Hi Jon,
I thought you and those who visit your fabulous website might
like to have some information on the Glasspar bodied race car
that I recently acquired. The Mameco-Ardun was the brainchild of
fiberglass visionary Bill Tritt, founder and owner of Glasspar
Company of Costa Mesa California. Tritt assembled a professional
team to build the car in 1953 as part of his marketing campaign
to promote his high quality fiberglass bodies. Tritt hired Ed
Martindale and Ted Mangles (of Mameco frame fame) to construct
the car on a 2”x 3” 1030 SAE Mameco steel frame. The car’s
Mercury-Ardun engine and special intake manifold were built by
the legendary C.T. Automotive team. The body was a G-2 model
Glasspar unit (#G2353141) which Tritt provided.
The car became the Glasspar
factory works race car and was campaigned in California in 1953
by Warren Gerdes and later Bill Pollack. This was one of the
earliest post-war American factory racing efforts. Early
research shows that the car raced at Pebble Beach, Palm Springs,
Santa Barbara, Golden Gate, and March Field in 1953. Pollack and
the Mameco-Ardun finished an impressive third to Phil Hill in a
Ferrari and Bill Stroppe in a Kurtis at Santa Barbara in
September. Perhaps the car’s greatest effort was at the National
Finals at March Field in November where Pollack finished sixth
behind John Fitch and Briggs Cunningham in two Cunningham C4-Rs,
William Spears in a Ferrari MM, Masten Gregory in a Jaguar
C-Type, and Jim Kimberly in a Ferrari America.
Mark Brinker
mbrinker@houston.rr.com
