The cars we should have bought or are delighted we didn’t…
September 2006
Ford Sierra RS500
$100,000 up to $350,000-$400,000
So often when investigating the fate of old racing cars we find a sad ending to their existence. Fortunately for the car known almost universally as the Caltex Sierra, this one didn’t die at the hands of some backmarker with more money than talent. It even found an owner with the vision and resources to fund a full restoration, which was completed in 2019. Even without competition history and this car’s famous driver pairing of Colin Bond and Alan Jones, RS500 Sierras have become valuable, with good ones starting from $250,000.
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April 1993
Holden Overlander 4WD
$18,000 up to $75,000-$80,000
Given the love displayed by Australians for off-road driving, the scarcity of locally made 4WDs is inexplicable. Ford in 1972 produced a few XY-based All-Wheel Drive utes and a few years later a private company in Tasmania began turning out these jacked-up Holdens which went by the name of Overlander. An article some years ago quoted production of 80 units, of which 24 were station wagons, so this HX is rare indeed. Finding anything similar for sale today is challenging, and although $18K was big money in 1993, $80K is possible now.
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November 1996
Chevrolet Impala Hardtop
$11,250 up to $$30,000-$35,000
In the USA, these Chevrolets with new ‘hippy’ styling were pretty basic fare, but Australia looked upon them as prestige transport and was happy to pay twice the price of a Holden Premier for something bigger but no more luxurious. The Impala did have a V8 engine though and a lot as they aged were bought cheaply to be used as tow-cars for the family boat or caravan. This one looks to be suffering some neglect and $11K might have been ambitious. Move along 30 years and an Impala in this condition should manage $35,000.
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February 1985
Lancia Flaminia
$10,000 up to $55,000-$65,000
Just the second-ever issue of Unique Cars delivered a Lancia that in its own right was unique as well. We cannot find a factory turbocharged version of Lancia’s 2.8-litre V6, so this boosted 1963 coupe would have undergone its under-bonnet modification while in the hands of a later owner. Only 1131 of the 2.8-litre two-door Flaminia saloon were made and they are rare in Australia. The same can’t be said for Europe or the USA, where in 2021 an exceptional car sold at auction for US$71,500, with nothing at more recent sales going close to that figure.
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March 1993
Rambler Hornet
$9,700 up to $16,000-$20,000
Living in Gough Whitlam’s Australia and wanting a new American car offered only two choices. Cough up big money for a personal import which still needed RHD conversion or buy a Rambler that complied with all the local design rules and was built in Melbourne. Australian Motor Industries during the 1970s imported and assembled hundreds of these mid-sized Hornets and sold them for similar money to a 4.2-litre Holden Premier. Today, the Hornet will generally cost less than the Holden but still offers competent classic motoring.
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June 2001
Triumph TR5
$36,000 up to $65,000-$75,000
Early fuel-injected TRs are the rarest of Triumph’s 1960s sports cars and – by reputation anyway – the most cantankerous. The Lucas injection system wasn’t well sorted when the TR5 made its debut in 1967 and the cars couldn’t pass USA emission tests. Therefore, any TR5 built LHD was intended for sale in places not subject to ‘smog’ rules. Instead of the anticipated 15,000 sales, only 2947 were made and of those only 1161 were RHD. This rare local delivery will likely be worth slightly more than cars originally registered in the UK.
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January 1987
Maserati Bora
$69,000 up to $275,000-$300,000
Rare Italian supercars don’t come a lot more ‘super’ or any rarer than a right-hand drive Maserati Bora. Using the same 4.7-litre V8 as the bigger Ghibli, these low-slung and chunky road rockets sold here in tiny numbers, and in the early 1970s cost close to $30,000. Only 42 were built RHD and very few would have sold in Australia as new cars, although at least one did arrive here as a personal import. That car was recently offered for sale at almost $300,000, mirroring prices being achieved by top-quality cars at overseas auctions.
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