When I first spotted this American Special, I noticed that it didn’t look quite right. The seller listed it as a Glasspar G2, which has a rather interesting and easily identifiable grille. As you can see, this car’s front end is reminiscent of an AC Cobra or an old Ferrari race car. It doesn’t look like a Glasspar at all from the front, but if you take a look at the back end and the overall proportions, you can see some Glasspar DNA. So what’s the story with it? Well that’s a bit of a mystery, but I have my theories! If you’d love to take a closer look at this special, you can find it here on eBay in Port Monmouth, New Jersey with a current bid of $9k.

The seller notes in their description that they know this isn’t a Glasspar G2, or at least that they don’t believe it is. They recount the story they were given, but admit they haven’t found any evidence to prove it. According to one of the previous owner, who found the car in 1971 parked in a back yard, it was built by Warren Gerdes. They claimed Gerdes worked at Glasspar and also drove their factory race car. We know for a fact that Gerdes worked at Glasspar, so that much of the story is accurate! From there though, everything is a bit of speculation. While they don’t have any evidence to connect this car with Gerdes, the seller does have all the car’s history from ’71 on.

Whether or not Gerdes built this car, I can’t say, but just looking at it and it’s build quality, I have some theories. The back half looks similar to a G2 and as you follow the body lines to the front fenders, you can see plenty of Glasspar design elements. Whoever built it either modified a G2 or used it as their design inspiration. If it was built by Gerdes, it would make sense that it would be similar to a Glasspar. He may have even started with a G2 body and modified it to his liking.

I always love finds like this! The mystery of who built it, their dreams for it and the task of tracking down the story is almost as much fun as driving it. I’m sure this one will be an absolute blast to drive once you have it running. It’s currently equipped with a ’57 Corvette 283 with an Offenhauser 3×2 carb setup and a Ford 3 speed transmission. The engine currently doesn’t run, but the transmission was rebuilt not long ago. It also has all new brake lines, so if you can get the engine running, it won’t take much to have it moving under it’s own power again. Digging up the full story on the other hand, could be a much bigger task. Matthew Tritt, Bill’s son is a frequent visitor of the site and could be a great source of information about the cars his dad built and may know more about Gerdes and this car! So Matt, do you recognize this one?