Kellison: The Rebel Spirit and Rise of California’s Plastic Fantastic—And There’s One of the Few Remaining in Smyrna, Tennessee

The story of the Kellison is a classic American tale of “plastic fantastic” ambition, where a backyard tinkerer with a vision nearly toppled the European automotive giants.

The Birth of a “Glass” Icon

In the mid-1950s, Jim Kellison was an Air Force veteran stationed in California with a sharp eye for aerodynamics and a master’s touch with fiberglass. While the rest of the world was swooning over the curves of Ferraris and Jaguars, Kellison wanted something meaner—and lower.

Working out of a garage in Folsom, he began sculpting the J-4. It was a car that looked like it was doing 100 mph while standing still. When it debuted in 1958, it was a sensation. It stood only 39 inches high, featured a hood that seemed to stretch for miles, and had a distinctive “double-bubble” roof.

The “Wild West” of Kit Cars

Kellison didn’t just sell cars; he sold the American dream of speed. You could buy a body for a few hundred dollars, drop it onto a Corvette or Ford chassis, and suddenly have a supercar that could out-drag almost anything on the road.

The company, Kellison Engineering & Manufacturing, quickly outgrew that Folsom garage. By the mid-60s, Jim was a mogul of the fiberglass world. He expanded into:

• The J-Series: Refining the J-4 into the J-5 and J-6 (which finally added luxuries like a trunk and more than four inches of ground clearance).

• Formula Vee: Dominating the amateur racing circuits.

• The Sandpiper: A sleek take on the dune buggy that rivaled the Meyers Manx.

The Downfall: Fire and Taxes

At its peak, Kellison was a powerhouse, but the end came swiftly and through a series of “unfortunate events” that felt like a movie script:

1. The Great Fire: In the late 1960s, a devastating fire ripped through the Kellison plant. It didn’t just destroy inventory; it incinerated the blueprints and many of the original molds.

2. The IRS Battle: Following the fire, Jim became embroiled in a massive, years-long dispute with the IRS. The financial pressure eventually forced him to sell the company’s remaining assets.

3. The Astra Rebrand: A company called Astra eventually bought many of the survivors and molds, attempting to keep the J-Series alive under a new name, but the raw, rebellious spirit of the original “Kellison” brand was hard to replicate.

The J Series Cars 1958 – 1964

Where are they now?

“I know where one Kellison is at… It’s at Crusader Auto Works in Smyrna, Tennessee,” said Eric Richie, owner of Crusader Auto Works.

Eric Richie invited car enthusiasts to stop by the Crusader Auto Works showroom and check out the Kellision J4-R.

Kellison J4-R

For decades, Kellisons were the “forgotten” supercars. Because they were kit cars, many were built poorly by amateurs or left to rot in barns when the fiberglass cracked. However, the 21st century has seen a massive resurgence in their value.

• The Survivors: High-end restorations of J-4s and J-5s now appear at prestigious events like the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. Collectors prize them for their “brutalist” beauty.

• The Molds: After bouncing between various owners for decades, many of the original molds are believed to be lost or destroyed, though a few “continuation” bodies occasionally surface from enthusiasts who have splashed new molds from original cars.

• Jim Kellison’s Legacy: After leaving the car world, Jim became a successful jeweler and author before passing away in 2004. He lived long enough to see his “backyard specials” recognized as genuine pieces of American automotive art.

Today, if you see a long, low silhouette with a screaming V8 at a vintage race, you’re likely looking at one of the few remaining “Plastic Fantastics”—a testament to a time when a guy with a bucket of resin and a dream could challenge the world.