1955 Californian Sport Special

The Californian was built in Los Angeles around the mid-1950s. It was a handcrafted sports car clothed in fiberglass. Fiberglass was a relatively new material that was light, moldable, and did not require the machinery and manufacturing requirements of steel body production. It had a Ford chassis from the 1940s and was powered by a 239 cubic-inch Ford flathead V8 engine, built for speed with dual Stromberg carburetors using an Offenhauser aluminum intake manifold with Offenhauser aluminum heads. The transmission is a Ford three-speed unit with a floor-mounted shift lever. The interior is finished with two-tone bucket seats with piping accents, black carpet, and a fiberglass dash with a wood grain panel that holds the instruments, including a speedometer, tach, oil pressure, and temperature gauges.

In the front is a large hood scoop integrated into the hood with an oval grille with stainless trim. There is a two-piece laid-back wraparound windshield with chrome surround, which is the only chrome on the car except for the wheel caps and the bumpers. It rides on period-painted wire wheels with blackwall tires.

There are currently three known examples in existence.

By Daniel Vaughan | May 2016