Australian Cars In The UK

[Dobloseven]

On 07/12/2025 at 18:43, Billy - Medhurst said:

There is one near me 

JUNE 1972 CHRYSLER 5212cc CHARGER AUTOMATIC UPU811K by Jonathan, on Flickr

JUNE 1972 CHRYSLER 5212cc CHARGER AUTOMATIC UPU811K by Jonathan, on Flickr

On the road for a short period and then parked up for years under a makeshift car port on the garden.

1972 CHRYSLER 5212cc CHARGER AUTOMATIC UPU811K by Jonathan, on Flickr

1972 CHRYSLER 5212cc CHARGER AUTOMATIC UPU811K by Jonathan, on Flickr

1972 CHRYSLER 5212cc CHARGER AUTOMATIC UPU811K by Jonathan, on Flickr

Revamped - used briefly and now sat 10 years back under that cover.

Is that Wicklow Drive in Leicester?If it is,I often wondered what's underneath.

[Billy - Medhurst]

10 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

Is that Wicklow Drive in Leicester?If it is,I often wondered what's underneath.

Yep thats it. 

[DodgeRover]

34 minutes ago, Billy - Medhurst said:

Yep thats it. 

Blimey go and knock the door, I thought it was the one I enquired about earlier this year but it had blue trim!

[Heidel_Kakao]

I spotted this AU Falcon in November.

[green200b]

WB Statesman.

[DodgeRover]

Going through my books last.night

This is one that got away when it came up for auction

The one of one R/T auto every built, I figured it had to be worth £20k plus at the time and I only had £15k so didn't bother going any further, didn't dare making an offer to the owner as I knew I didn't have enough. 

Sold for under 10k if I remember correctly and went straight back to Oceania for a full restoration to upset those who didn't believe an R/T auto was ever built.

[danthecapriman]

18 hours ago, DodgeRover said:

Going through my books last.night

This is one that got away when it came up for auction

The one of one R/T auto every built, I figured it had to be worth £20k plus at the time and I only had £15k so didn't bother going any further, didn't dare making an offer to the owner as I knew I didn't have enough. 

Sold for under 10k if I remember correctly and went straight back to Oceania for a full restoration to upset those who didn't believe an R/T auto was ever built.

I expect going back over there has improved its survival chances no end. No shit climate and no banger racers!

[Metal Guru]

On 09/01/2026 at 02:21, sheffcortinacentre said:

Phew that's handy as I'm always getting the fast back versions mixed up.

I doubt anyone ever got confused between a Triumph and Supermarine Spitfire.

[quicksilver]

8 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

I doubt anyone ever got confused between a Triumph and Supermarine Spitfire.

But Mercedes thought someone might get confused between a Mercedes S500

 

and a Scania S500

 

And told Scania to change it. Sorry, that has nothing to do with Australian cars, does it? OMG thread drift.

[mk2_craig]

Well If we’re doing this then:

 

Leyland Swift

 

Suzuki Swift

 

There is a tenuous Australian thing here as the Suzuki was apparently also marketed as one generation of Holden Barina, before the Corsa B I guess. Don’t know if Leyland sold any of the buses to the Aussies. 

[Richard_FM]

The Button Plan in Australia produced some strange badge engineered cars.

[Knotty Ash Towers]

23 minutes ago, Richard_FM said:

The Button Plan in Australia produced some strange badge engineered cars.

The Holden Apollo is a particular favourite of mine, a re-badged Toyota Camry.

As well as Holden-badged Toyotas, you could have:-

Toyota-badged Holdens

Holden-badged Nissans

Holden-badged Suzukis

Ford-badged Nissans

Nissan-badged Fords

Ford-badged Mazdas

Mazda-badged Fords

[green200b]

The annual Australia Day car show took place at Ace Café in London yesterday. There were a number of newer Holdens and Vauxhalls, some of which were imported and some were UK cars. There were also a number of older attendees there.

 

This Chrysler by Chrysler is an original UK car:

 

This Valiant Charger was imported:

 

A Mad Max Falcon that was imported I believe in the 2010s:

 

The blue Chevrolet was built by Holden Australia under licence by Chevrolet, and came here in the early 1980s. The orange HQ Kingswood wagon was a personal import at some point also:

 

Lastly, this ZD Fairlane with a 302 V8 is a second-owner with 69,000 miles on it. It is an original UK car sold new in London, and possibly the last surviving example:

 

A good, fun day out. The only problem is that now I want an Australian car....