In 1950 the first "fiberglass" automobile body was brought to the attention of a few members of the general public when the author showed the "SKORPION" and the "WASP" at the first Motorama in Los Angeles after World War II. The fiberglass bodies of these two little cars were sold as a kit usually for the widely available at the time, Crosley chassis. Motor Trend magazine featured the Skorpion on the cover with cover story in the 1952 April issue.
These events triggered an explosion of interests from the war-hungry sports car enthusiast, particularly, when they found they could build their own sports car even of their own design. Because of the overwhelming flood of inquires I received, in self defense, I put out a small booklet telling not only how to build a car from our own kit, but how to build the necessary full size models molds, and parts of their own design. Thousands of reprints, re-writes, and expanded editions later by 1960, Post Publications had sold more than 40,000 copies. By the time Dan Post had died in the mid eighties, more than 65,000 copies had been sold. I bought back the remaining stock of the 1965 fourth edition from the Post Estate in 1991 and added them to my other books for sale. I had considered a complete re-write of the book at the time, but was urged by my many auto historian friends to preserve the book as a classic, but to include an up-date as an insert. When the stock of books purchased from Post ran out in 1998, the book was reprinted as is except the up-date is now printed within the book and the photos are much enhanced. This is still the"hands-on" Bible of basic shop manuals for building anything from "fiberglass" whether it be an auto body, boat, aircraft or any commercial product.
