Back in the carefree days of the 50's anyone with mechanical talents, a little cash, and a custom fiberglass body, could build his own hot rod or sports car. A number of bodymakers catered to this hobby, some more successfully than others. I must confess I'd never heard of the "Victress" until Nigel told me of a friend in Kelowna, BC who has one. A little research showed that two Victress series were launched during its brief life: the S-4, intended mostly for Ford frames and adaptable for wheelbases ranging from 112-116", and a wind tunnel-developed S-5 for MG TC, TD and TF frames.

A Victress S-5 featured in the 1954 movie "Johnny Dark," starring Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie, based on a mythical Canada-to-Mexico road race. Curtis drove an S-5 to win first prize: the beautiful granddaughter of his boss. In 1957 a Victress appeared on the cover of Road & Track magazine, a noteable endorsement for a "special" during those colorful years. In 1961 the Victress moulds were acquired by LaDawri, a company begun by Les Dawes in Vancouver BC and later based in California. With a number of photos plus reproductions of period magazine articles, the LaDawri Web site offers a fascinating glimpse of a period when creativity flourished.

(Note: Viewer Doug Bell offers a correction: "In the movie 'Johnny Dark' Tony Curtis did not drive a Victress, but a Woody Woodhill Wildfire, currently in a museum in Idaho." Thanks, Doug. I'm not going to dispute that one. I've never seen the movie... in fact never heard of it until I began researching the Victress.)