Glass Sport Motors (South Africa)
A couple of Stellenbosch students had a dream. This caught the imaginations of three young South Africans – master engineer Willie Meissner (who was to become famous for his modifications of Fords), commercial artist Verster de Wit, and the one to survive the other two, designer Bob van Niekerk.
Studying at Stellenbosch, Bob and Willie could see what their car should be like, but couldn’t produce it – not until the discovery of a new material, fiberglass, by them. This solved two purposes: it offered a cheap course for series production and it made the car extremely firm and light due to the rigidity of the steel and fiberglass composite. And it is fiberglass that enabled Bob van Niekerk to design a very lithe suspension system. This suspension system is appreciated by the members of the GSM Car Club, South Africa even today.
No wonder then that GSM stands for Glass Sport Motors, referring to its fiberglass body. Glassport Motor Company (GSM) was a South African automobile manufacturer situated in Cape Town during the years 1958 to 1964 and famous for its originals: GSM Dart and GSM Flamingo.
A tiny Sports car that entered the racing world way before it should have, GSM Dart first broke cover towards the end of 1957. Although its origins can be traced back to South Africa, the car’s form, structure and design were styled by Verster de Wit in England. Once the production was set-up in Cape Town, South Africa, it was also exported to England. It used different engines including the Coventry Climax and Ford Anglia 100E and 105E units. The Darts had a fiberglass two seat body which was open. A hardtop which had a reverse slanted rear window was later available. This design was later adopted by Fords too.
While the manufacturers were delighted that the Dart was so successful in competition with its predecessor GRP Protea, they couldn’t help but notice that GSM Dart was largely seen as a racing car. To counter this image, they planned a revised version of the Dart, called the Flamingo.
The Dart was out-sold by the considerably heavier Flamingo. The Flamingo’s greater popularity was due to its beautiful shape and much more luxurious specification.
But on the racetrack it was the Dart that stole the show and won races at Silverstone in England, and in Europe. In fact, Dart was so good that it was winning even in the 1980s. Roddy Turner, a famous racer, used a later Levy Dart to win in the Western Province Clubmans Championship.
The Levy Dart was a regeneration of the original car in the 1980s by Jeff Levy and the late Verster de Wit. Very similar to the original Dart in terms of engineering and structure, the Levy Dart had a few modern touches. In the 1990’s, a more loosely accurate replica under the guise of the Hayden Dart was manufactured. These are still being made.
A remarkable percentage of the GSM cars still survive. Considering how long it has been since these came into production, this only speaks for the quality and class that was GSM!
- Nikita Sarin
Tags: glass sport motors south africa, gsm, gsm vehicles, sports car, sports cars
Related Posts:Related Posts
Leave a Comment
