Innholdsfortegnelse for #262 18-05 i Just Cars

Australia’s car industry officially came to an end on the morning of 20 October, 2017, when the last Australian-made car – a Holden VFII Commodore SS-V Redline – rolled off the production line at Holden’s manufacturing plant at Elizabeth, South Australia. The SS-V manual sedan was preceded by a Caprice V V8 automatic sedan (the final Caprice), a Calais V V6 automatic wagon (the final Commodore wagon) and a V8 auto Commodore SS ute (the final Commodore ute). All four vehicles were built on that final morning of production and all will be retained by Holden for their Heritage Collection. FINAL DOMINO FALLS The last day of production at Holden’s Elizabeth plant marks the final domino to fall in Australia’s car manufacturing history, with the last Australian-made Holden preceded by…

The Endurance Rally Association (ERA), organisers of the modern Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, as well as the Flying Scotsman, Trans-America Challenge and other rallies for classic and vintage automobiles, has announced their schedule for the next four years, which will include Australia for the first time. One of four major rallies confirmed by the ERA for 2021, the ‘ABC Rally’ will take place in October, 2021. The 21-day event will kick off in Adelaide – the ‘A’ of the rally – then travel through Canberra and Bathurst, before the crews head north to the Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise and Brisbane. The ‘B’ in ABC will serve as the half way point of the rally, before crews follow the Queensland coast to the finish in Cairns. Rally Director Fred Gallagher…

The latest in a long line of bespoke virtual racecars created for the PlayStation Gran Turismo console game, the ‘IsoRivolta Vision Gran Turismo’ debuted at October’s Tokyo Motor Show. Designed by Italian carrozzeria Zagato, the IsoRivolta Vision Gran Turismo was presented in 3D form in Tokyo and unlike most of its Gran Turismo predecessors, will be built in very limited numbers for realworld, real-road driving. “The IsoRivolta Vision Gran Turismo was created to drive in the virtual-reality world, a world created by Gran Turismo,” explained Zagato’s Vice President of Design, Norihiko Harada. “Our next wish is that this car, which was born in Gran Turismo, will take to the road in real life.” The ‘IsoRivolta’ name comes from the Italian carmaker Iso and their Rivolta model, a four-seater GT built…

A bug carrying a disease for which there is no known cure bit Lawrie Nelson when he was very young. Symptoms included car madness and dreams of being more than just a motor racing spectator in adult life… Lawrie must have dreamed harder than others. In the late ’60s, fate led him down Warrnambool way in western Victoria, where he met the sister of Frank Lowndes (Craig’s dad). When Frank got a job in Melbourne helping Harry Firth build Cortina GT 500s for Bathurst, he boarded at his new mate’s house, as Lawrie had already been hanging around at Harry’s workshop. With Frank working there, the stars fell into place. A TOUCH OF FIRTH Lawrie’s humble 2-door Falcon Hardtop was being flogged in club sprints, rallies and motorkhanas, but with…

The Adelaide Motorsport Festival is a museum in motion, bringing together an eclectic mix of historic, classic and modern vehicles from across the spectrum of motorsport. In the heart of the city of Adelaide, using a section of the famous Formula One street circuit in Victoria Park, the event combines on-track competition, hot laps and demonstrations with static displays, trade stands and the best of South Australian food, wine and hospitality. The Festival itself takes place on December 9 and 10, with the associated Adelaide Rally beginning on December 7, taking in the serpentine roads of the nearby Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley and Fleurieu Peninsula before the final stage at the Festival on the Saturday evening. The Festival makes its presence felt in the centre of the city on the…

There is absolutely no doubt in the minds of many automobile enthusiasts that the release of the Citroen ID-19 at the 1955 Paris Motor Show was the most exciting event in the annals of post-war motoring history. Here was a car that broke all the rules! And intentionally so! Flaminio Bertoni developed one of the most sublime car shapes ever – it was supremely aerodynamic, futuristic in style and yet fully functional, there was ample room for 5 passengers, room for their luggage and it possessed a level of performance that was way beyond known boundaries because of the fabulous hydro-pneumatic suspension system. Only the ancient four-cylinder engine spoiled the specification The ID was not a small car despite the 1.9-litre four-cylinder engine that developed only 66bhp at 4500rpm. It…

A fortnight before Holden produced the last Australian-made Commodore, Toyota rolled their last Australian-made car off the production line at their plant in Altona, Victoria on 3 October. Bringing an end to more than five decades of local manufacturing, a Camry hybrid was the last Australian-made Toyota. Adorned with Australian imagery, including a large Aussie flag on the roof and an aerial photo of the Altona manufacturing plant on the bonnet, the last Camry was driven off the line by longtime Toyota rallying stalwart Neal Bates. Whether that vehicle will be retained by Toyota, sold or auctioned off for charity has not been revealed. RESPECT FOR STAFF Like Holden’s finale, the last day of Toyota’s Australian manufacturing operations at Altona was a largely private affair for staff and invited guests.…

This November, the Geelong Revival Motoring Festival is reliving days of “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday”, taking us back to the golden era of Australian touring car racing. At this years’ sprints, we are celebrating the muscle cars of the 60s and 70s with a special racing class, the Historic Touring Car Group N, for the Just Cars Muscle Car Mile. Witness exhilarating racing from Toranas, Falcon GTs and Chargers as they sprint along Geelong’s picturesque waterfront at full throttle, showing off what these awesome machines are really capable of. The ¼ mile track will put these beastly vehicles to the ultimate test, just as it has for many of the world’s best drivers over the past five decades including Sir Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Dick Johnson, Jim Richards…

