09/03/2026
We’ve always considered ourselves lucky in identifying the history of a lost fiberglass sports car. Sometimes it takes more than 10 years but in the end we often are fortunate enough to find the family, person, history etc that links the history to the car. This mystery started on March 6, 2015, just over 10 years ago.
Good friend Rich Harris sent me two photos of a (red fiberglass) car he saw in person back in 1973 in the Miami, Florida area. We did a story on the mystery car back then, link below. You’ll see that we could not identify the car, but it closely looked like the LeGene Roadster which at the time was its own mystery car we later identified.
https://www.undiscoveredclassics.com/forgotten-fiberglass/florida-mystery-sports-car-circa-1973/
So from March 2015 thru September 2026 (11 years) no other cars surfaced, and the one shown in 1973 hadn’t surfaced either, that is until Rick Milne contacted me last week. Rick asked me to check out all the cool kit cars in the Quincy, Michigan auction. The auction is September 10, 2026, next week and you can view the link here:
https://www.spiethandsatow.com/rostetter.html
As you scroll thru the auction, you’ll see three photos of a gray car that, no doubt, is the same car as the red car. My thoughts are that this is NOT the car from 1973 in Miami, Florida. This would mean it’s a second car of a small number of these cars produced. Limited production was typical of the 1950s and based on styling, I would bet the year of the car near 1955, just like the Californian LeGene Roadster.
If we assume, as we now can show, that at least 2 cars were built that means we now have two data points. Both cars were found east of the Mississippi (more than 50 years apart from one another) and the cars east of the river were publicized and documented less than their southern Californian magazine celebrated brethren.
Case in point, I’ve found around 11 of one kind of car that looks a bit like a Glasspar but is definitely not based on it. About 7 of these cars have been found in Indians and surrounding states. One or two made it to California. So we have a car that I’ve found 11 of with no history but most likely was built in/around Indianapolis and we continue, to this day, to look for the history of this car.
So, are any of you up to traveling to Quincy, Michigan next week and procuring yourself a mystery car, perhaps the last one left of a small run of cars?
Perhaps with the car you’ll find some history, particularly if you attend the auction and talk to people who may know more (especially if it was built in the Michigan area).
Great thanks go to good friend Rick Milne who shared this auction and car with me. Rick supports all handcrafted cars but his expertise is with the beautifully designed Sterling cars of the 70s. Thanks again Rick for sending my way and keep your fingers crossed that one of my Michigan or nearby friends (this means you) can swoop in and save the car, no doubt starting the next phase of our research.
Have fun and save a mystery car! If you are planning to go, please let us know. There’s a lot of cool stuff at that auction next week.
