These are the cars we should have bought or are delighted we didn’t – Cliff Chambers takes us through another edition of the Ones That Got Away.
JANUARY 1987 – AUSTIN A40 SOMERSET
Austin’s revised version of the A40 was heavier and slower than the original Devon. Unsurprisingly, far fewer of the sedan were sold during an abbreviated production life and today in Australia, you rarely see a Somerset – unkindly nicknamed the Somersault – even at specialist car shows. Searches early in 2025 failed to find any being offered locally for sale but British auction tracker Glenmarch turned up some decent looking sedans that had sold at the local equivalent of $4000-6000, plus a couple of rare Countryman wagons.
THEN: $1200
NOW: $4500-$6500
MARCH 2001 – BULLET SS ROADSTER
Own a Mazda MX5 and unimpressed by the performance? Get one of these. Almost 30 years ago a business on Queensland’s Gold Coast started cramming quad-cam Lexus V8s in space-framed MX5s, supercharging the engines to 320kW and selling these rocketships at several times the price of the donor vehicle. This one, advertised a year before the design achieved ADR compliance, is likely a prototype at considerably less than the $118,000 list price of a production SS. Few were made and even the best don’t recover the initial outlay.
THEN: $79,000
NOW: $45,000-$55,000
MAY 1994 – AUDI QUATTRO COUPE
As we learned a few issues back when profiling the monsters of Group B rallying, Audi’s all-wheel drive Quattro made two-wheel drive rally cars almost obsolete, yet nobody was brave enough to sell road-going Quattros in Australia. Those that landed here came as personal or dealer imports; some via New Zealand but most ex-UK. Prominent owners included media baron Kerry Packer but an AWD Audi didn’t match the prestige of Porsche’s 911 Turbo. Quattros remain uncommon in Australia but likely to sell above $150,000.
THEN: $38,000
NOW: $140,000-$160,000
SEPTEMBER 1988 – ASTON-MARTIN DB6 MARK II
Squint a bit and it looks just like the James Bond car, but this Aston from late in the era of David Brown ownership didn’t sell as well as the DB5 and later in life struggles to make a third of that car’s money. From 1969-70 Aston-Martin made just 245 of the duck-tailed DB6 Mark II and barely a handful would have been sold new in Australia. The British auction market during 2024 offered several Mark IIs, most of which sold at less than £200,000 – or around A$400,000. Freighting and paying taxes on an import would push all-up costs past $450,000.
THEN: $57,500
NOW: $450,000-$500,000
JUNE 1985 – BRISTOL 411
Some issues back we looked at a very early Bristol and could not avoid mentioning its BMW heritage. Scroll forward to 1969, by which time Bristol had adopted a distinctive albeit conservative shape and V8 engines supplied by Chrysler. Bristol cars usually sold within a small coterie of repeat owners and the price of individual cars was rarely disclosed. Few, if any, 1960s-70s models were sold new in Australia and this example is very likely a personal import. Determining current values is tough too and relies on data from UK sales.
THEN: $24,500
NOW: $50,000-$55,000
APRIL 1993 – HOLDEN UC TORANA HATCHBACK
Ordinarily it would be sacrilege to go messing with a rare example of the hatchback Holden Torana, but slotting a V8 into space occupied by a breathless 3.3-litre six wasn’t such a bad move and has delivered financial benefits. Holden when switching from LX to UC deleted the 4.2-litre V8 option, but an owner has subsequently redressed the error and slotted in an even bigger 5.0-litre motor plus a five-speed without radically altering the UC’s character. LX SL V8 hatches have been known to hit $100K and this one should go close.
THEN: $48,000
NOW: $80,000-$85,000
NOVEMBER 2007 – PORSCHE 944 TURBO
There seems to be a large divide between people who like rear-engined Porsches and those who prefer the motor up front. There is no denying that 944 Porsches are more obedient and predictable than 911s, but early ones lacked the power to make life interesting. Arrival in 1986 of the 944 Turbo solved that problem and although it will be a long time before any of them start bettering than their $115,000 new car price, 2.5-litre Turbos during the past 18 years have shown appreciable gains and are likely to continue on that path.
THEN: $24,000
NOW: $55,000-$65,000