Sports car with muscle

“We wanted make a muscle car,” recalled Graeme Bolwell, “and we approached Holden to buy powertrains for the cars. They weren’t receptive to doing a deal, however, but we found Ford were. I would have preferred to go with Holden, however.”

With the benefit of hindsight GM-H might wish they could change their mind. The Bolwell Nagari, fitted with that second-choice Ford V8 302, is now an Australian icon. The Nagari was designed and built in a nondescript factory at Seaford in Melbourne by Graeme Bolwell and his brother Campbell. Graeme learnt about fibreglass technology while working for Lotus in England but it was the idea to drop in an Australian V8 that made the Nagari so successful. This was a muscle car in a sports car body.

For a small-volume, locally produced car the Bolwell had great success on the track. In 1973 and 1974 John Latham drove the works Nagari racer to several wins in the Production Sports class (that car can be seen in the Bolwell showroom in the pic above). But the most extraordinary Bolwell racer of them all was the red convertible driven by Adelaide photographer Bernie van Elsen. Modified with rear wings and a front spoiler, this car competed, with surprising success, in the outright sports car category.

See Issue #114 for the more on the Bolwell Nagari