Lamson designed and built the Quark in 1964 as a lighthearted experimental aircraft project to create a prone position-pilot glider. To this end the pilot was accommodated lying down with his head in the nose bubble.
The PL-1 is constructed from fiberglass, with the wings made from a balsa-fiberglass sandwich that was laid up in a female mold. The wing was originally of 201NaN1 span, but this was quickly increased to 301NaN1 with tip extensions and finally the aircraft received a new 401NaN1 three-piece wing. The airfoil was an Irv Culver modification to the NACA 0012. The landing gear was a monowheel, with small wing tip skids.
Soaring Magazine described the aircraft as "purely a lark and a quirky lark at that". The designer described the performance as "somewhere between a Nimbus and a Rogallo".
Only one Quark was built and it was registered with the US Federal Aviation Administration in the Experimental - amateur-built category.
The aircraft logged about 300 hours in its 301NaN1 wingspan version. The Quark was removed from the FAA registry on 13 August 2002 and the aircraft likely no longer exists.