What is This? - It's a TONTALA of course!
The car illustrated is a TONTALA which was a fibreglass bodied coupe made by Tony Thieler of the Tontala Motor Company.
The plan was to produce a two seat coupe using Holden components and engine which would be made available in various states of tune together with such individual modifications as requested by the customer. The first body was completed in October 1954 and after a road test program, during which some changes were made, the finished car was shown at the Melbourne Motor show in 1955 and later at the Sydney Motor Show.
Despite the company holding sufficient orders to ensure steady production for the rest of the year the expected capitalisation of the company did not occur and no production cars were made. Thieler subsequently made the car available as a kit for those who felt they had the skills to assemble it. The price at that time was 1400 Australian Pounds. The engine was the 2 1/4 litre Holden motor with a reground camshaft 3 SU carbs 7.5 compression ratio sports coil and double valve springs. The claimed power was 90 bhp, all up weight was 17.5 cwt (about 800kg) and had a claimed top speed of 100mph.
Cheers
Dale Allen
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