10/3/11
We are selling a Glasspar/Larson G3 boat with an 85 horsepower Mercury outboard. We think the boat is a 1975 model, but we are not 100% sure. We are also including the trailer with purchase. We are asking $800 OBO Contact Bob at 224 456 6129. See below for pics!
There is actually quite a bit of history that surrounds the classic boat company named Glasspar. Bill Tritt, the founder of the company, began building smaller sized fiberglass boats in his factory in Santa Ana, CA in 1949. Bill Tritt was very dedicated to his boat business, and was stunning the world with his use of fiberglass in the construction of his boats as time passed. He closely studied marine architecture and the art of building boats. His fiberglass boats were sometimes referred to as “plastic boats,” but he knew that fiberglass was the wave of the future. In fact, by the 1950s, Glasspar was manufacturing about fifteen to twenty percent of all the fiberglass boats that were being manufactured and sold in the United States.
Bill Tritt had developed multiple sizes and different styles of boats for all different preferences for his customers. One of the most noted boats that he created was known as the Glasspar G3. This particular boat is probably the most famous of his designs. The Glasspar G3 was named after the G3 missile, because the boat itself looks like a missile when on the water. The G3 ski boat was manufactured from the early 1960s up until the mid 1970s. When Glasspar was sold to Larson boats in the early 1970s, Larson continued to manufacture Glasspar G3 for sale because of their popularity.
The Glasspar G3 boat is actually going to make a rebirth! The boat has not been manufactured new since about 1974. FiberClassic Boat Manufacturing has created a newer version of the G3 ski boat and is bringing it to the marketplace very soon. Go to http://www.G3Skiboat.com for more information on this unique project with one of the most classic boats ever created!
This corner is off of a 1970′s Glasspar G3 rub rail. If you are standing behind the boat…this would go on the right corner. I have never seen any of these for sale on Ebay as long as I have been a fan of Glasspar G3s. This one does have some scratches and scuffs. Sold as is. The sale will be final. Use Paypal to Buy it now! Click here to go to the auction on Ebay!
UPDATE: 7/30/09 This boat has sold! Even though the boat has sold, I am still a G3 fanatic. If you are interested in listing your G3 for sale, then please let me know as this site receives massive targeted exposure for this classic boat. I will list it for a one time payment of $50. The buyer found me from this site and drove all the way from Philadelphia for this boat!
Old description of the boat that has just sold: I am selling the Glasspar G3 boat that is on this page. This boat is in great condition for its age and was actually in a boat show a couple years ago. The 1963 100 horsepower antique Mercury Kiekhaefer engine pushes the boat at about 35 miles per hour. I want to sell it to an owner that will appreciate it as it is an extremely fun boat to own. I cannot take it out on the river without attracting lots of attention! It is located in Rockford, IL. I am asking $3,500. When I purchased the boat, I installed new vinyl seats, a Momo woodgrain steering wheel, a new shiny chrome throttle control, a new bilge pump, and also put new vinyl on the rest of the boat interior. I have had an antique Mercury expert from Chicago do all of the work on the engine. The transom has been reinforced in the past, and trim tabs have been installed as well. The trailer will be included. This boat is ready to rock.
(Click on any of the pictures on this page to see the enlarged image, and then click the back arrow in your browser to return to the homepage)
The famous Glasspar boatbuilding company was born in 1949 when Bill Tritt began building small fiberglass boats hulls in his factory in Santa Ana, CA.
Bill Tritt had a passion and very keen interest in boats and cars before World War II, when he studied marine architecture and boat building. He worked for Douglas Aircraft’s Production Planning and Illustration Departments during WW II, and by 1945, he had constructed a number of catamaran sailboats. In 1947, John Green, a yachtsman friend, paid Tritt to design and build a racing sailboat in the twenty foot range. Fiberglass seemed the logical construction material, and Otto Bayer of Wizard Boats was enlisted as laminator. The boat was nicknamed the Green Dolphin, and four were built in various lengths. This was Tritt’s introduction to fiberglass-reinforced plastic (FRP). By 1947 he was building small fiberglass boats, and built the first ever fiberglass masts and spars for sailboats. He became a pioneer in the industry. His company became the Glasspar Company and moved to larger quarters from Costa Mesa to Santa Ana, California, in the early 1950s. By the mid 1950s, Glasspar was producing 15 to 20 percent of all fiberglass boats sold in the U.S.
Glasspar built boats in ranges from car toppers to twenty foot models and everything in between. Just prior to 1969, when Glasspar was sold off, there were even twenty-one and twenty-five foot ocean going models that Tritt had produced. Boats were often given Mediterranean sounding names and the boat classes within the model were often indicated by a model type, and then model name with a hyphen in between. For example in the fourteen foot range there was a model called the Lido which came in three configurations. The Sport-Lido, Club-Lido, and Lido (standard). Another line, called the Mariner, might include the Sport-Mariner, Club-Mariner, or Mariner (standard) model. Some boat models were also named for areas in and around Southern California such as Avalon on the island of Catalina.
This website is dedicated to my 1970 Glasspar G3 boat and will discuss some of the enhancements that I have made to it. It definitely did not look like this when I brought it home!
The Glasspar G3 was named after the G3 missile because of its unique fiberglass shape. My G3 in the header picture above came with a 1963 Kiekhaefer Mercury 1000. This antique engine turned out to be in exceptional condition! The only issue that I had was with the choke solonoid, which I was able to fix. You might ask, why did this guy want a Glasspar G3? Well, I have to say that there was something about this particular boat that grabbed my attention. Other boats did not always have this same effect, especially ones that were similar in price.