Back in Aprl this year we took Harry to a show only he was able to enter out of all our cars; Australian Built or Assembled Vehicles. This covers kit cars and CKD kits and also when vehicles were sent out here and local bodies put on them. We used to make and assemble a lot of cars, trucks and buses in Australia.

🧵

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Sadly Harry was the only Haflinger there, next time Erik will come too.

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Once upon a time we had Ford, Holden, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, VW assembly lines pumping out cars.

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We also had lots of niche assembly going on with cars sent out in parts and rebuilt here. Many European manufacturers did this to avoid expensive tariffs.

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People always gather to read about Harry, I have some laminates in his tray to explain all about him and about Haflingers.

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I was hoping we'd see more of the eclectic kit builds at this event but it was very Holden/Ford heavy.

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#Carshow

Leyland and Chysler also had production lines here once, and made a lot of different models here.

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#Carshow

An amazing amount of Leyland P76's turned up

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This MG had also been locally assembled

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#Carshow

Once upon a time Mitsubishi made many cars in South Australia.

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These tiny Austins came out as a running chassis, and had bodies that were made by Holden in Port Melbourne for them.

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This is a Ford Model Y, from 1934! No suspension to speak of, the whole body just rocks side to side. It's owner is over 6 foot 4 and fits though. Was so small and adorable. Meet Stanley!

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This VW Beetle was made in Clayton

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The green one is a recent build, you can still buy new Bolwells!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolwell_Nagari

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More Holdens and Fords kept on arriving

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A Leyland Moke appeared, another Australian built car.

And this very weird Holden. Usually seen as a sedan, this is a wagon that was factory built, super rare.

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Yes Skylines were assembled here too

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This Leyland P76 is a Shitbox Rally champion

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The Dodge I wonder if it was assembled here or not...it is RHD.

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The owner of this Mini Moke said it was the oldest registered in the state. This was used to move F1 drivers around at Albert Park during the Grand Prix

@miniphernalia

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There's that one off Holden EH library wagon again

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I think this Rolls was a bit confused.

The orange car is an Elfin! They made excellent track cars as well as street cars.

https://elfin.com.au/

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I don't know if this Ford Consul was built here, maybe assembled?

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Mitsubishi Sigma, born in South Australia.

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I do wonder if this Studebaker Gran Turismo was possibly assembled here? It is RHD.

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The ultimate Australian VW arrived, the Country Buggy! All Australian design and built.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Country_Buggy

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I followed the Country Buggy because yay Country Buggy!

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Found some Vauxhalls too, they were also assembled here.

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It's a Ford, so built or assembled here.

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Toyota made many, many cars here. Pity only one came to the show.

RACV were called in to assist someone.

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Even a racecar came along, ex V8 Supercar.

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Holden and Isuzu collaborated on this. Japanese tech in an Aus built car.

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A relative had one of these Pulsars back in the eighties. It was so gutless you couldn't run the air con and the radio on a hot day.

Well that was it, was an interesting turnout!

/endthread

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@vwdasher Early 1971 VW 1302 S, just like mine.
@klefstadmyr what it needs is the Australian trim to make it perfect.
@vwdasher Is that a high beam switch above the clutch pedal?
@vwdasher That looks to be the same as was sold in the US in the mid '70s and called the VW Thing. My boyfriend at the time had one. It was literally like driving in a tin can.
@Axomamma not a Thing though, quite different.
@vwdasher those were fun in winter, in Canada. Exhaust piped through the car. Vile and tasty.
@poetaster It's not a Thing.
@vwdasher my friend Noel had one with a flex pipe through the middle. Now, presumably it wasn't venting exhaust directly, but it might as well have. His was yellow.
@poetaster he had a Thing I take it? These are Country Buggies, built in Australia in very limited numbers.
@vwdasher you're probably right. Long ago :-)
@vwdasher More than a bit confused. Is that a Holden Torana under all that?
@larand no idea!
@vwdasher The shape of the doors and side glass makes me think so, but they really tried to hide it.
@larand I have no clue what was going on there. Back in the eighties Rolls Royce kits were a stupid fad on all sorts of cars including Beetles. Might be a kit from then, who knows.

@vwdasher @larand
There was one in town a while back based on a 300C. I haven't seen it in years so either it fell victim to good taste (unlikely) or was slowly devoured by the rust monster.

I give you... the Chrolls!

