TOPIC: Glasspar Boats Water Testing – 1959

Our friend Eddie Grijalva worked for Glasspar for 10 years starting in 1952. Eddie had the original 16 mm footage and some time ago had it digitized. Thanks to George Bell over at Classic Glasspars for publishing it on YouTube.



This film was shot at Back Bay in Newport Beach CA and features Eddie piloting various Glasspar models and prototypes and putting them through their paces. I have seen this footage previously so it is great to see it published on YouTube for all to enjoy.

Terry

You got me all excited...but doesn't play for me ! Can you post a link?

Thanks!

Al T

Al, try this



The following is as posted by George Bell at Classic Glasspars:

Eddie was able to provide more information on the background of this video. Rather than paraphrasing, I decided to just copy and paste his email here:

"George,
As far as I can remember, here it is: The date was the summer of 1959, location, Back-Bay, Newport Beach, CA, that area was also known as the Newport Dunes. The back round were just plain cliffs, now million dollar homes. The boats that we were testing were, the G-3, Del Mar, Sea Fair Sedan with twin motors, the Marathon and a Avalon prototype unfinished black hull, we made some changes on the hull that Bill Tritt wanted to test. These are the names of some of the Glasspar crew that were there that I remember, Darrel Trudau, Del Gerkie, Norm Elliott, Joe Mata, the CEO Bill Tritt and Eddie Grijalva.
This is what this my memory remembers, it is just 81 years young.
Take care,
Eddie Grijalva"

I'll also try to add to the YouTube post.

George

For those of you that don’t know our friend Eddie Grijalva I can tell you he is an amazing individual. Eddie traveled from his home in Northern CA in 2009 to attend the FGC G3 International Rally at Tiger Lake FL so many of us had the pleasure to meet him.

You can’t miss him in this film. He is the young handsome guy doing donuts in the Citation with the twin Evinrudes and again opening up that Scott in the G3.

Eddie is a native Californian and worked for Glasspar founder Bill Tritt at the Santa Ana plant. He started in the sanding department in 1952 and must have certainly paid his dues to work his way into R&D where he helped build the molds for the boats we cruise aboard today.

Eddie wrote a book about his experience working for Glasspar and it’s a great read that I literally could not put down. I read it cover to cover in one sitting although it is only 45 pages and has lots of pictures. Definitely recommended reading for all Glasspar aficionados.

Glasspar Boat Builder Circa 1952-1962 by Edward Grijalva

Eddie restored a Seafair Sedan ‘El Chululu’ in 04 and has used the boat for fishing out on the Mare Island Straits at Vallejo CA.

Eddie’s roots go way back in the history of Southern California and he spent 20 years researching his ancestors.

He discovered he was a 6th-genration cousin of Juan Pablo Grijalva who was a lieutenant in the Spanish Army and the first resident of Orange County CA. In 1801 at the age of 55 Juan Pablo retired and petitioned the Spanish government for the land that became Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. The sprawling 80,000-acre Rancho was in what today is Orange County.

The story of the Grijalva heritage in the Americas actually began in 1518 when Juan de Grijalva led an expedition to the Yucatan and discovered a large river there that today is known as Rio de Grijalva. In 1533 the ‘San Loranzo’, a ship captained by Hernando Grijalva sailed with Hernando Cortez when the expedition discovered California.

In 1992 Eddie located the ruins of his Cousin Juan Pablo’s casa in the City of Orange. In 1996 the Orange County Historical Commission erected a Historical Marker at the site commemorating Juan Pablo Grijalva.

It has been said that "Grijalva's personal search for his roots has unearthed information that challenges conventional versions of Orange County history" and "Eddie is a bona fide historian/researcher and spending time with Eddie Grijalva is like touching history"

Very interesting, thanks for posting it, and the other info about Eddie. It was a pleasure to meet him at the 2009 Glasspar G3 Rally.
I recall that at one stage there was uncertainty about when the first G3s were made, but this adds to claim that the G3 beginnings were in 1959.
Ken

Hello Ken,

Yeah Eddie is great guy and I spoke with him yesterday and he is doing well.

From everything I have seen 59 was the first year the G3 was offered. It’s shown in the 59 price pages and not listed in 58.

What we see in this film brings up questions as to when it was shot. I believe 1960 was the first year for the Citation we see with the twin Eninrudes. But they could have had it ready to go for testing in 59.

Also shown here was the new style DelMar which was first offered in 1961 and towards the end there is the shot of the Merc 800 which was first available in 1960.

The very last scene is interesting as well. I believe that is Lido but at the bottom of the screen it looks like there is a Seafair Sedan at the dock. And I’m going to guess that is at Lake Tahoe.

Terry