El Tiburon Roadster (aka The Shark)

The 1962 El Tiburon Roadster (The Shark) was created by Henry Covington, an engineer at American Fibre Craft of Cupertino, CA. Most fiberglass sportscars of the day were Volkswagen-powered. But Sharks were motivated by the 845cc OHC engine used in the Renault Dauphine Gordini. This made them a bit less reliable than the Dub-based cars, but considerably more interesting.

While the smooth road hugging shape and extraordinarily advanced underbody ground effects are more reminiscent of a catfish than a shark, naming it after the latter rather than the was probably the smarter marketing move. Even so, only about two dozen of this breed of Shark ever saw life on land.