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An original unrestored 1957 Fireflite with metal sidespears.
There were only two models for 1957. They were the Fireflite and the Surflite which was a basic fishing/utility version of the Fireflite. Please see the History section for info. on the early Glastrons.
See more on where to find
identification tags on the '57 Glastrons in the "Identifying
Glastrons" section.
After corresponding to Bob
Hammond I've learned a few tidbits about why some '57 Glastrons have the
metal sidespears and some
don't and why some have the metal emblems and some have mylar stickers.
Bob thinks that the metal
emblems weren't ready when the first '57s were produced and the mylar stickers
were used until the metal emblems were ready. The metal sidespears were
dropped later in the production run to keep costs down. Glastron produced
25 boats in 1956, all of which were '57 model Fireflites and Surflites.
In 1957 902 boats were produced, some of which were '58 models. Bob Hammond
informs me that by August of each year the following year's models were
already being built. 7 of 12 months would equal 58 percent, but allowing
that sales increased at a strong rate from the beginning I'd have to assume
that the '58 models produced would account for at least half of the 902
units built in 1957.
This would total production
of '57 models at less than 500 and of those probably less than 400 were Fireflites. Of the '57 Fireflites I've seen at least half are models without
the sidespears.
Therefore, any '57 model
would be a low production number and judging by the registry listings if
you find a '57 you'll be lucky.