Michael Masin

In September, the last Holden Commodore will roll off the production line. When it does it will mean the end of the large Australian RWD performance sedan. It’s a dilemma SAAB owners will relate to. Yes you could buy a Volvo, or an Audi, but it’s not quite the same thing. So if you were in the market for such a car, what will be your new car options in 2018 and beyond?

In 2013 V8 Supercars opened the door to new manufacturers. At the same time, Ford was concentrating its funding on Prodrive. This left Stone Brothers Racing without manufacturer support, but no one was interested. Mercedes-Benz certainly wasn’t. Erebus Motorsport was formed by Westfield co-owner Betty Klimenko in 2009. By 2012 they were a front running team in the Australian GT Championship, running SLS AMGs through the AMG Customer Sports program. When V8 Supercars announced the Car of the Future regulations, they saw it as an opportunity to step into Australia’s top category.

For much of the 1960s and 1970s, Allan Moffat was one of Ford’s top factory drivers. All four of his Bathurst victories came in Falcons between 1970 and 1977, with only one (1974) as a privateer. After losing Ford factory support in the late 1970s, Allan Moffat had to seek new funding for his racing efforts. He initially ran privateer Falcons, before controversially running a Mazda RX7. Moffat retired at the end of the Mazda deal and became a commentator.

The Volvo 240T is often overshadowed by other Group A machinery like the Ford Sierra RS500, BMW M3 and Nissan Skyline GTR R32. Imported from Belgium to New Zealand in early 1985, It was one of the first new entrants in the Group A era of the Australian Touing Car Championship. The Volvo was ridiculed for its styling, widely referred to as the Flying Brick, or the Swedish Valiant by Di ck Johnson.

In the 1970s, the Australian new car market was dominated by the Big Three. Ford, Holden and Chrysler. They weren’t the only ones building cars in Australia there was also Leyland, Toyota, Volkswagen, Renault and Nissan. Large tariff walls had forced anyone who wanted to sell large volumes in Australia to build cars locally.

In the 1960s and 70s, company called Ford Personal Imports Exports Limited imported Australian Fords, mostly Fairmonts to the UK

Up until 1971, the Bathurst 500 (mile) was contested by Group E series production cars. These were cars virtually identical to the cars on the showroom floor, distinct from the heavily modified cars contesting the Australian Touring Car Championship. Ford, Holden and Chrysler were in a battle to produce the fastest homologation special and win Bathurst. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday was the theory.

Prior to the second world war, GM Holden sold GM cars, mostly Chevrolets and Vauxhalls, with Australian-made bodies and imported chassis. With monocoque cars set to become commonplace, it was a practice that could continue forever. Lawrence Hartnett was the man who convinced GM to enter into full manufacturing in Australia. It was an attempt to stop the Australian government from forming a state-owned car manufacturer that would erode GM Holden’s market share.

The definition of the term is heavily disputed, but in America, a muscle car is a usually a medium to large four seater coupe with a V8 engine. Some argue that too great an emphasis on handling, or having four doors disqualifies a car from being a muscle car. I Others don’t. But even the broadest US definition rules out half of Australia’s muscle cars.

Kevin Bartlett’s 1978 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 is one of the most memorable Australian touring cars to never win a championship or Bathurst. Bartlett had spent most of the 1970s competing in open wheel racing, but with the decline of Formula 5000, he returned the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1980.

Finn. At least that’s how the saying goes. But statistically speaking, how true is that? Which country has produced the most successful racing drivers?

Early this week, Kia made a public statement claiming that they are not committed to entering Supercars, and have not had serious discussions with any teams. This follows reports that DJR Team Penske are a still a long way from homologating Ford Mustangs. Nothing has been heard from Alfa Romeo either. While Supercars are holding on to Holden and Nissan, they have lost Ford and Volvo. Supercars are struggling for manufacturer support, and they need it to survive.

The first two years of Group A didn’t go well for D!ck Johnson, but he turned things around and experienced the best years of his career. Holden would rather forget Group A entirely. Except for Bathurst. Peter Brock only managed one Group A win, Bathurst 1987. When Holden moved their factory backing to Tom Walkinshaw Racing, nothing changed.

