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   Information on

 ‘Ole Yeller    

Provided by the owner. (Joel Faircloth)

‘Ole Yeller is the last and final vehicle that was assembled in the Replicar’s facility in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Replicars, Inc., had folded its tent and was out of business, but there was potential for additional opportunity: The Kit Car business. The final vehicle ('Ole Yeller) was assembled using a temporary drive train, and transported to the Columbus, Ohio Street Rod Drive-In to try to generate kit sales.

(Bad thinking because no sales resulted. The Economy was terrible and much of what seemed to be selling were cheap cowboy hats and perfumed wooden roses.) Note: A friend from Palm Beach purchased a “T Bucket” super Hot Rod. We transported the “T Bucket” back to West Palm Beach on our trailer and the “T Bucket” owner’s wife drove ‘Ole Yeller from Ohio back to West Palm Beach.

The drive train was removed and replaced with a factory-fresh, zero-mile 302 engine and a new C-4 transmission. Since then, ‘Ole Yeller has been in storage or garaged (for the past 30 years), and only driven to maintain the running gear and on “special occasions” - usually with the grandchildren aboard. Total miles on the car: 6,500.

Note: This vehicle is titled in Florida as a “Kit Car.” (Replicars was out of business and could not supply a Manufacturers Statement of Origin (MSO), so we had to do the next best thing to get it titled, and the “Kit Car” category was available

‘Ole Yeller is a “driver” and can be driven at legal road speeds anywhere you want without worrying if you’re going to get there and back. So come on down and take a drive, make your deal, then take ‘Ole Yeller to its new home $24,900 (US)

A Glassic in Australia?

My search turned up only one Glassic ever imported into Australia. It is one of the fourth generation which were manufactured by Joel Faircloth’s Replicars. So we contacted the owner who had imported the vehicle from the USA. Jeanette and I made arrangements for a photo session and after working around weather forecasts made the visit and had an informative time with Jeany the owner, & “Pierce”, the car. The importation process & requirements for Australian registration are quite enlightening!

Our thanks to Don Davis for his generous permission to use his Glassic Annex resources, and Joel Faircloth, for information and clarification. Special thanks to Jeany B for her time and patience for a photo session with a “typical” Australian aspect.

The name “Glassic” has now become a “generic” term to include original Glassics, Abercrombie Runabouts, and Replicars.

But not Shays, which are intended to be a more authentic copy of an A Model, manufactured by Harry Shay`s company 1979-1982 and by Camelot Motors 1983-1986, sold throughout the USA by Ford dealerships.