Glastron is a boat manufacturing company and was one of the first manufacturers of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

s. Glastron is owned by Rec Boat Holdings, a subsidiary of

Groupe Beneteau Beneteau or Bénéteau () is a French sail and motorboat manufacturer, with production facilities in France and in the United States. The company is a large and recognized boat builder, with its holding company (Groupe Beneteau) now also holdin ...

. Bob Hammond, Bill Gaston, Bob Shoop, and Guy Woodard founded the company on October 14, 1956, in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. It was sold to Genmar Holdings in the 1990s and manufacturing was moved to

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. Glastron is known for its boat hull design innovations, including the Aqualift and "SSV" hull designs, the latter of which is still in use today. Glastron's "Glastonbury" boats were featured in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

films '' Live and Let Die'' and Moonraker. For ''Live and Let Die'', a boat chase was filmed in Louisiana around the

Irish Bayou Irish Bayou is a community along a body of water of the same name within the legal boundaries of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, but separated from the rest of the city by undeveloped wetlands. It falls within a group of communities collecti ...

area. Twenty-six boats were built by Glastron for the film, of which seventeen were destroyed during rehearsals. The speedboat jump scene over the bayou, filmed with the assistance of a specially-constructed ramp, unintentionally set a ''

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

'' at the time with cleared. The waves created by the impact caused the following boat to flip over.

Jaws 3 ''Jaws 3-D'' (titled ''Jaws III'' in its 2-D form) is a 1983 American horror film directed by Joe Alves and starring Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale and Louis Gossett Jr. As the second sequel to Steven Spielberg's '' Jaws'' ...

also features several boats with the brand name on the sides.

Boats

* Spirit 21 - sailboat

References

External links

Current Company Web Site

Classic Glastron Owners web site
{{US-manufacturing-company-stub

Glastron Glastron is a boat manufacturing company and was one of the first manufacturers of fiberglass boats. Glastron is owned by Rec Boat Holdings, a subsidiary of Groupe Beneteau. Bob Hammond, Bill Gaston, Bob Shoop, and Guy Woodard founded the company ...

Yacht building companies American boat builders 1956 establishments in Texas American companies established in 1956 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1956 Companies based in Minnesota Manufacturing companies based in Minnesota