Notable Australian Amilcars

Amilcar CS8 1930

A rare Amilcar in Australia, let alone the world. This car was a private import into Australia after being imported to the UK from France in 1959. The car was in a wrecking yard in France and only came to light after the collapse of the Mallpasse arch dam in December 1959.

The car was originally fitted with a faux cabriolet body which was ruined by the water. An open Weymann style body was built as a copy of a UK built one of which a photograph was found.

The car was possibly rescued by Bryan Goodman. He was the President of the Amilcar Register in the UK when sold it to David Johnson in October 1968. Graeme Steinfort (from Australia) saw the car advertised in the June 1971 edition of Motorsport and purchased it for £1100. The car developed a misfire late in the 1970’s because of a broken Conrod and Graeme sold it to Richard Creed. Richard sold it to his father in law in the mid 1990’s.

The current owner bought the car from the widow of the late Austin Tope. The only problem was that a large box of engine bits went missing! Not the best thing to happen to such a rare car. The engine in the car is nearly ready to go back together after re-making the lost parts and should be back on the road soon.

Amilcar CS8

 Amilcar CGS surbaisse 1926

A rare car, which has considerable history which can be traced back to 1928. Owned by Richard Fewster of Renmark, this car is even more rare considering the fact it was imported with an Eldridge radiator cowl and fitted with an overhead valve conversion through the Adelaide Amilcar agency Drummonds. Whilst most Amilcars were imported in chassis “kit” form without bodies, this car has an original French Duval body.  This car raced at many local race tracks including the Smithfield race track in 1928.

Amilcar CGSs

Amilcar CGSs Adelaide

1927 Amilcar C4

This car is not notable because it is a C4 Amilcar – as the C4 Amilcar is one of the most mass produced Amilcars of all; but more notable for the body which is fitted to it. Most Amilcar’s sold in Australia were sold with tourer bodies, or bodies that offered comfort and practicality. What happened in the late 1950’s and is still continuing is that many Amilcars were bought with tourer and roadster bodies, have had those bodies removed and built into something that looks more sporting – like the bodies that were fitted to CGS Amilcars with pointy tails. The car might look better, be more sporting and be worth more money but history is being destroyed!

This C4 tourer is fitted with a TJ Richards (Adelaide) 4 seat, 3 door body. It was discovered by the late Kevin Shearer in the 1950’s and was his first Amilcar. Kevin was so impressed with the performance of the C4 that he was bitten with the Amilcar bug and his collection became incredibly vast, incredibly fast, after the C4 purchase! (those who knew Kevin would know that later he managed to collect one of the largest Amilcar collections in Australia!)

It was bought from the original owners at Port Adelaide and Kevin went about restoring it and using it with his young family. Kevin’s wife Joan put it on the market and after a few days deliberating it was snapped up by Angus Mitchell who is planning to use it with his family! Although the car has been sitting for over 30 years, it is still in good condition and apart from a bit of a problem with the engine (a rebuild) it should be up and running in late 2015.

Amilcar C4

Amilcar C4