What is this?

[UK6]

Dale,
- A great Aussie special. Please find attached a snap of my 24 yr old father's first "project" car - an all Aussie JWF ITALA. My father built the car in Darwin in 1962. The car comprised a singer chassis and gearbox (Why? because that is all he could find in Darwin in 1962!!), grey motor Holden donk and triple brass bodied SUs ex Alvis Silver Eagle! The car reputedly had a terminal velocity of 107 mph (indicated) and no brakes! I believe that approx 30 shells were produced all up - quite a pretty car.

Brett

[penman]

Hi
Thanks for that Dale, I can now pass the info on to the Classic Car Forum where the question was first posed.

It is a great old car forum for any make.

[browning l]

More, including some pretty good pix, on the Tontala...

Q268 - solved - Repco

[Dale409]

(Please type your reply below this line!!)
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Oops

My apologies for the typos

Please insert the following where relevant
In house
leaf
and
do
had
of
an

Cheers

Dale

______________________
CURRENT MESSAGE FROM: Dale409

Brett

I remember the JWF Itala from deep in my memory, thanks for re-awakening it for me.

...The Buchanan which had an in house(d) designed chassis ....
...with transverse lee(leaf) spring front end...
...agents for Goggomobil (and) imported the chassis...
...One could (do) you brilliant handbrake turns...
...The seats (had) a very simple vertical pivot...
...introduced a pair (of) doors, hinged at the bottom and which dropped down.
...they usually have (an) impressive prototype to show and then fade away.


Cheers

Dale

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(Please type your reply above this line!!)

Originally Posted by UK6

Dale,
- A great Aussie special. Please find attached a snap of my 24 yr old father's first "project" car - an all Aussie JWF ITALA. My father built the car in Darwin in 1962.

Brett

[UK6]

RECOLLECTIONS ON GOGGOS m

Dale,
Not long after flogging off the Itala in Melbourne, father decided to buy two Goggos - a dart and the almost pretty coupe (double lunacy).
The coupe was purchased first in a semi disassembled state - some idiot had cut through the main wiring loom, which wasn't a major problem for a normal car, however, this particular model had an electric solenoid actuated gearchange (little knob/gate on the dash triggering a very quick gear change by virtue of a motorcycle type constant mesh box).I recall father spending an interesting morning sorting out the gearchange wiring ie switching on the indicators and the car changing gear etc!

The dart was a big hit on the air base (except with the CO) - as it was the only car on which could slip under the boom gate without the driver taking his hat off!

Brett

[Andy Bernard]

Doesn't the excellent Leyland P76 qualify as an Aussie special...........?
Designed there, built there, and I believe they almost sold a few.

Andy Bernard

[UK6]

Andy,
A few is right!
The P38 was only half the car they thought it was!
The P76 (4L) V8 engine did power a few brisk specials though - MGB etc.

Brett

[Dale409]

Andy

They did in fact make 18007 of them all but 81 were sedans, one was a station wagon and 80 were 2 door coupes of which 70 were crushed and 10 sold at auction to the public after they closed the business down..

The P76 was by all objective standards a better car than the competing Holden (Kingswood), Ford (Falcon) and Chrysler (Valiant) and was certainly more advanced stylistically and mechanically.

They were unlucky in that shortly before the release date NSW was subject to a series of strikes covering coal mining, power generation and even car workers. The result being that there was insufficient stock on hand at the release date to meet the demand. The delay in supply of a just released car spooked the public somewhat and not even being voted Car of the Year by wheels magazine was enough to stop the rot.

As Brett said the jokesters arrived with the half a car P38 tag and even the sales staff at a number of Leyland dealers had an internal nickname for the car. It seems the P76 badge on the rear of the car if seen from a distance looked like the word PIG.

Dale.

Originally Posted by Andy Bernard

Doesn't the excellent Leyland P76 qualify as an Aussie special...........?
Designed there, built there, and I believe they almost sold a few.

Andy Bernard

[Kevin H]

Okay, here's a new challenge - see attached.

Photo taken Nepean Highway, Melbourne, Australia - summer 08/09

By chance, I came across an article on this car in an RACV magazine which I suspect has since been thrown away, and I've forgotten what the car was!