Australia has created some great cars over the last century. But it's also turned out a few dungers along the way.
And, as the local manufacturing comes to an end tomorrow when Holden builds its final Commodore, we look back on those that should never have made it out the door like they did.
Datsun 120Y
Datsun built some absolutely ripper small cars in the 1970s. The locally-made 120Y was not one of them. Not even nearly.
Dynamically it was an under-achiever with dreadful, vague steering, wobbly handling and an engine that had you constantly checking if the hand-brake had been left on.
If that lot hadn’t got it on this list, the flaky paint, panels that rusted in real time and carpet so cheap, holes wore in it if you looked at it too hard, would have.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20171022172329im_/https://dynimages.themotorreport.com.au/SaGxJNoK1wnWd2dZxmP7LdcSC3U=/fit-in/800x600/filters:stretch(FFFFFF)/editorial/65459/ford-au-falcon-772.jpg)
Ford Falcon AU
Mechanically speaking, there was nothing wrong with the AU Falcon. It steered well and did everything a Falcon should have.
But, Lord, it was homely. In base-model form, the gawky stance, skinny little wheels with their plastic covers and that plankton-strainer of a grille scared buyers into Holden showrooms in their droves.
Ford moved fast with a string of facelifts, but the damage was done and the AU remains as a warning to `adventurous’ stylists everywhere.
Holden Camira
On paper, the Camira was the car that showed the Aussie industry the way forward.
Front-wheel-drive, clever packaging and a revvy four-cylinder engine should have paved the way for future local compacts.
The reality was a gutless engine that needed more driver input than the average Fred could be bothered with and structural rust that outran the factory warranty.
Ford Capri
You can kind of – maybe – blame poor timing for the Ford Capri’s woes. After all, it arrived on the scene about the same time as Mazda’s golden-child MX-5.
But beyond the unfortunate timing, the Capri was plagued by quality issues starting with a roof that leaked so badly you wondered if anybody in engineering had ever driven one in the rain. Or washed one.
Throw in quick-fade paint, sketchy plastics and a big dose of naturally-occurring ugly, and you had yourself a folding-top dud.
Leyland P76
It’s said that cultural attributes often get lost in translation. Not in this case: The P76 was every bit as poorly built and underdone as its Leyland cousins made in Britain.
Designed specifically for Australian conditions, the P76 defied that input by immediately falling to pieces and providing owners with hours of warranty-claim fun by doing things like using its exhaust system to scorch its own carpet.
The optional all-alloy V8 engine remains the P76’s one saving grace.
Four-cylinder Commodore
What a terrific idea: Take a six-cylinder sedan and put a four-cylinder engine in it to make a fuel-saver option for those frugal families out there.
Except Holden cut more corners than a getaway driver in the process. The Starfire (Backfire to you and I) Four engine was a Holden six with two cylinders cut off the end.
The result was a noisy, harsh, gutless nail that had to be driven flat out everywhere, completely negating any potential fuel saving. Own goal on wheels.
Holden Gemini Diesel
These days, diesels are pretty sexy things. Not so back in the early 1980s when, without turbochargers, they were slow-revving, low-powered boat anchors that were only fitted to cars so they could be sold to farmers who could fill them cheaply with subsidised diesel intended for the tractor.
Putting just such an engine into the Gemini was weird science even back then and the results were predictable.
Apparently the Gemini diesel could travel 60 miles on one gallon of diesel. Just not in one day.
Ford Falcon XK
Car-makers know they have just one chance to get a new car right or risk the lot. Which is how the first Aussie Falcon, the XK of 1960, almost ruined the fledgling Ford Australia operation.
Essentially a North American design, the Falcon looked good and drove well, but tended to jettison its front suspension on the first Australian-spec bump, of which there were many in 1960.
Some fast fixes and equally fast talking saved it but the XK came very close to being the first and last Aussie Falcon.
