..The early Covettes Part 3

Union City, is a small town approximately 25 miles south of Erie, in northwestern PA. During the 20th century there were several good furniture manufactures located in Union City, and it was particularly well know for good dining room tables and chairs.

Some of these furniture companies eventually closed. One was located at 55 Fourth Avenue, in a solid (they don't build them like that anymore!) three story building. Some of the woodworking equipment was left in the building and many of the former employees still lived in the area.

The local electric company, Penelec, convinced MFG to set up a boat manufacturing plant in the unoccupied building. This made good sense for several reasons: (1) Union City was only 65 miles from MFG's headquarters in Ashtabula, permitting inexpensive shipment of boats hulls from Ashtabula to UC; (2) we needed to build wood transoms, seats and decks for the boat hulls and the building had most of the equipment and skilled people nearby; (3) the building was inexpensive to purchase; and (4) MFG managers could commute there from Ashtabula in about an hour. Except Bob Morrison, who made it in 45 minutes.

So, we moved in late 1954 and introduced three 15-foot models. And that is when the fiber glass boat was born. TBC.

P.S. Can you name the models? An MFG tie to you, if you can!

The First Corvettes--1953

In January, 1953, Chevrolet displayed a concept car, known as the "Corvette", at the Motorama <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorama>, held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Hidden inside the new car were microphones, capturing the comments of the curious public. The feedback was surprising and generally quite positive. Fortified with this public reaction, and with the market intelligence that Ford was developing a roadster (Thunderbird) for production, Chevrolet decided to start manufacture of this interesting vehicle. As soon as possible.

The Corvette could have been produced with a steel body, but there were those in GM that were interested in a new material system, then know as "fiber glass reinforced plastics", or FRP. Molded Fiber Glass (MFG) was one of the very first commercial producers of FRP products, beginning modestly in Ashtabula, OH, in 1948. MFG received a visit from two Chevrolet engineers in 1953, who thought MFG was interesting - but far too small to be an automotive supplier.

Bob Morrison, founder of MFG, thought differently, and eventually convinced GM to contract with MFG for over 100 FRP parts for the new Corvettes. That is a great story, and will be the subject of additional blogs.

PS---Bob Morrison was my father.