Targa Australia has announced a new addition to its tarmac rally calendar - the ‘Targa Great Barrier Reef’. The first Targa to be held in Queensland, Targa Great Barrier Reef (Targa GBR) will be based in Cairns and run from 31 August to 2 September, 2018, as part of a three-year deal between Targa Australia, Tourism & Events Queensland and Cairns Regional Council. Targa GBR will cover more than 800 kilometres in total, with 200 kilometres of timed sections across fifteen competitive stages. These timed sections include exciting roads around Cairns and Port Douglas, with Innisfail and the Atherton Tablelands also on the itinerary, as well as what organisers say is the largest Street Stage ever, which will run through central Cairns. Cairns will also host ‘Targafest’, where the competing…

If the experience of JUST CARS staffers at this year’s Motorclassica was anything to go by, the 2017 running of the Australian International Concours d’Elegance & Classic Motor Show was the best in the event’s eight-year history. Seen by more than 20,000 visitors this year, the 119 cars and 49 motorcycles presented for judging were supplemented by current models from Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Alpina, Aston Martin and Ferrari, as part of the modern motorshow element of the event, while Holden chose Motorclassica for the public debut of the upcoming, fullyimported ZB Commodore. As well as the vehicles for display and judging, there was also a delectable selection of 28 cars, three motorcycles and a selection of collectables and automobilia that made up this year’s Motorclassica auction, presented by Mossgreen. A highlight…

WHAT IS THIS RACING CLASS? The Group N (Historic Touring Cars) category was introduced in the early 1980s by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) to reflect the pre-1972 ‘Golden Age’ of touring car racing. All but a handful of the original race machines from that era have disappeared, so today’s cars are mostly replicas built to strict CAMS rules, which you can read at cams.com.au. OLD, OLDER, OLDEST… We’ll start with the oldest cars first. - Group Na (pre-1957): For cars available in Australia - ‘Humpy’ Holdens, Ford Zephyrs, Jaguars, Austins, Simcas and Volkswagens, for example. - Group Nb (1958-64): For makes and models with a proven overseas or Australian competition history - early Mustangs and Falcons, Cortinas, FE to EH Holdens, Minis, Alfa Romeos, Hillmans, Volvos, Triumphs,…

WANTED: HARTNET COUPE going or repairable. (JCM4061903) 03 6248 7963 TAS 1949 HUDSON SUPER SIX Right hand drive, long wheel base with Cleveland 351 V8, FMX auto and nine inch diff all from same car. 4 wheel disc brakes. On LPG and Petrol. Runs great, Body manly original with frenched tail lights and aerials. Older build needs a tidy up. REGO: 612HVC (JCW4061702) 0438 044 295 QLD $34,000 1927 ESSEX SUPER SIX Fitted 1928 front wheel brakes. Fitted 1929 Diff with new bearings. Mechanically sound. Good tyres with two spare wheels. Numerous spares. REGO: HS 4810 (JCW4061484) 07 3372 4998 QLD $11,000 1956 DESOTO DIPLOMAT recently painted, recently painted, recently painted, re upholsterecently painted, red and carpeted, motor and gearbox recently painted, reconditioned, this is a good honest car which…

Supercars has released their full calendar for 2018, with changes for the upcoming 16-round season including the first night race in 20 years, the debut of a new track and championship status for the support card slot at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix. The night race will be a 300km event at Sydney Motorsport Park on the evening of 4 August; the first time since 1997 that the category has held a points-scoring night race. The new track is The Bend Motorsport Park in Tailem Bend, South Australia; a $110 million facility, currently under construction, that will host national and international level motorsport events, as well as club-level racing, driver training and ‘drive experience’ events. Total track length at The Bend is 7.77 kilometres, but Supercars will race on…

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Pininfarina is best known for their long-running association with Ferrari, but not all the work from this Italian coachbuilding and styling firm has been devoted to the vehicles from Maranello. Past Pininfarina creations include styling production models for Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, Fiat and Maserati, to name a few, while oneoffs and concepts were produced for Honda, Bentley, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, Opel and Audi, as well as virtually every Italian carmaker. In terms of British cars, the Italian firm’s best-known work was the late-1950s Austin A40, which actually carried the ‘Farina’ tag (reflecting the time before the company was offically renamed ‘Pininfarina’ in 1961). Pininfarina applied a restyle to the Series 3 version of Jaguar’s XJ6 saloon in 1978, and also produced a one-off ‘XJ Spider’ concept based on the E-type…

BRING any car as long as it has a Ford badge. The rules are that simple, but it’s certainly not common these days to have a single marque car show, not least one so brimming with a mighty variety of entrants. If any brand has the history and passion in Australia to pull it off, it’s Ford. You have the celebration of our homegrown Aussie Falcons of course, but also your enthusiasts into classic Americans – Mustangs and beyond – plus a whole other segment of fans drawn to the four-cylinder Euro Blue Ovals. Think what you will about Fords, but the brand’s scope and heritage is the envy of many car manufacturers. On the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore dealership Pacific Ford has been hosting its Total Performance Show for the…