The Australian Six was an Australian automobile manufactured from 1919 to 1925. It was a grandiose attempt to compete against imported cars from the United States, and was produced from a mixture of local and imported parts. Vehicles featured a conventional chassis layout and a choice of five bodies, locally made under the motto 'Made in Australia, by Australians, for Australia'. [1] Most models were fitted with Rutenber Straight-6 engines and Grant Lees or Muncie gearboxes; some, however, had imported OHV Ansted engines instead. Before 1919 the factory was at the Sydney Harbour side suburb of Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales, it then moved to Ashfield until 1924. The company was forced to shut down production after some 500 cars were built; this was due mainly to high local construction costs. The final few cars were made by the Harkness and Hillier hire car company in Sydney. Only four Australian Sixes are thought to survive, one in the Powerhouse Museum automobile collection in Sydney, one in the York Motor Museum, York, Western Australia, this is one of the first six built without a chassis number in the first factory, one in the National Museum in Canberra and one in Birdwood Museum, South Australia.
The term Australian Six (or "Big Aussie six" etc.) is sometimes used to refer to Australian-built large family cars such as the Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore/Toyota Lexcen, Toyota Avalon/Aurion, the Mitsubishi Magna/380, the Chrysler Valiant & the Leyland P76, which often have six-cylinder engines as standard.
In 1984 the car was honoured on a postage stamp, part of a series of five depicting early Australian automobiles, issued by Australia Post .
The Toyota Celica is an automobile produced by Toyota from 1970 until 2006. The Celica name derives from the Latin word coelica meaning heavenly or celestial. In Japan, the Celica was exclusive to the Toyota Corolla Store dealer chain.
Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the firm was originally a coachbuilder, manufacturing wagons, buggies, carriages and harnesses.
Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd., commonly known as Daihatsu, is a Japanese automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest surviving Japanese internal combustion engine manufacturers. The company's headquarters are located in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture.
Nash Motors Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin from 1916 until 1937. From 1937 through 1954, Nash Motors was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. As sales of smaller firms declined after 1950 in the wake of the domestic Big Three automakers advantages in production, distribution, and revenue, Nash merged with Hudson Motors to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). Nash automobile production continued from 1954 through 1957 under AMC.
Allard Motor Company Limited was a London-based low-volume car manufacturer founded in 1945 by Sydney Allard in small premises in Clapham, south-west London. Car manufacture almost ceased within a decade. It produced approximately 1900 cars before it became insolvent and ceased trading in 1958. Before the war, Allard supplied some replicas of a Bugatti-tailed special of his own design from Adlards Motors in Putney.
The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other branded automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., from 1909 until 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was discontinued.
The Toyota Corona is an automobile manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota across eleven generations between 1957 and 2001. On launch, the Corona was Toyota's next to highest product in their range, just below the Crown. The Corona was marketed in the JDM at Toyota's Toyopet Store dealership channels, and the Corona was one of Toyota's first models exported to other global markets, followed by the smaller Toyota Corolla.
The Nissan Bluebird is a compact car with a model name introduced in 1957. It has been Nissan's most internationally recognized sedan, in multiple body styles, and is known for its dependability and durability. The Bluebird originated from Nissan's first vehicles, dating to the early 1900s, and its traditional competitor became the Toyota Corona. The Bluebird was positioned to compete with the Corona, as the Corona was developed to continue offering a sedan used as a taxi since Toyota Crown was growing in size. Every generation of the Bluebird has been available as a taxi, duties that are shared with base level Nissan Cedrics. It is one of the longest-running nameplates from a Japanese automaker. It spawned most of Nissan's products sold internationally, and has been known by a number of different names and bodystyles, including the Auster/Stanza names.
The Terraplane was a car brand and model built by the Hudson Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, between 1932 and 1938. In its maiden year, the car was branded as the Essex-Terraplane; in 1934 the car became simply the Terraplane. They were inexpensive, yet powerful vehicles that were used in both town and country. The Terraplane name was used for both cars and trucks.
The Austin 7 is an economy car that was produced from 1923 until 1939 in the United Kingdom by Austin. It was nicknamed the "Baby Austin" and was at that time one of the most popular cars produced for the British market and sold well abroad. Its effect on the British market was similar to that of the Model T Ford in the US, replacing most other British economy cars and cyclecars of the early 1920s. It was also licensed and copied by companies all over the world. The first BMW car, the BMW Dixi, was a licensed Austin 7. In France they were made and sold as Rosengarts, and in the United States they were built by the American Austin Car Company. In Japan, Nissan also used the 7 design as the basis for their first cars, although not under licence. This eventually led to a 1952 agreement for Nissan to build and sell Austins in Japan under the Austin name.
Bean Cars was a brand of motor vehicles made in England by A Harper Sons & Bean, Ltd at factories in Dudley, Worcestershire, and Coseley, Staffordshire. The company began making cars in 1919 and diversified into light commercial vehicles in 1924. For a few years in the early 1920s Bean outsold Austin and Morris.
Sheffield-Simplex was a British car and motorcycle manufacturer operating from 1907 to 1920 based in Sheffield, Yorkshire, and Kingston upon Thames, Surrey.
Australian Motor Industries (AMI) was an automobile assembly firm that was significant in the early history of the automotive industry in Australia.
Toyota Australia is an Australian subsidiary of the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota. It markets Toyota products and manages motorsport, advertising and business operations for Toyota in Australia. It is also responsible for Lexus vehicles in Australia.
The A1 was the first prototype passenger car built by the company that became Toyota. It was redesigned and put into production as Toyota's first production cars, the AA sedan and the AB cabriolet. These were succeeded by the similar AE, AC and BA sedans.
British Motor Corporation (Australia) was a motor manufacturing company formed in Australia in 1954 by the merger of the Austin Motor Company (Australia) and Nuffield (Australia). This followed the merger in 1952 of the Austin Motor Company and the Nuffield Group in the United Kingdom to form the British Motor Corporation. Following further corporate changes in the UK in the late 1960s, BMC Australia was absorbed into the newly established British Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia, the name of which became Leyland Motor Corporation of Australia in 1972, and then JRA Limited in March 1983.
The SA was Toyota's first new passenger car design after World War II. It was the first in a family of vehicles before the introduction of the Crown. A series of light trucks also shared the chassis and major components of these passenger cars.
A substantial car industry was created in Australia in the 20th century through the opening of Australian plants by international manufacturers. The first major carmaker was Ford Australia and the first Australian-designed mass production car was manufactured by Holden in 1948. Australian manufacture of cars rose to a maximum of almost half a million in the 1970s and still exceeded 400,000 in 2004. Australia was best known for the design and production of 'large' sized passenger vehicles. By 2009 total production had fallen to around 175,000 and the Australian market was dominated by cars imported from Asia and Europe.
The automotive industry in New Zealand supplies a market which has always had one of the world's highest car ownership ratios. The distributors of new cars are essentially the former owners of the assembly businesses. At the dealership level they have maintained their old retail chains in spite of the establishment of the many new independent businesses built since the 1980s by specialists in used imports from Japan. Toyota entered into direct competition with those used-import businesses refurbishing old Toyotas from Japan and selling them through their own dealers as a special line. The nation's car fleet is accordingly somewhat older than in most developed countries.
Buckle Motors Pty Ltd is an Australian car dealership chain and former manufacturer that produced the famous Goggomobil Dart. Currently, under the name Bill Buckle Auto Group, the company sells Toyota, Subaru and Volkswagen vehicles.