The Avenger GT was a
kit car
A kit car is an automobile available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then assembles into a functioning car. Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor ve ...
produced by
Fiberfab
Fiberfab was an American automotive manufacturer established in 1964. Starting with accessories and body parts, they progressed to making kit cars and fully assembled automobiles. They became one of the longest lasting kit car manufacturers.
C ...
. It was designed in California and manufactured in the United States and Canada for 12 years, from late 1966 until 1978.
History
The Avenger GT was the successor to the Aztec in Fiberfab's lineup. Some of the company's early documentation refers to it as the ''Aztec Avenger GT''.
The Avenger GT's styling recalls the
Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 is a high-performance endurance racing car commissioned by the Ford Motor Company. It grew out of the "Ford GT" (for Grand Touring) project, an effort to compete in European long-distance sports car races, against Ferrari, which wo ...
— the Mk.I and Mk.III GT40s in particular — but is not an exact copy of the racing car. It was a less expensive alternative to the
Fiberfab Valkyrie, which looked like an Avenger GT with a short rear deck and had a custom chassis with room for a mid-mounted V8 engine.
Fiberfab started producing Avenger GT kits in Sunnyvale, California in Santa Clara County in 1966.
They moved to Freemont, California in 1967. They also had a facility in Bridgeville, PA to supply demand on the East coast.
A separate company called Fiberfab Canada Limited (FCL) was incorporated in Canada and after 1970 began producing long door Avenger GT kits in a facility in Dauphin, Manitoba. This operation relocated to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1971, and then to Ontario in 1974.
Production of Avenger GTs ended in 1978.
The total number of kits made was in the thousands.
Features
Instead of the two single lamps fitted to the Aztec, the Avenger GT was equipped with quad headlamps. The Avenger GT's tail section was longer than the Valkyrie's so that it could cover the car's rear-mounted engine, giving it an appearance closer to that of a GT40 Mk.III.
The Avenger GT's windshield is the standard unit from a second generation (1965–69) Chevy Corvair, while the backlight is from a 1965 or 1966 Ford Mustang 2+2 Fastback.
There were several options for side windows. The original Fiberfab manuals described an arrangement that used a wind-wing from a 1965 Mustang in combination with door glass from a 1966 Ford LTD and a regulator from a VW Karman Ghia. Another option used a custom single piece glass side window supplied by Fiberfab, but the original molds for this were lost. Side windows from
Plexiglass
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...
or
Lexan
Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily work ...
were special order items.
There are long door cars and short door cars. The short door cars were built prior to 1970, and have a rocker panel below the door edge. The long door reaches all the way to the bottom of the car body and is a bit wider.
The earliest models could be ordered with or without the GT40 style twin hood scoops.
The choice of taillamps was left up to the builder, some of whom used early Mustang or Maverick units.
Avenger GT-12 and GT-15
The Avenger GT line included two models: the ''Avenger GT-12'', and the ''Avenger GT-15''.
The GT-12 was designed to be built on a Volkswagen Type 1 backbone chassis from a
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...
or
Karmann Ghia
The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is a sports car marketed in 2+2 coupe (1955–1974) and 2+2 convertible (1957–1974) body styles by Volkswagen. Internally designated the Type 14, the Karmann Ghia combined the chassis and mechanicals of the Type 1 ( ...
, adjusted for width as necessary.
With the chassis came the donor VW's front suspension of upper and lower trailing arms, torsion leaf springs and telescopic shock absorbers, and rear suspension of
swing axle
A swing axle is a simple type of independent (rear wheel) suspension designed and patented by Edmund Rumpler in 1903. This was a revolutionary invention in automotive suspension, allowing driven (powered) wheels to follow uneven road surfaces i ...
or
semi-trailing arm
A (semi) trailing-arm suspension, sometimes referred to as (semi) trailing-link is a vehicle axle or wheel suspension design in which one or more horizontal arms (or "links"), perpendicular to and forward of the axle, are connecting the axle or w ...
s, torsion bars and telescopic shocks. The donor car's original 4-speed transaxle and four cylinder
Volkswagen air-cooled engine
The Volkswagen air-cooled engine is an air-cooled, gasoline-fuelled, boxer engine with four horizontally opposed cast-iron cylinders, cast aluminum alloy cylinder heads and pistons, magnesium-alloy crankcase, and forged steel crankshaft and co ...
could be kept, but other options, including Porsche or Corvair engines, could be substituted. At roughly , the GT-12 weighed approximately less than a standard Beetle.
The GT-15 was similar in appearance to the GT-12, but included a custom chassis designed to accept suspension and drive-train components from a
Chevrolet Corvair
The Chevrolet Corvair is a compact car manufactured by Chevrolet for model years 1960–1969 in two generations. A response to the Volkswagen Beetle, it remains the only American-designed, mass-produced passenger car with a rear-mounted, air- ...
.
Installing a Corvair front sub-frame put upper and lower A-arms with coil springs and telescopic shocks in front, with or without an
Anti-roll bar
An anti-roll bar (roll bar, anti-sway bar, sway bar, stabilizer bar) is a part of many automobile suspensions that helps reduce the body roll of a vehicle during fast cornering or over road irregularities. It connects opposite (left/right) wheels ...
. At the rear was a semi-trailing arm suspension with coil springs and telescopic shocks. The default rear-mounted
Chevrolet Turbo-Air 6 engine
The Chevrolet Turbo-Air 6 is a flat-six air-cooled automobile engine developed by General Motors (GM) in the late 1950s for use in the rear-engined Chevrolet Corvair of the 1960s. It was used in the entire Corvair line, as well as a wide variety ...
provided power through a 3 or 4-speed manual Chevrolet transaxle.
Avenger GT-12X and GT-15X
Later models of the Avenger GT were designated with an X and received minor body revisions. These usually included long-style doors, flared wheel arches, and a front spoiler.
NASA Battery-electric vehicle
To test electric vehicle propulsion systems using a special dynamomoter called the "Road Load Simulator" (RLS), NASA commissioned construction of a special vehicle that was designed from the outset as an electric vehicle.
A custom ladder chassis with outriggers was built by "Electric Vehicle Engineering Co." (EVE) of Boston, Massachusetts. Configured for
front wheel drive
Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional lon ...
, the car's running gear was from Saab. The body was a Fiberfab shell, and appears to have been an Avenger GT.
Gallery
References
External links
*{{cite web , url=http://www.avenger-valkyrie.org/ , title=Avenger-Valkyrie , date=29 June 2013 , access-date=28 October 2020 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150304022032/http://www.avenger-valkyrie.org/ , archive-date=4 March 2015
Cars of the United States
Kit cars