The Group C years of the Australian Touring Car Championship was dominated by Ford and Holden. In 11 of the 12 years that the ATCC was run to Group C rules, a Falcon or Holden driver won the championship. With the Holden Dealer Team and D!ck Johnson Racing dominating with Holden and Ford respectively in the 1980s, other major teams started looking for alternatives. JPS Team BMW was one of them.

Every now and then, a car comes along with a reputation built on its contribution to popular culture rather than its merits as a car. The DeLorean DMC12 is a good example. Another example came about In 1958, when Bill Buckle began assembling the German Goggomobil microcar in Australia. The Goggomobil is known for its appearance in an ad for the Yellow Pages phone book,and not much else. It did however spawn a uniquely Australian sports car, the brilliantly awful Goggomobil Dart.

During his time running the Holden Dealer Team and its accompanying HDT Special Vehicles road car business, Peter Brock offered a number of homologation special Commodores for Group C and Group A touring car racing. As well as the Commodores, Brock investigated expanding to Opel based models, including a Kadett GSi, and most famously the V8 Monza.

Sandown Park Raceway might not be well-known internationally, but it is an important part of Australian motorsport. Located in Springvale, in south east Melbourne, Sandown is the world’s only permanent metropolitan international racing circuit. Being a metropolitan circuit, it is under constant threat being sold for property development. It is being kept alive by a contract with Supercars to host the 500km endurance round that lasts until 2019. Without government intervention, the Melbourne Racing Club (horse racing) will likely sell Sandown.

At home he was known as King of the Mountan, but Peter Brock was unheard of internationally. In 1984 Brock decided to change that by entering Le Mans 24 Hour in a Porsche 956 with Larry Perkins. In Australia, Brock and Perkins were a formidable endurance pair, but Le Mans was a very different game.

The Australian Touring Car Championship’s switch from Group C to Group A was not easy for D ick Johnson. He was forced to replace his championship and Bathurst winning Falcon with an uncompetitive Zakspeed Mustang. D ick knew something had to change. Keen to stay in a Ford, he devised a plan to buy two Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth body shells and engines and build two new cars. He took that plan to Shell, who agreed to fund the project. D ick Johnson Racing built and ran six Sierras from 1987 to 1992, winning Bathurst in 1988 and two championships.

Toyota has been Australia’s most popular car brand since 2003. But there was always one market segment where they lagged behind Ford and Holden, large cars. Toyota knew they weren’t doing well enough, and they knew that part of the problem is that they were seen as bland. The TRD Aurion (along with the TRD Hilux) was Toyota’s attempt to resolve this and bring in new customers who would otherwise never buy a Toyota.

Cars usually reflect the culture that produced them. People often think that Australian cars are just like American ones. On face value, they are, but look closer and some big differences become apparent that can be explained by differences in car culture.. Australia’s love of performance cars and motorsport, it’s economy, and geography have shaped a class of car that resembles, mechanically at least, a four door version of an American muscle car, but is also different in some fundamental ways.

In 1966, Jack Brabham won his third Formula One world championship. This was a remarkable achievement because it made him thr first and only driver to win a championship in a car of his own construction. The car in question was the Brabham BT19. Making this achievement even more remarkable, the car was powered by a 3.0L V8 built by Repco, a Melbourne-based company that could make the modern Cosworth look like Mercedes.

The Bolwell Nagari is one of the most successful Australian cars that you’ve never heard of. Even most Australians haven’t heard of it. It was the eighth car produced by Bolwell and their first production car. All previous Bolwells had been kit cars. 100 coupes and 18 convertibles were built between 1970 and 74. This makes it the most popular and well known Bolwell, and makes Bolwell the second most successful Australian sports car manufacturer after racing car specialists Elfin.

A new car parts and service website launched in Australia recently. It’s called Sparesbox and they promise to revolutionise the car service industry by providing a more transparent service experience than traditional dealers and independent mechanics. It seems like a good concept, but it’s extremely ambitious.