Solved - NEH 253: CRV Sea Gull

[Carnut]

What's this?  1 point for getting it right!

[Carnut]

Should last about 2 minutes on the Experts board...

[white12]

CRV piranha kit car?

[studhamsmudger]

An American kit car called the Sea Gull I think

[Carnut]

CRV piranha kit car?

Close but not the right answer.

[Carnut]

An American kit car called the Sea Gull I think

Much closer!
In fact worthy of the point.
Well done.

[Carnut]

Here are some more pics of it.
Believe it was a development of the Piranha.

[fromwien]

Please be so kind and identify this car: Manufacturer? Name? Base? Approx. year?

[driggy.dragos]

1967 AMT Piranha ?

[fromwien]

No, but there is some connection

[driggy.dragos]

1974 CRV Seagull Kit Car by Sportsland Unlimited (division of Allied Industries)

[fromwien]

Mostly correct: LOCKED for you
Manufacturer: Sportsland Unlimited (division of Allied Industries)
Name:SeaGull
Base:?
Approx. year: 1974:Yes, 70s

[driggy.dragos]

It is based on a VW (Beetle) chassis

[fromwien]

Correct! SeaGull by Sportsland Unlimited (division of Allied Industries), VW beetle based, 70s

[Wendax]

Merged

[Carnut]

Merged

Well done! I knew I'd posted it many years ago but I couldn't find it. That's because I had forgotten it should be two words, not one!

[fromwien]

That seems to be true.. See attachment of Sportsland Unlimited (division of Allied Industries) brochure (not XL-100 Inc.)

[fromwien]

I don't feel happy, to name puzzle car FW #306 "CRV Sea Gull", as Sportsland Unlimited (division of Allied Industries) offered a kit in 1970, named "CRV", which looked different!
See another attachment

[fromwien]

Following the title of the car mentioned in books and magazines, I think, it should be known as: SU Sea Gull. (Sportsland Unlimited)

[Carnut]

Or XL-100 Sea Gull...
Not sure who XL-100 were but CRV stands for Cycolac Research Vehicle, produced originally by Marbon Chemicals.
Here's the full story, courtesy of Geoff Hacker's Forgotten Fiberglass/Undiscovered Sportscars:

QUOTE
The agreement between Marbon Chemicals and AMT Corp. to build cars was cancelled in late 1967 due to high cost of building the limited production vehicles. The selling price for a sporty car at that time was around $5,000, but it was costing AMT between $8,000 and $9,000 to build them. AMT could not take that kind of a loss on each car so the companies split and went their separate ways.

Marbon still wanted to sell Cycolac bodies to someone, so they started beating the bushes for another customer. Eventually they hooked up with a kit car company called Sportsland Unlimited, a division of Allied Industries of Nebraska. They offered dune buggies and other kit cars for the VW chassis. A deal was struck and Sportsland (and other divisions of Allied) started advertising an ABS plastic body called the CRV. Company ads used photos of the CRV-IV and CRV-V to promote the product. Later ads even used photos of the AMT Carbijal race car. Options included a windshield, roof, bumpers and seats.

   

The full page ad on the left came from Rod & Custom, Aug 1970. It shows a Cycolac body mounted on a frame with black tape details applied to the body. The two photos on the right are a company brochure promoting the plastic body. Note how they used photos of the CRV-V to sell the look of a completed car. (Click on pages for larger images.)

Like many of the items sold by kit car companies of the day, the photos were very misleading and many buyers were frustrated with what they got when the kits arrived: No opening doors, hood or trunk, a 90" wheelbase for a 94-1/2" chassis, and very incomplete instructions.


Eric Curry built this CRV kit car in the late 1969 or 1970 with help from his dad. The body was Cycolac and has the original CRV shape. A bulge was added to the rear deck to clear the VW motor. Note how the rear wheels sit back too far because the VW chassis was too long for the CRV body without modification. Like many builders, the car was finished without doors or a front luggage compartment.
From the few examples I have seen, it appears that the first bodies sold were thermoformed by Marbon from the original CRV molds without any changes. Sometime later, modifications were made to the molds to allow for a different windshield and a raised area on the rear deck to accommodate the taller VW engine. The lower half of the body was also modified along the rocker panels. Some Cycolac bodies were molded in this configuration.


Note the modifications on this Cycolac CRV body. A raised area was added to the cowl to accommodate a legal windshield, the rear deck has a raised portion that runs from the back of the seats to the end of the trunk, and the lower rocker panels have been given a diagonal shape, perhaps to change the rear wheelwell opening. (Photo by Geoff Hacker)
Eventually, Marbon ceased thermoforming the bodies all together and either loaned or sold Allied the original CRV body molds. The kit car company then made a fiberglass version of the original CRV halves that have no modifications to the body style.


This untouched, fiberglass body was recently purchased in West Virginia. It has the original shape of the CRV with no modifications. The owner is scratch building a metal space frame and mounting a Corvair engine in the car.
Later, a drastically modified version of the CRV was released in fiberglass called the "Seagull." Changes included larger front fenders with headlights that were mounted farther back and cut into the fender tops, modified interior panels, and separate rectangular engine cover with a raised area for the VW engine, and a modified lower half. The bottom half had raised areas molded around VW suspension parts and a molded-in engine shroud.


Here is a Seagull that was sold in Kansas several years ago. It has the optional seats and windshield frame/roof.



This photo shows the areas of a Seagull body that were molded to fit over the VW chassis. Note the engine shroud in the rear. (Photo by Geoff Hacker)
Of the various survivors that have show up, the Seagull seems to be the most common. With its' optional roof panels, modified interior, optional seats, and opening engine lid, it was probably the easiest kit to complete.

Eventually, Allied and its' various divisions relocated and evolved into Everett-Morrison which is now located in Texas where they build replica Shelby Cobras. When I contacted them about the CRV molds they responded that they were damaged during shipping and destroyed. Too bad.

If you happened to be one of the many folks that owned one of these kits, I would love to hear from you and/or see some photos of your car. Please contact me at Nkw1965@aol.com.

Piranha Homepage
Page Updated: 23 July 2010
UNQUOTE

I don't think Sportsland Unlimited made any Sea Gulls as they were off the scene by then. But Sea Gulls were still referred to as a version of the CRV.

[fromwien]

Thanks, carnut, know this article very well.
I never doubted, that the "Sea Gull", offered by "XL-100" and the "Sea Gull", offered by "Sportsland Unlimited" are the same kit cars. But -in my mind- it is  not correct, using the description "CRV Sea Gull" for the "Sportsland Unlimited"-version (which has been produced for sure! There was an unfinished project for sale end of the 90s), as they offered also a kit, called "CRV" (see former attachment), which looks quite different and has no "Sea Gull" badges sticked on it!

[Carnut]

Yes, I think it's a complicated story and needs a bigger expert than me to get to the bottom of it.
The Sea Gull was a development of the original CRV, which was a different car in many details.
But according to the Forgotten Fiberglass article Sportsland Unlimited were only involved in the much earlier CRV-derived kit car and were off the scene by the time the Sea Gull was offered.
They may or may not be right!