Cars Manufactured in Australia

With all, you will be forgiven for thinking Australia has actually only ever built Fords, Holdens and Toyotas. However in fact, we’ve got a lengthy, different – and often rather unusual - automobile building record.

From a bugeyed oddity spawned by a company whom honed their particular abilities on washers and concrete mixers, to a car co-designed by a motoring reporter, you will find a host of odd vehicles hiding within our past. Check Out of the finest…

Adayer Sportif - Based on the VH Commodore, Melbourne company Vintage automobile Craft developed the two-door Sportif making use of off-the-shelf panels from German Opel Rekord which the early Commodores were based. Coated black with era-correct gold trim, the Sportif additionally boasted a plush interior and ZK Fairlane headlights as an original design touch. CCC described the Sportif as “the car GMH needs to have built” but probably realised why they didn’t after building only 12 examples.

Bolwell - The Bolwell brand name is better known for producing low-volume activities vehicles between 1962-79. Nine different types had been built during this period, and wore the names MkI-VIII, most abundant in effective being the MkVIII Nagari with 118 devices built. Mechanicals were borrowed from a number of manufacturers, including engines from Ford, Holden and Volkswagen. An all-new Mark X Nagari had been revealed in 2008, but with a starting cost north of 0k, most purchasers seem to be selecting Porsche 911s rather.

Bufori - Bufori started building the VW-engined Madison within the storage of three Sydney brothers in 1986, and expanded toward Commodore V6-engined V6i and MkII, before shifting production to Malaysia in 1998 where in actuality the curiously fashioned LaJoya and Geneva designs are made these days. An acronym for gorgeous, Original, Fantastic, Original, Romantic and Irresistible, we’d politely pick unique as the utmost applicable term for the current models.

Bullet - Bullet made its name building rotary-powered re-chassised MX-5s into the mid-90s, and graduated to extreme variations with supercharged Lexus V8s into the 2000s. The company now specialises in supercharger kits for many designs, but has actually a unique supercar inside works – without the fearful MX-5 styling these times.

Giocattolo - possibly the many ambitious of your low-volume items, Giocattolo Motori produced the mid-engined Giocattolo (Italian for toy) as an authentic challenge on pricey and infamously difficult to drive Italian exotics of the 1980’s. Simply 15 had been created between 1986-88, and had been made to suit exactly the same Group B rally regulations that brought united states the Ferrari 288GTO, of banned as manufacturing began.

The work of business owner Paul Halstead and former F1 designer Barry Lock, the Giocattolo married an Alfa Romeo Sprint glasshouse and cabin with kevlar human body panels and a bespoke mid-engined chassis with a HSV VL Group A SS-related twin-throttle 5.0-litre Holden V8. One of the some other neighborhood elements were Simmons alloy tires and a mini bar-sized container of Bundaberg rum and a set of chance glasses into the device kit.

Goggomobile - Sydney car trading magnate Bill Buckle imported the German Goggomobil microcar chassis to Australian Continent between 1957 and 1961, and fitted all of them with locally-formed fibreglass bodies.

Saloon, Coupe, Coupe-convertible and Light van alternatives had been produced with 300cc and 400cc twin-cylinder engines, additionally the brand name achieved popularity in the 90s thanks to the memorable telephone book television advertisement. The “not the Dart” Dart roadster went on to become four-wheeled face of Shannons Insurance.

Hartnett - The Hartnett Motor business was created by former Holden manager Lawrence Hartnett in 1949, after reassurance from PM Ben Chifley to challenge Holden’s marketplace dominance (exactly how times have actually changed).

The Hartnett that lead was according to a French design by Jean Grégoire, that was made out of 1951 to 1955 in Tasman sedan and Pacific convertible type, however some station wagons had been additionally produced. Chifley ended up being famed for declaring 1st Holden as “she’s a beauty” and assisting it to best-selling status with that accolade. But his dog project Hartnett ended up beingn’t so beaut. Supply problems plagued production therefore the business pulled the pin in 1955 after building simply 120 vehicles.