@DenOfEarth Oh dear! Usually those turn into fake Bentleys! Lord.
@DenOfEarth @vwdasher @larand TBH, this is actually better than 90% of what RR has put out over the last 20 years.
@Basmitharts @vwdasher @larand
Chrome wheels aside, I do love their sedans.
Still kinda miss my V6 Charger.
@DenOfEarth @Basmitharts @larand they were the car of choice for dickhead drivers here who drove them aggressively and loudly so I tend to associate them with fuckwittery if I see one.
@vwdasher @Basmitharts @larand
Can't disagree with your experience and I'm sorry that happened. I just wanted a long-wheelbase sedan for comfy road trips, and my V6 had the quiet factory exhaust.
@DenOfEarth @Basmitharts @larand unfortunately anything with large engines attracts the knuckledraggers here...
@DenOfEarth @vwdasher @Basmitharts I rented one of those a few years back on a trip to see the in-laws in Oklahoma. It was a good choice. Decent power, nice ride, and plenty of room for luggage.
@larand @vwdasher @Basmitharts
I rented a Challenger before buying the Charger. The rental was also a V6 but the Dodge Pentastar 3.6l is quite ample at 295HP. It was fun to drive but the B pillar creates a huge blind spot when you're trying to see one lane over to make sure no-one is coming into the spot you're changing lanes into. The Dodge way to mitigate that is to floor it but that's not always feasible or advisable. Anyhoo at least it was photogenic.
@DenOfEarth @vwdasher @Basmitharts I hear you on the blind spot in the Challenger. A friend of mine bought one and said the same thing. It's a common problem these days with stupidly narrow window openings and wide pillars. I miss the days of bigger window glass and thin pillars. Probably not so good for crashes and rollovers, but a lot easier to see out of (and maybe, just maybe, to avoid the crashes in the first place).
@larand @DenOfEarth @Basmitharts I've been in enough modern cars where the rear window's an afterthought, and I hate it.
@vwdasher @larand @Basmitharts
Yes the rollover requirement and airbags everywhere has made truly large pillars. In the case of my i3, the A pillars are a serious blind spot. I move my head to look around when I'm making a left turn but it's still a bit hairy sometimes.
@DenOfEarth @larand @Basmitharts I cannot stand it. Give me fishbowl cars any day.
@DenOfEarth @vwdasher @larand @Basmitharts
I know I'm wacky, but I just love the Pacer!

@vwdasher @donaldham @larand @Basmitharts
My uncle had one and told me how to be cool: you don't have to go fast, you just have to look good!

Also apparently the Pacer had some kind of superior suspension system? I don't think it was Citroën levels of epic but better somehow than the average American boat of the seventies?

@donaldham @DenOfEarth @vwdasher @larand @Basmitharts “New for ‘77! Peanut Butter beige and pointy hubcaps!!”
@vwdasher Is that really a Rolls? The body looks like a Mercedes, or a Buick, or a Lincoln, or a Ford, or… well, not a Rolls Royce, certainly. I doubt the grille was carefully added to the front of something else as well as some badges, but… Could someone do a blood or DNA test on that vehicle, please?
@IanAMartin absolutely no idea what it is
@vwdasher Someone needs to get it into a dark room, shine a very bright light at it, and interrogate for hours until it gives up its secret.
@vwdasher Also, the Elfins are ADORABLE! Please export all of them to Canada immediately.
@IanAMartin they've stopped making them, was getting far too hard to meet ADRs here. I knew a chap who raced one and he told me windscreens were impossible to get hold of. The name's been bought by someone else but so far no new cars :(

@vwdasher All the easier to round up all of them, put them on a ship, and send them here.

Yup, every single one. I wish to see the land filled with them scurrying around and filling people with joy at the sight of them.

9 Elfin cars for sale in Australia | my105.com

Browse 88 Elfin in Australia from years 1959 to 2020, including models 600, 600 F2, Formula 5000, ME-5, Mono, 600 FF and MR8C, priced from $1,800 to $285,000. | my105.com

@vwdasher No no no no no… I have not been sufficiently clear. I cannot afford to purchase one or all of them. I merely ask they be carefully packaged and sent here for me. Others could, if they wished, pay for them, certainly. But my point is simply to have them relocated — all of them — to the area around Vancouver, for the Public Good. We are close to the USA and its influence, and the People need cheering up. The Elfins will, in my mind, do exactly that. How could anyone stand in their way?
@IanAMartin but they can be your cutie racecars! You can have an entire fleet for at the track!

@vwdasher
Racing? Oh no. We do not race anywhere, no. We are driven.

[:: muses ::]

Pish-tush! “Pay…” As if anyone actually does that sort of nonsense anymore. Pshaw, sirrah! PSHAW, I say, sirrah! Trouble me not with such mundanities. Merely have things arranged as I have outlined I wish it done, there’s a good fellow.

[:: turns away ::]

JENKINS! Go out, find a commoner and give them a sound thrashing for me.

What?

On general principle, that’s why!

[:: returns to sipping brandy ::]