HSV Avalanche
Ford’s Territory was giving Holden big headaches in the marketplace in 2003, so the obvious solution was to build its own SUV. Except it didn’t, it built the Adventra.
Complicated, compromised and heavy, it begat the HSV version, the Avalanche, which was even heavier and more compromised.
The all-wheel-drive system made the thing hugely wide, demanding those plastic wheel-arch extensions and the compromised exhaust system (to clear the driveshafts) meant that the Avalanche dropped power. Yes, power; HSV’s biggest selling point. Seems all avalanches tumble downhill.
Lightburn Zeta
You have to admire chutzpah. Like when a maker of washing machines and cement mixers figures it’ll just whip out a new car for the masses.
The Lightburn Zeta turned up in 1963 complete with a fuel tank in the driver’s lap, no reverse gear (you switched the engine off and started it backwards, giving you four reverse gears from which to choose) and the only way to access the rear luggage compartment was to remove the front seats.
In two years of production, Lightburn and Co sold almost 400 units. A miracle in itself.
Is there more? Tell us in the comments below what you think are the worst Australian cars ever
20 Comments
Mitsubishi Colt 1980s was almost as bad as the 120Y
Also....my bro in law had Zeta...yup need to switch ignition to get reverse and the so called boot area was rough fiberglass! but parking at footy was easy...we just lifted it inti spaces...The engine felt like a down graded lawn mower...we loved it!...are there any around? must be worth a ruble or gtwo because it was marginally better than a trabant!
Morris Marina.
This list deserves to be much longer. Rose coloured glasses corrupts our memory on some of these, but; The HR holden. People love them these days, but the few survivors have been sorted. They rusted very early in life because Holden had a practice of leaving them in primer, outside, before painting them And there were heaps of reports of bit's missing and not being put together properly on the assembly line, because it was too hard for the lien to keep up. Similar with the Mk1 escort. It had an atrocious record for assembly line errors when first being built. The seat fell out of my father's van as he drove it home from the dealership. It had A tolerance pistons in D tolerance bores, so that when you turned it off it continued to run for a few minutes. And then there was the EA Falcon. Ford just judged the market completely wrong when they designed that. The rushed to marked BA also had quite a number of inbuilt flaws that not only plagued most cars, buit thanks to Fords refusal to repair them under warranty, seriously damaged Fords reputation in this country. The legacy of which they still struggle with today. But the Camira does win this contest. At least the 120y can claim to be a product of being a cheap car in the 70s. The Camira was supposed to have come at a time when we were past that.
How about, every single Toyota Camry ever made? The un-car if ever there was one. I rather like the Falcon AU though! The EA is a much more logical pick for worst of. Regardless, the death of car manufacturing in Australia is a sad state of affairs indeed, and I simply can't shake the perception that it's symptomatic of the fact that Australians as a whole have a large and growing sense of self-loathing and despair about who we are and where we're going. Now that we're as wealthy as we are and our standard of living is so high (and it really is. Been to the UK or Europe lately...? Struggle street compared to here) we seem to be descending into escapism, pretending to be what we aren't rather than looking after our own back yard. We're so insecure that we can't even bring ourselves to treat asylum seekers with respect or to call out populist idiots like Tony Abbott. No wonder the Aussie car didn't stand a chance in the 21st century!
Austin Kimberley, all the bad things about British Leyland in Australia including the Lucas 'Prince of darkness' electrics, just bigger. To their credit, if yould have completely repowered them with modern powerplants and transmissions the actual packaging and interior space was awesome.
