Petersen Automotive Museum – Fiberglass Day: Part 3 – Merrill Powell and Victress Take the Stage


As You’ll Learn as you Watch the Videos Below, Victress Produced Not Just Sports Car Bodies But Also Had Significant Military and Government Contracts Too. Here Two Victress Employees Show Off Their Handiwork Before Installation of the Olympic Rings for Squaw Valley in 1960.

Hi Gang…

Today I’m pleased to present part 3 of “Fiberglass Day” which was held at the Petersen Automotive Museum on Saturday June 26th, 2010.  During this segment, Merrill Powell from Victress takes the stage and discusses the history of Victress and their car designs and other products spanning from 1952 thru 1961.

Merrill joined “Doc” Boyce-Smith from Victress as Co-Owner near the end of 1953 / beginning of 1954, and has some great stories to share with you about the early days of “glass” in Southern California.  He also takes the time to explain how the designs and the molds were completed for the famous Victress Coupes – the C2 and C3 sports cars.  As you listen carefully to Merril’s talk, you can almost taste the aroma of fiberglass resin percolating thru the Victress factory in North Hollywood from so many years ago.

In 2008, Merrill Powell and I Returned to the Location of The Original Victress Factory in North Hollywood. To Our Surprise, Many of the Buildings Were Still There.

Here’s the video for your review and enjoyment.  As before, the opening credits run about 15 seconds, and then the video starts.  Since YouTube limits video to 15 minute segments, I broke this into two videos.  The total time Merrill Powell spoke was approximately 18 minutes, which works out to 11 minutes for the first video below and 7 minutes for the second.

Grab a drink, get some food, keep saying the word “fiberglass……fiberglass…….fiberglass….” and enjoy the videos below:

[vsw id=”zhA1Ws_3SD8″ source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”] [vsw id=”yZXq118kZKk” source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”]

.

Earlier Stories Concerning “Fiberglass Day”:

You can review the earlier posting concerning this event by clicking on the following links:

Click here for more information about the Fantasies in Fiberglass Exhibit at Petersen in 2010

Click here to review “Fiberglass Day” part 1

Click here to review “Fiberglass Day” part 2

During My Stay in Los Angeles for “Fiberglass Day”, Merrill and Gerianne Powell, Friends Eric and Kenny Schultz and I Went to See The Original Location of the Victress Big Boy at Toluca Lake (Burbank). The Big Boy Here Was a More Modern Replacement Than the One’s Created by Victress in the 1950’s.

Summary:

Thanks again to Merrill Powell for taking the time to participate at the Petersen Museum “Fiberglass Day” event and sharing his memories of Victress with all of us.  And as always…

Glass on….

Geoff


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.