pivoted up towards the sky. The Italian pocket rocket borrowed its 2.4-litre V6 engine, meanwhile, from the Ferrari Dino. No wonder that the Stratos’ roll call of rally wins is so impressive: three successive World Rally Championships (1974-76), five Tour de France Automobile wins and three triumphs on home turf at the Giro d'Italia car championship.

We can never quite decide if we like those squat, prowling looks, in fact, but they are utterly redolent of an adventurous time in car design, and there’s no disputing the Stratos’ immense stature in rally circles and beyond.

Matra Rancho (1977-1984)
Weight 1,130kg

Most of the cars in this list are slimline little racers – so it’s good to be able to go a little bit leftfield with our inclusion of France’s late 70s/early 80s ‘leisure vehicle’, the rugged-looking-but-actually-not-that-rugged Matra Rancho.

It’s not only in the use of its fibreglass body and tough-wearing plastic cladding that the Rancho seemed to look to the future. It was also – in responding to the niche already carved out by the Range Rover – a pioneering early crossover, giving you all of the rugged looks of an SUV with, um, relatively few of its actual capabilities (the Rancho was still resolutely two-wheel drive). Modern off-road-looking, but not actually off-roading counterparts like the Skoda Yeti and Nissan Qashqai can draw a direct line back to the Rancho.

Renault Espace Mk1 (1984-91)
Weight 1,240kg

And if we’re mentioning the Rancho, we have to include the car that it helped to spawn: Europe’s first people carrier, the first-generation Renault Espace.

The Espace featured a fibreglass body over a galvanised steel monocoque space frame. The use of fibreglass lent some surprising agility to what would otherwise have been a cumbersome beast – its kerb weight of a little over 1,200kg undercuts, remarkably, a modern Ford Focus.
The even bigger news was the seven seats, all able to pivot independently. You could fold down or even lift out the back five, while – truly groundbreaking, this – the front pair could spin around, allowing the family to stop and picnic as they cruised down the Autoroute du Soleil to the French coast.

Reliant Scimitar GTE (1968-75)
Weight 1,188 kg

From the Triumph 2000 to today’s Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake (and not forgetting those various wild and wonderful Aston Martin Shooting Brakes), there’s always been something desirable about the sporting estate car. That almost counter-intuitive mix of practicality and genuine quickness has found legions of admirers: and they came out in force for the Reliant Scimitar GTE, a superbly elegant expression of the sporting-estate form.

Power came courtesy of Ford’s 2994cc V6 Essex engine, also seen in contemporary Capris and Granadas, making for some strong performance which was only helped by the car’s lightweight fibreglass panels.

The Scimitar’s army of admirers famously included Princess Anne, who was given a Scimitar by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh as a joint 20th birthday and Christmas present in 1970, and subsequently owned no fewer than eight more. No wonder, as its combination of decent boot space and strong performance made it perfect for the city slickers and the hunting and shooting crowd alike.

Care for your fibreglass classic through Lancaster

Fibreglass has certainly played its part in automotive history, helping in the creation of some lightweight, nimble classics (plus the odd crossover and MPV) such as those we’ve listed above. We hope you’ll make the wise choice to protect your car with some classic car insurance – both for your own ownership and also to safeguard the car for future generations, for whom these fibreglass classics may seem even more exotic than they do to us today.

Benefits of classic auto insurance through Lancaster can include:

• Historic rally cover
• Car club member discounts of up to 25%
• Limited mileage discounts
• Choice of repairer
• 24-hour claims helpline
• Laid-up cover available

Give your classic the protection it deserves and contact us for a classic car insurance quote today.

Policy benefits, features and discounts offered may very between insurance schemes or cover selected and are subject to underwriting criteria. Information contained within this article is accurate at the time of publishing but may be subject to change.