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Foxy
Posted a lot
Making pink manly in the north!
Posts: 1,913
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Thats ace, i love its little happy face.
Would happily own one of them.
Great find.
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I'm the handsome fella with the cheesy white specs or is that the cheesy fella with the handsome white specs?
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scruff
Part of things
Posts: 621
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Very Lotus Europa at the front - very nice find!
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1994 Lotus Esprit - Fragile red turbo with pop up lights.
1980 Porsche 924 - Fragile red turbo with pop up lights.
I spy a trend...
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,542
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That looks really good. Bet it goes well too.
The taillights of champions?
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable. |
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will
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,023
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I like that a very lot. Interior's right up my street, sporty, purposeful and not over flash, suits the car well. Indicators from a beetle? I like this one too, very well styled.  |
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Very Z car from the front to my eye. Really like that. Nice find.
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ToolsnTrack
Posted a lot
Homebrew Raconteur
Posts: 4,127
Club RR Member Number: 134
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Like a TVR if it started breeding in Ferrari stables.... I love it!
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niwid
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,752
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wow! thats how a sports car should look imo!
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Sorry...am I missing something. 5.6 litre V8 and ONLY 290bhp??? How are they getting so little power from such a huge engine? At the very least they could bolt a supercharger on top!
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fogey
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,621
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From the front I see Ginetta, from the side a hint of Miura . . . overall a well balanced look
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Last Edit: Feb 1, 2012 18:39:43 GMT by fogey
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skinnylew
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 5,696
Club RR Member Number: 11
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Ginetta/Muira/E type/Lotus/Z car what an awesome combo  |
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Sorry...am I missing something. 5.6 litre V8 and ONLY 290bhp??? How are they getting so little power from such a huge engine? At the very least they could bolt a supercharger on top! Yes, you are missing something. That was the stock horsepower of a 351 Windsor from Ford in 1969. The Bolwells were kit cars and Bolwell didn't do anything to the engine. Most small-block V8s of the period had similar power figures. In any case, they had plenty of torque and in a fibreglass car with less than 1000kg, more power would be the last thing on your mind! They would have absolutely flown. The power to weight ratio of a 290hp/950kg car is better than the current BMW M3 of 414hp/1680kg. And this was an affordable car from a tiny company in Australia in the 1960s. The 290hp Windsor was from the Ford Falcon GT, which was considered a very fast car at the time and probably would have weighed about 50% more than the Nagari with a steel four-door body. For comparison, the Lotus Elan of the same era had 115hp and a mass of 680kg, giving it approximately half the power to weight ratio of the Bolwell Nagari. |
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79cord
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,617
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The Bolwell did share an Elan inspired backbone chassis (without the independant rear suspension); Graeme Bolwell having travelled to England where he spent five months working for Colin Chapman at the Lotus factory (Bolwell run by brothers Campbell, Graeme & Winston Bolwell). Hotwire's car above is a J.W.F Milano GT, not a Bolwell, being from NSW rather than Victoria. More Bolwell pictures courtesty of www.bolwellcarclub.com.au/history.html  mk4  mk5  MK6 "SR6" MK 7 was basically an earlier evolution of the Nagari (mk 8) already shown above with a basic holden 6 instead of the Nagari's Ford Falcon V8.   mk 9 The Ikara of 1979 GM Kadett/Chevette/Gemini front suspension with mid mounted VW Golf drivetrain www.theikaraproject.com/page19.htm Bolwell mk 10, a (stalled?) 2008 attempt to get the company back into car production, having survived in the meantime making fiberglass truck bodies/panels, playground equipment & even distributing small scooters/mopeds. |
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Last Edit: Feb 4, 2012 5:05:17 GMT by 79cord
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I saw the show car for the new Nagari a few years ago, but I don't know whether they made many. It was fiercely expensive, they were talking about prices of $200,000 for the base model with a standard V6 Toyota engine and the supercharged version was very nearly as much as a Porsche 911. Whilst it may very well be as fast as a 911, it's hard to imagine shelling out that much money for a sports car whose complete engine and drivetrain are lifted directly from a $40,000 family sedan. And of course you could buy a brand new Lotus or a Porsche Cayman for less than the price of the new Bolwell. Or an Audi RS5, even a Tesla Roadster if you feel that way inclined! As much as I like supporting Australian manufacturing, I don't see very good value in the Bolwell. Imagine what the depreciation would be like!
Unfortunately, that's the problem with low-volume cars in Australia, the market is absolutely tiny and we simply have too many strict regulations and other costs. For example, it's almost impossible to build a kit car for less than the price of a brand new Mazda MX-5 or Subaru WRX. Not to mention that there is the Toyota 86 aka Subaru BRZ on the way now.
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If I think about what ~250BHP from a 5.3 can do with a 1500kg Jeep; 290 for a car that's 1/3 lighter is PLENTY enough to go VERY fast ;D
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Just as beautifull - and with a good pinch of Ferrari & E-Type to it, IMO 
Ax GTi Turbo
