Byers Sports Car History
Featured Stories On Byers Sports Cars Below
Overview
Road and Track featured a Byers SR-100 on the cover of their magazine in February, 1957. John Bond who owned Road & Track felt it represented one of the finest designs for an American sports car he had ever seen and proclaimed it “The World’s Most Beautiful Sports Car” in his feature article. This was quite an achievement for Jim Byers and this helped him launch his sports car company to greater heights.
Jim Byers got his start working on the first Victress body in 1952. Next, he partnered with with Dick Jones to create and build the 1953 Meteor SR-1 sports car which made its debut at the 1953 Petersen Motorama at the Pan Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Jones and Byers amicably separated in 1955 and each continued with their own design. Byers changed the lines of the Meteor SR-1 body by adding a kick-up over the rear fenders, and a completely new rear design. This new body was called the Byers SR-100. Within a year, Byers had designed another body called a CR-90 for a shorter wheelbase race car, and built limited number of custom one-off bodies for customers from thru 1963.
Each body was hand laid fiberglass, and several bodies were tailored to the owner’s specifications. Total production of Byers SR-100 bodies is estimated at 25. Kellison later purchased the SR-100 molds, made small changes to the design and offered a “chopper gun” version of the body for another 5-7 years with production approximately at 25. Fiberglass Trends purchased the CR-90 molds and began producing these bodies in 1966.
John Bond, owner and publisher of Road and Track Magazine, ultimately built just one sports car during his life. He partnered with Jim Byers and built his own “Byers SR-100” Sports Roadster in 1958-1959 – a testimony to the design and craftsmanship of Jim Byers and his vision.
Byers SR-100 Rendering: Dan Palatnik, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Background Information
Explore The Links Below
Vintage and Modern Byers Sports Car Articles
Byers Custom Bodies – Fairchild Panhard
Coming Soon
Original Byers Communication
The Rollie Langston Collection
Vintage Byers Photography
Vintage Collections of Historic Photos
Byers Sports Car Artwork
Dan Palatnik Artistry
Byers Blueprints and Wireframes / Cutaways
Provided to Builders By Byers To Assist Their Builds
Byers Sports Car Book (1955 – 1967)
Coming Soon
Byers Sports Car Showcase and Registry
Explore The Links Below
Guy Dirkin’s 1956 Byers SR-100
Geordie Prodis’ 1955 Byers SR-100
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John Furlow’s 1957 Byers SR-100
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George McGuire’s 1957 Byers SR-100
“The John Bond Byers”
Coming Soon
View Byers Sports Car Registry (SR-100 & CR-90)
Visit The Complete Forgotten Fiberglass Showcase
Want to Own or Build a Byers SR100? Click Here To Learn More
Contributors To This History
We’re proud to release this newly created section of Undiscovered Classics that focuses on the history of the Byers Sports cars. Our research into this marque started in 2007, and took the help of many to complete. This help came from Byers owners such as Guy Dirkin, Geordie Prodis, John Furlow, Phil Fleming, Dave Petersen, Barry Hall, George McGuire, Cal Johnson, Leon Mull, Jim Weissenborn and others.
Our research also involved individuals who worked with Jim Byers, knew Jim Byers, built their cars and other historical relationships such as Rollie Langston, Frank (employee/friend) and Marge Tifft, Margaret Tifft, Tim Chrisman, Erich Schultz, Merrill Powell (Victress), Joe Kane, Harry King, John “Bat” Masterson, Ron Cummings, Dick Jones (Meteor), Rodger Gregerson, Gary Osko, Denny Larson, Bill and Ed Fort, Rory Reinbold, Ron Kellogg, Doug Winther, Julie Fields, Ron Berri and others.
Compiling the history on Byers Sports Cars was the work of many, and we’re indebted to those on the list above and others too for helping to make this happen. Great thanks to all.
Geoffrey Hacker
Undiscovered Classics
June, 2020