The first Gilbern was assembled in 1959, above butcher Giles Smith’s slaughter house at Church Village, near Llantwit Fardre and about ten miles northwest of Cardiff. The idea was originally for a one-off, because Smith wanted to build a glassfibre special. He just happened to mention it during a chance meeting with one Bernard Friese. Friese was a German ex-prisoner of war who, having married a British girl after the Second World War, had elected to stay here. He also happened to have gathered considerable experience with glassfibre, having worked at the factor y that produced the Martin GRP special, a sports coupé which Giles Smith also rather admired. Eventually, after a certain amount of the amber nectar, the pair agreed to build the one-off special together.
As the car neared completion, local racing driver Peter Cottrell was invited to have a look and check the project over. When Cottrell saw it, he felt the car was far too good to simply be a one-off, so Giles and Bernard decided to put it into production. The two then needed to form a company, thus from GILes Smith and BERNard Friese the name GILBERN emerged. Peter Cottrell helped out financially, placed an order for a second car and also became a director.
The new Gilbern GT was offered either in component form in order to avoid purchase tax at around £1100, or fully built up for £1400 as a turn-key car. In component form the GT was supplied painted, fully trimmed with the body properly mounted on its steel square tube, space-frame chassis and complete with wiring loom in place. The owner then only had to fit the engine, gearbox, rear axle and exhaust system. All parts were new, therefore covered under their respective manufacturer’s warranty.
