| The time that Raoul Thiébaut stayed on
boats he had much time for his dream car, what later will become the
Zelensis, and put many drawings and sketches on paper. These drawings where
based on existing cars from the ’50’s, so you cane recognize on some of them
a Ford Thunderbird and a BMW 507. The final design looks clearly on the
Ferrari 500Tr without being a copy of it.
The problem now was how to make the body of the car. A solution came when he stayed in the US where he learned about Fiberglas. When Rauoul Thiébaut worked at Plastics Service of Oakland, who made the body for the Bardahl Streamliner, the link was made. His car would be in Fiberglas.
When Raoul Thiébaut returns to Zele in 1958 he modifies the garage from his parental house to a workshop and begins to build his first car. This car was build on a VW Bug chassis from 1951 and is composed of Fiberglas panels, wood and even pieces of cardboard and then covered whit a thick layer of resin to obtain the correct form. From this prototype are taken the moulds so to create the other bodies on a more traditional way. To finance the production of the other bodies he is obligated to sell the prototype to Mark Vanlagenhove, who has plans to race with it. The intention is to modify a bug on a simple and quick way to a Zelensis whit a basic body that can be modified to the taste of the costumer.
One time there is build a Zelensis on base of a Renault 4Hp this one was used by Raoul’s sister.
There have being made 50 bodies and about 25 where effective build on a chassis from 1960 to 1964, mostly for family and friends. In 1961 the Zelensis is presented on the Europlastica exposition in Gent and also on other places, even in Paris.
In 1968 Raoul Thiébaut made a somehow modified model of which the back and front where detachable and a fixed roof, from this model is only one made.
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