Drive
We take a drive back in time to rediscover some of Western Australian’s favourite cars from the past 100 years, and why they found a special place in our motoring history.
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10 min read
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Published
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Dating back to 1908, Ford’s pioneering Model T still dominated the market in the 1920s, being simple, easy to fix and – most of all – cheap at around $20,000 in today’s money.
However, far more capable and advanced alternatives were catching up fast, including from Dodge, Willys and Plymouth. Archrival General Motors (GM) was also making big inroads with its Buick, Chevrolet and Oldsmobile brands.
Prompted by punitive tariffs on imported vehicles, GM began local assembly in 1926 (a year after Ford), choosing a site in what is now called Mosman Park for WA production.
The number of vehicles on WA roads rocketed during the Roaring Twenties, from around 3000 to 30,000 by decade’s end, fanned by rapid dealer growth. They included Perth-based Dodge importer W.J. Winterbottom, which still exists today as the Automotive Holdings Group.
These were boom times, but troubles lay ahead.
The decade opened with the Great Depression, decimating car sales globally.
A top seller here was Ford’s Model A in the early 1930s, complemented in 1932 by the Model 18 with Australia’s cheapest V8. It started from about $35,000 in today’s money. A coupe utility version arrived four years later and is acknowledged as the first of its type anywhere.
GM’s stable of brands, led by Chevrolet, collectively dominated overall, boosted by the recently acquired Vauxhall brand from England. Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge were also doing well.
Powerful and strong, American cars proved more suitable to WA’s tough conditions compared to the increasingly popular British models from Morris, Austin and Hillman, which were slow but cheap to run.
WA vehicle numbers only edged up to around 40,000 by 1940.
World War II (1939-1945) prompted the switch by civilian vehicle manufacturers to military equipment production. When factories did reopen after the war, pre-war designs with only minor updates were the only options, led by the evergreen Ford V8.
These were snapped up by a public starved of new cars, despite retailing from about $80,000 in today’s money.
Back then, this was due to the prohibitively high value of the US dollar, combined with incredibly scarce resources depleted by the war machine.
Unsurprisingly, the far-cheaper Austin A40 Devon from England overtook the Ford from 1947.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the Federal government was working with GM to modernise a rejected US-market Chevrolet proposal from 1942, into what became the 1948 Holden 48-215, later dubbed FX.
Costing around $55,000 in today’s money, it was the first car devised specifically for Australian motorists’ needs, with room for five plus the driver and a gutsy six-cylinder petrol engine. Demand far outstripped supply.
The Holden finally snatched market leadership in 1950. Assisted by a popular ute version, the evocative FJ facelift of 1953 and the FE redesign that introduced a crowd-pleasing ‘Station Sedan’ wagon, one in two new cars sold in Australia proudly wore the lion badge by the end of the decade.
Ford held second place, with models like the Canadian-sourced Customline and British Consul/ Zephyr twins. But none could match the Holden’s combination of price, performance and space. By 1956, the FE cost the equivalent of around $45,000.
As the 1950s wore on, Britain’s Austin, Morris, Standard (later known as Triumph) and Hillman were overtaken by Germany’s Volkswagen. Like the rest of the nation, Western Australians were fixated by the highly publicised around-Australia rallies of the era, which the plucky Beetle conquered with ease.
Holden also made its presence felt in what was then called the Ampol Trial, with a win in 1958 with an FE.
Holden’s unprecedented success prompted Ford to introduce the American Falcon in 1960. It was substantially cheaper to build than the preceding Consul/Zephyr.
Chrysler followed suit with the Valiant in 1962, reinstating America’s pre-war ‘Big Three’ dominance.
New models from Japan, like the Toyota Corona, were more affordable but also introduced new standards of value, quality and reliability that largely prevail to this day. Others, including the Datsun Bluebird and Isuzu Bellet followed, challenging the revolutionary Morris Mini and Volkswagen models that characterised the counterculture of the Swinging ‘60s.
During this decade, the Australian car industry was increasingly protected by rising import quotas and tariffs. Combined with local content bonuses for cars manufactured here, this helped make the 1966 Holden HR comparatively inexpensive, from around $36,000.
In 1967, Ford released the legendary Falcon GT as well as the wildly successful Fairlane, paving the way for future market dominance.
The early ‘70s were seen as Australian motoring’s golden era, with the HG and HQ Holden Monaro and Torana GTRs taking on the Ford Falcon GT and Chrysler Valiant Charger R/T for high-performance honours.
However, with increasing unemployment and inflation, rising oil prices further favoured the cheap and economical cars from Japan. At that time, they significantly undercut Australia’s favourite car, the Holden Kingswood, which cost the equivalent of over $40,000.
The Big Three panicked as Toyota, Datsun and Mazda sales spiked, leading the Australian government to gradually lift import tariffs to a peak of 57.5 per cent by the end of the decade.
But it was too late for the British players. In 1973, Leyland – which grew out of Austin/Morris – gambled big on the Australian-developed P76 as a Kingswood rival. But, despite encouraging reviews, poor build quality on the early cars and divisive styling kept buyers away, and the plug was pulled on Leyland later the following year.
The 1970s belonged to the likes of the smaller Toyota Corolla, Datsun 180B, Honda Civic and Mitsubishi-sourced Chrysler Galant (later called Sigma).
GMH responded with the 1975 Gemini, an Opel/Isuzu co-developed Corolla rival, which found great success. However, that in turn helped prompt Detroit to cancel the well-advanced Kingswood redesign, for the smaller Commodore, which was based on a German Opel design.
