Bolwell Nagari News

With all the recent news about local car manufacturing, you could be forgiven for thinking Australia has only ever built Fords, Holdens and Toyotas. But in fact, we've got a long, varied - and often quite weird - car building history. From a bugeyed oddity spawned by a company who honed their skills on washing

It's been nearly 30 years but the name Bolwell is poised to be driving into Australian car-making history yet again. Picking up the name of its 1970s coupe, the Bolwell Nagari started production last month and director Owen Bolwell — son of founder Campbell — won't exceed 25 units a year. "That's the maximum number a small-volume manufacturer can build and sell before we're required to start crash testing," he said. The first person who will own the latest Nagari — which is priced from $198,000 — is an un-named West Australian involved in the mining industry. He put his deposit down — car unseen — at Bolwell's reveal at last year's Melbourne Motor Show. The Nagari follows the principles of Campbell's 1970s model with a lightweight body and a high-performance engine. But where the predecessor had a fibreglass body over a steel backbone chassis and a front engine driving the rear wheels, the latest gets a carbon-fibre passenger `tub’ with alloy sub-frames and a rear-mounted, transverse V6 supplied by Toyota. The base Nagari gets a tweaked 220kW 3.5-litre V6 from the Toyota Aurion but there is the option of one with a Sprintex supercharger. It is available as a six-speed sequential automatic with steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters though a six-speed manual will be optional. Performance potential is shown by the Nagari's light 920kg weight. Owen Bolwell didn't release acceleration data though indicated that the supercharger would be "for those who don't mind losing their licence". "We aimed to create a very high-performance sports car that could double as a spacious, comfortable and well-equipped car that could be driven each day," Owen said. Underpinnings include double-wishbone suspension with fully-adjustable springs and dampers, power steering with tilt/telescopic adjustment and ventilated ABS brakes. Features are leather sports seats, airconditioning and cruise control with including a Polaris GPS stereo unit with sat-nav and rear camera. The Bolwell Car Company, a division of industrial fibreglass firm Bolwell Corporation of which Owen and brother Vaughn are directors, will start delivery of the Nagari early next year.  

Its maker, Campbell Bolwell, founded his company in 1962 with his two brothers and an idea of what an Australian made and built sports car should be – still an Aussie V8, and rear-drive, but lighter than a tonne and made to hug corners as well as haul on the straights. It is arguably one of the timeliest, and timeless, sports cars ever built in Oz. Much in the same way as its forefather, the new Nagari prototype – yes, this is still essentially a concept - is lightweight at about 900kg, powerful thanks to a supercharged V6, and maintains exclusivity through a limited number of hand-built beauties, and with a triple-figure price tag. Another tradition is its borrowed body parts. While the engine is no longer supplied by Ford, the company still has a hand in parts of the car – in the shape and cues of its late business partner, Aston Martin. Some of the interior and instrumentation is pure DBS. Instead of a V8 up front, the new Nagari features a Supra-style supercharged Toyota V6 located behind the seats for optimal weight distribution and handling. Matched to a Toyota manual, it should be similar in performance to the 3.5-litre supercharged engine in the TRD Aurion. Bolwell are also investigating an electric powerplant for the car. Its low kerb weight and moulded engine bay makes it a sure-fire prospect for full-electric battery power. The first of the much anticipated production models are due in November.  The numbers will be kept small to keep both the boutique manufacturer moniker, and to avoid lengthy and expensive crash testing and ADR requirements. The car will cost "somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000 depending on options," said company director Vaughan Bolwell. They may build 25. They may build 25 a year. But whatever they do, it will be different from the norm, and deliciously Australian. You can see the Nagari up close and personal at the Supercar Central stand at the show.

Born of a Ford V8 and a man’s idea of a sports car, the Bolwell Nagari Mk8 first hit Australian roads almost 40 years to this, the year of its reincarnation.