Gilbern GT History

The Gilbern GT debuted in 1959 as the creation of Giles Smith, a Welsh butcher, and Bernard Friese, a German fibre-glass engineer — the marque's name combining 'Gil' from Giles and 'Bern' from Bernard. Based in Llantwit Fardre near Pontypridd in the Rhondda Valley, Gilbern was Wales's sole indigenous car manufacturer, and the GT was its first product: a compact 2+2 coupé with a neatly styled fibreglass body riveted to a square-section steel-tube chassis.

Originally supplied in kit form — buyers received a fully laminated, trimmed, and painted body and installed the mechanicals themselves, sidestepping the UK government's Purchase Tax on complete cars — the GT was initially offered with the 948 cc BMC A-Series engine (with an optional Shorrocks supercharger) or the Coventry Climax 1098 cc unit. Later variants switched to the stronger BMC B-Series in 1500 cc, 1600 cc MGA, or 1800 cc MGB form, with a coil-sprung BMC rear axle completing the drivetrain.

Approximately 280 GTs were built across the model's eight-year run before it gave way to the larger, Ford V6-powered Genie in 1966. The GT established Gilbern's formula — a light, well-finished fibreglass grand tourer at an attainable price — and earned the company formal SMMT membership in 1965, allowing it to exhibit at the British International Motor Show.