My dad owned all three,the 1800,the Tasman and the Kimberley,and all three were magnificently riding machines with very little maintenance required to keep them in excellent running order.Then he made the major error of buying a Morris Major! He often wondered if there were indeed any springs underneath,it handled like a roughly built billy cart but without the good looks
Anything made by Mitsubishi...Like the Magna. They all blow more smoke than a leafblower with acracked engine Toyota Lexcen. Take a Commodore and name it after a guy who designed boats. And make it from the cheapest aussie made materials you can find with a thin layer of paint that fades like Michael Jackson. The car that slowed sales of both Toyota and Holden. The drover...A rebadged suzuki sierra but without the expected crudity of the sierra. Back in the days when the Barina was a Suzuki they did a swap. Then they rebadged a cheap Korean car as a Barina... GM wanted to make a statement. They did. Dont buy me.
The original Ford Laser. Homebush made butbased on a Mazda 323. Appaling build. Apalling paint. Just aweful. The 323 outsold it until the factory ended.
Paul, you might want to check your facts about the laser. They were very well made by comparison to other Australian made cars and they outsold the 323 by around 8:1 (the 323 was significantly more expensive). Also they were extremely important for Australian motoring history because it's thanks to them Australians started to believe that 4 cylinder cars could be as good as 6 cylinder cars and they were the first front wheel drives (apart form the mini) that were accepted. I remember doing a side by side comparison with a Ferrari 308 and frankly the KB laser was better put together. Maybe you are thinking of the Telstar. That was a different story. Although even it outsold both the 323 and the 626 most years.
Holden Sunbird with the Starfire 4 engine. Grab a 173ci red motor and cut 2 cylinders off with a angle grinder and hey presto a heap of junk.
No Sunbird - the 4cyl was just as bad in the smaller body. Any fuel injection Camira. Any Magna
Well before the AU Falcon launch, everyone at Ford Australia knew it looked terrible. But they didn't have any choice as the styling was dictated by the wizards at Ford HQ in Murica!
Hey! Put some photos. Save me googling them.
I actually owned 3 Ford Lasers and found them really good cars for getting from point A to B.. serviced every 6 months, wonderfully economical on fuel, terrific heaters and comfy seats. The first 2 were manuals and the last one which I sold a year ago, was an auto. 1984, 1990 and 1991. I'd still be driving it but my family told me they were too long in the tooth so I sold my beloved car to someone I knew at Lightning Ridge Now though I drive a 1988 Toyota Corolla, 5 speed manual and I love it ! As far as worst cars go, the Holden Sunbird, Torana and Datsun 120y were rust buckets from the back of beyond ! Holdens traditionally have problems with rust whilst Falcons have problems with Rose joints and associated things as well as roof linings that don't like staying in place. The earlier model Fords were candidates for getting their floors replaced through rust . That's just my point of view from cars I've driven over the years . Regardless though, I have found that a lot of older vehicles like the Zephyrs just needed a battery and some oil and you could drive them home ( over 50 miles away). They were built to last and very rarely rusted out .... but like anything you drive, if you look after it, and treat it well, it will get you where you need to go and home again.
Mitsubishi Magnas and some of the earlier models of Subaru were cars you avoided like the plague. Smoky emissions, heavy on fuel, rust and bad door hinges, and uncomfortable seats , were just some of the bad news items of these two as well !
Oh, settle you ratbags! I had a Holden Gemini diesel: one of the best cars I've ever had! I used to take wicked delight in doing V8s from the inside lane at the lights: you dumped the clutch then nailed it -- nothing would beat them in first gear! And they would do 60 mpg, Sydney to Melbourne on one tank was quite achievable -- and in one day! Have you noticed you almost never see them on the second-hand market? That's cause anyone who has one ain't letting it go!
Datsun 200B LPG version. The 200B wasn't so bad in it's day; however the factory LPG version: ARRRRRRRR!.
My wife once owned a 1996 Daewoo hatchback, boy what a stinker that was, I doubt there'd be still a single onw of those on the road today. When it was a hot day and the air conditioner was on, if you drove up a slight incline the head gasket would give out. We blew 3 head gaskets before selling the car for $500 in 2006. Heap of crap that more likely came out of North orea than the South. - Colmo
What's with the mph and gallons? This is Australia, we use the metric system