| The Cars |
|
Copyright © Angus Dudley |
| All the cars produced by Convair were designed to fit onto the Ford 8/10 chassis with its 7'6" wheelbase. This was a popular choice among "Specials" builders in the 1950's and was readily available. |
 The
first shell produced was designed to be used to build a "special" for
racing. The curvaceous shape was popular with racing cars of the period.
It bore a resemblance to the highly successful
Jaguar C-Type albeit much smaller and with a different air intake. The
shell was marketed by Convair simply as the "Convair" but for the
purposes of this site I have referred to it as the "Roadster"
to help to distinguish between it and the company. |
| Convair initially only produced glassfibre shells but soon customers were asking for chassis as well. Consequently Convair started selling Ford chassis suitably strengthened and up rated. Convair also started making bespoke chassis to customer requirements. |
 Racing
customers started requesting hardtops and a coupé body in an effort to
reduce the Achilles Heel of open top cars - i.e. aerodynamic drag. To
this end a Gullwing hard top was produced along with a
GT body. Again this was aimed at racing and was very lightweight. It
appeared only months before the brothers went their separate ways and
only 6 were made - and all became road cars.
|
 The
"Excell" body was designed purely as a
road-going sports car and was much sturdier than the orginal
Roadster. The openings were all made much
larger making a much more practical car. It could be purchased with a
comprehensive dashboard, trim, hard top, tonneau cover or even as a
complete car. Two moulds were made to speed up production. Consequently
when Convair split the brothers took a mould each and carried on
producing shells under their new names - TWM and Nordec. |
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This site was last updated 02/24/06
