In about 1970 I met Bill Snow at his plastics plant in Fort Worth Texas.
Bill's company produced the tooling and manufactured the plastic body for
the Bricklin.
Many of you may have seen a few of them around.
http://www.poulincomm.com/coolcars/
The body panels, doors, hood, trunk deck were all manufactured from high
impact plastic, It was very light weight in comparison with fiberglass
bodies and the panels all had precision fit that allowed them to be
replaced much like the VW bug counterparts of fenders, hoods, doors with
just a few simple hand tools.
The amenities of the Bricklin included a prestigious dash panel with
optional hardwood overlays and incorporated air conditioning ductwork
that doubled as heat ducting.
The basic design for the Bricklin allowed for a wide variety of engine
configurations that were only dictated by your budget.
The Bricklin was an all weather vehicle with a curb weight of
approximately 2000 pounds when fitted with a three hundred horse power
engine.
Bill Snow got his start in the plastics business punching out the plastic
credit cards for Preston State Bank in Dallas Texas. Preston Reynolds of
Preston State Bank invented the credit card. The card could be used in
many of the upper end Dallas Department stores and of course you've seen
the explosion of credit cards.
Bill Snow was the only producer of the plastic credit cards for a very
short three year time frame but acquired a fair amount of wealth within
that two years.
In 1960 Vanguard Corporation in Dallas Texas produced a vehicle called
the Mustang. I can't explain why Ford wound up using the name other than
Vanguard just didn't trademark register it.
The vanguard Mustang was an aluminum body with a rear or mid engine
dependant on whether you purchased a Ford or Buick power plant.
Vanguard also produced an aluminum bodied car called a Vetta Venturi that
sported an Ace Bristol British built body very similar in appearance to
the Aston Martin made famous by James Bond films.
During the short period that Vanguard produced the Vetta Venturi my
company outfitted the Buick powered vehicles with Cyclone, Hooker,
Headman headers and the accompanying high performance exhaust system.
Although none of these vehicles was ever offered as a kit car they are
still out there and are very collectable classics because of their
limited production and extraordinary high performance options that big
bucks gets you.

Stan Wilder

On Sat, 12 Jan 2002 10:30:31 -0800 Todd Francis <tbf@PACIFIER.COM>
writes:
> They are pretty cool. GM filed suit over their name so now they are
> called
> Wombat instead of Hummbug. Here is the site
>  http://www.kitcar.com/wombat/home.html
>
>  Another kit that is like the Wombat is the Hum-lite. I think they
> have a
> site around but I can't find it right now. There are pix of them at
> http://www.kitcar.com/articles-kitcar/knotts00/home.html
> I saw one of these at a show and was very impressed. You could
> really do a
> lot of interesting things with suspension while building one of
> these things
> including Syncro running gear. Plenty of room to build whatever you
> want
> underneath.
>
> Todd Francis
> Precision Alloy LTD.
> http://www.precisionalloy.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ben T" <BenTbtstr8@AOL.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 7:28 PM
> Subject: Re: OT-VW bug Hum V kit
>
>
> > In a message dated 1/11/02 7:08:32 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> > mumbrue@ATTBI.COM writes:
> >
> > << So, has anyone bought one of these kits?  I hear its only 3,000
> for the
> >  package.  It looks just like a Hum V, only a bit smaller.  : )
> >>
> >
> > cute as a bug. it's really an updated look dune buggy. fits on a
> bug
> chassis.
> > it's really tiny compared to the real deal. you ought to see it in
> person
> > before buying one. it'd be better if some stuck a syncro
> drivetrain under
> it.
> >
> > less than $3K for a stripped body package.
> >
> > BenT
> >
> >
>
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