Released in 1978 to rave reviews just as oil prices started to rise again, the Commodore hit the ground running, easily outselling the XD Falcon, which arrived in early 1979.
The Commodore’s success did not last. The second fuel crisis soon subsided, with buyers preferring the Falcon, making it – and Ford – number one right up until 1989. The Ford Laser also ruled the small-car class and ended the Gemini’s career.
Holden also struggled with the mid-sized Camira. A big hit at first, it stole sales from the floundering Commodore but then quickly developed a reputation for unreliability. Facing bankruptcy by 1986, Holden was bailed out by GM in Detroit.
Japanese market share continued to grow. Mitsubishi, which took over Chrysler’s Adelaide-based operations on the back of the massively popular Sigma, developed a wider version of its successor for Australia called the Magna. It sold well, prompting Toyota to do the same with the 1990s Camry.
Under new control, Holden made its second-generation Commodore, the VN of 1988, substantially larger. Australians liked what they saw and made it number one the following year.
Meanwhile, four-wheel drives proved particularly successful in WA, including the Toyota LandCruiser, Nissan Patrol, and Mitsubishi Pajero. The industry also turned to one-tonne utes in a big way, led by the ute iterations of the Falcon and Commodore.
The ‘80s also saw the creation of the Bond Motor Group in Perth, selling an ambitious brand from South Korea called Hyundai. Sales of the Excel started off slowly, but eventually it caught on.
Entering the ‘90s, the Mazda MX-5, Nissan GT-R and Lexus luxury brand proved Japan was now making some big inroads. The Toyota RAV4 in particular made a big impact.
Inspired by the Suzuki Vitara of 1989, the 1994 RAV4 popularised small SUVs, redefining the family car worldwide with its outdoorsy proportions and car-like driving characteristics. It had huge appeal.
Mid-sized four-wheel drive wagon sales also boomed at the time after the Toyota Prado and Jeep Grand Cherokee landed.
But with low production volumes and higher costs of local manufacturing, Nissan was forced to shut down its Australian manufacturing operations in 1992.
Plus, the super-high value of the yen made Japanese cars expensive, leading buyers to consider the very affordable Hyundai Excel instead, along with other South Korean newcomers Kia and Daewoo.
But the top spot see-sawed between the Falcon and the Commodore. A year later, the VT Commodore launched and sales surged ahead. Ford’s response, the 1998 AU Falcon, did the opposite, alienating buyers who disliked its looks. Only the ute sold well.
Holden was on a roll, even outselling Toyota outright in 2001 and 2002.
However, the good times did not last. Not only did the redesigned BA Falcon close the gap with the Commodore, large-car sales started their terminal freefall.
Ford banked on the acclaimed Territory of 2004 to overtake Holden again, but record-high oil prices drove buyers into smaller cars, SUVs or diesels.
Holden’s woes continued. The make-or-break VE Commodore – starting from around $60,000 in today’s money – was a big, thirsty sedan in a shrinking segment. Yes, it held the number one spot, but sales fell short of expectations. Now, with parent GM nearing bankruptcy, crucial VE exports were cancelled.
Likewise, Mitsubishi’s replacement for the Magna, badged 380, didn’t reach sales targets and in 2008 the sedan exited Australian manufacturing. That year also saw the redesigned FG Falcon arrive, but interest wilted as families chose the well designed and priced Territory instead.
Besides the booming SUVs, small cars like the Mazda 3, Toyota Corolla and Hyundai i30 all sold strongly, while the Toyota HiLux hit number one in WA for the first time in 2007.
2010 was Commodore’s final year at number one.
The resources boom kept the HiLux at the top of the charts throughout the 2010s in WA.
Ford Australia’s pivot to the T6 Ranger after winning the job of developing it for global consumption in 2007 set the brand up for success for the next two decades, gaining sales consistently soon after its 2011 launch.
But the biggest news was when Ford announced in May 2013 – the same day Holden launched its last locally made Commodore, the VF – that it was discontinuing Australian manufacturing in 2016, after 91 years. Holden and Toyota weren’t far behind, choosing October 2017 as the date to stop making cars in this country.
In other developments, China’s GWM and MG successfully set up shop here, Hyundai and Kia continued to grow, and vehicle distributor Ateco started converting the big Ram ute to right-hand drive with surprising success.
Electrification also finally gained mainstream traction in 2019. First with the highly anticipated Tesla Model 3, followed by the release of the RAV4 hybrid.
This has been, so far, the most chaotic decade for cars since the 1940s.
In 2020, GM discontinued the Holden brand. The COVID-19 pandemic turned the industry – and entire world – upside down. And in the aftermath, supply chain disruptions stretched some waiting lists out to years.
SUV and four-wheel drive sales boomed, turning models like the Toyota RAV4, LandCruiser and Prado, and Ford Everest, into best-sellers. And, since 2023, the Ranger has been Australia’s number one.
Meanwhile, Chinese brands have arrived as challengers on several fronts, including BYD, offering affordable electrified options, including the strong-selling BYD Shark 6 ute.
Today, the cheapest Toyota Yaris hybrid is around $35,000, the least-expensive Ford SUV is the Everest at almost $60,000, and some of the most popular utes sell for well over this.
With such unpredictable outcomes as we move into RAC’s second century of Roadside Assistance, who knows what the rest of this decade holds.
