Car unfinished by the factory can be flipped on this
steel cradle for easier access to undercarriage and interior.

Hard to believe, but it’s been two years since my friend Mike Johnston led me to a 1971 Manic GT sitting in a snowbank with a “for sale” sign on the roof. For the uninitiated, that’s a two-seat sports coupe with a body of fibreglass-reinforced plastic (FRP) attached to a Renault 10 platform and using a rear-drive Renault engine and transmission.
I’d owned one of these rare Canadian-made cars when new and always regretted letting it go. So for $200 I bought the car in the snowbank – No. 121 of only160 made. My mechanic pal, Charlie Appleman, trailered it to his shop in Port Hope, Ont. In turn, that led us to Chicoutimi, Que. and a Manic that was unfinished when the factory in Granby closed its doors forever.
That car’s FRP body shell was complete except for the rear deck and was attached to a rust-free platform with the steering rack, wheels and 4-speed manual transmission in place. As a bonus, it was packed with parts, including a brand new engine. Four plastic bins and several milk crates were stuffed with more pieces – both used and NOS.
So we got it home and began to finish it the way it would have been had the company not gone bust in May, 1971.
Readers keep asking how the project is going, so here’s an update.
No. 121 had no floor left, and its frame was badly rusted – the reason why so few Manics exist today. Although their FRP bodies are indestructible, the Renault platforms rusted out in five or six years. But as a parts car it has provided a wealth of items including the steering column, wiring harness, dashboard, seats and interior trim, front and rear glass.
It also will surrender its hood and trunk lids along with both doors, which seem to be of better quality than the ones that came with the unfinished vehicle.
Charlie sawed the deck off No. 121, which is now attached to the unfinished car. I’ve never done fibreglassing before, but Charlie has owned dozens of Corvettes over the years, so knows his way around fabric, resin and hardener.
I’m enjoying the process, maybe because it reminds me of building model cars when I was a kid. (Back then we liked the smell of plastic glue; we just didn’t know why.) Sometimes my efforts even meet with Charlie’s approval.
The unfinished car lacked the injection-moulded interior plastic panels that the factory should have fibreglassed into place to give the body more strength. Some loose interior panels came with the car, others I removed from No. 121, and some I cut to fit from a stash of plastic pieces.

Parts car already has given up its rear deck and soon
will surrender its hood, and trunk lid and both doors.

To make work easier, Charlie came up with an ingenious steel cradle that can support the Manic in a vertical position. He took the two worst wheels, welded them to the cradle and all we have to do to flip it from side to side is lower the body using an engine hoist, change the side the wheels are on and raise it back into a vertical position.
Sure makes things like treating the undercarriage to a coat of Por15 rust preventative paint a lot easier.
Next, the gauges and instrument panel will be installed, and we’ll fit the glass and doors from No. 121. We’d been wondering what to do about Manic’s unique and irreplaceable rubber mouldings, but one of those plastic bins was stuffed with new rubber for all openings, including hood and trunk.
Soon it’s going to start looking like a car again. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com