MARKET REVIEW

Aussie Utes

If you built cars for a living in 1940s-60s Australia you needed a commercial version to satisfy rural buyers and urban tax dodgers. These ‘utility’ vehicles came with locally designed and built bodies and big ones like the Chevrolet and Ford Mainlines would legally carry 750kg. In the real world they were loaded with a lot more and that is one reason why so few survive. This year among the Brit-based utes were a couple of nice Austin A40s, a restored Vanguard and Vauxhall with solid money placed on quality vehicles. The range of side-valve V8 Fords offered decent pickings for buyers in this specialised sector but OHV Mainlines were hard to find. The biggest surprises were some restored but heftily priced Austin 1800s which we hope did find owners.

Austin A40-A50 $16,465 (3) Austin 1800 $21,585 (3) Chevrolet 1946-54 $37,500 (2) Ford ‘Spinner’ 1949-52 $35,125 (4) Ford Mainline 1952-59 $41,000 (2) Vanguard 1948-63 $16,000 (1) Vauxhall 1951-57 $25,000 (1) Zephyr $9000 (1)

BMC Brands

Located a long way from the mother country, BMC’s Australian brands were left to make their own way and developed some unique vehicles. Down-specing a British Wolseley 1500 created the original Austin Lancer/Morris Major duo, which transformed into uniquely styled Mark 2 versions and the 1.6-litre Major Elite. Austin’s Freeway and the Wolseley 24/80 used Brit bodies with local six-cylinder engines, then were replaced by the 1800-based Austin Tasman/Kimberley. Now scarce Morris 1500/Nomads owed their existence to the 1100 and back in the 1940s, soft-top A40 Tourers were Austin’s way of saving steel in deprived times. None of these cars survive in significant numbers yet none have become expensive either. Price war honours currently go to the leather-trimmed 24/80, with Elites gaining.

Austin A40 Tourer 1947-51 $11,755 (3) Austin Lancer/Morris Major S1 $9100 (4) Austin Freeway $8300 (1) Austin Tasman/Kimberley $3450 (3) Morris Elite $7350 (4) Morris 1500/Nomad N/S Wolseley 24/80 $12,935 (3)

Chrysler Royal/Valiant/Regal 1957-66

Back in the 1950s, Chrysler sold plenty of its Plymouth-based Royals and today people ask big money for survivors. Even more is available for excellent examples of the very scarce R Series Valiant, but then the market and money sought gets sensible again. The S Series, AP5 and AP6 all rate as excellent family classics with seating for six and mechanical simplicity. Our AP5-AP6 Regal average isn’t representative of very good cars, which can reach $30,000. AP5-6s came as utilities too and some utes, modified and with V8s, are priced well beyond the average. This year we saw just one AP6 V8 but more exist and top examples are capable of $50,000.

Royal Sedan $37,500 (4) R Series $60,000 (1) S Series $26,475 (8) AP5-AP6 $24,860 (19) AP5-AP6 Regal $18,500 (4) AP6 V8 $37,495 (1)

Chrysler VC-VG Valiant/Regal/VIP/Hardtop 1966-71

Between four series and in the space of five years, Chrysler Australia sold more than 230,000 of these cars and ensured plentiful supply for today’s buyers. These were the cars that brought V8 power to the mainstream Valiant range and added plush VIP versions as well as the Dodge-based Hardtop. Basic VC-VG sedans