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Back in the late 40’s and early 50’s, a 34 year-old Ken McLoad (my father), embarked on a venture to produce and sell a sleek, fiberglass-bodied sports car which he named the "Venus". It used a donor chassis and running gear from a '49-'52 Ford, though I suspect it would mount on almost any chassis. He began design work on the Venus while in Dallas. In 1950 or 1951, he took a job as an engineer at a geophysical cable manufacturing company in Houston known as Vector Cable. (He later became President and served in that position for 18 years before the company was purchased by Schlumberger.) Naturally, he brought the Venus project with him from Dallas. In the next few years, he built a complete full-scale "plug" of the car body out of wood (from which to make molds).
As if a full-time engineering job and raising 3 kids was not enough, he and two other guys formed a company around 1953 or 1954 called Ratio Mfg. Co. to build and sell this car. Mr. D.Y. Gorman set up the business and handled the management of the company; Mr. E.F. Rockett was the pattern maker; and my father handled all of the design work. One of Mr. Gorman's teenage sons, DeWitt, actually worked on the Venus bodies, applying additional sealing resin and making then ready for shipping.
They built a prototype (and probably several more), had it photographed, and a story was written in the May 1954 issue of Motor Trend. I suspect they sent the story and photos to Motor Trend, as opposed to Motor Trend seeking them out.
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