Melbourne '08 Preview: Bolwell Nagari emerges from Down Under
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Ever dream of making your own supercar? Yeah, so have I, and so has everyone else, and their cousins. Although most undoubtedly get scrapped along the way, a fair few end up making it to the road. Add to those growing ranks the Bolwell Nagari, the latest home-grown sportscar from... Australia?
Granted that the Aussies aren't as well known as, say, Italy or England (or even Holland, for that matter) for making supercars, but that should ensure the awkwardly-named Bolwell Nagari gets the lion's kangaroo's share of attention when it's unveiled at the Melbourne Motor Show on February 29. It's built by Campbell Bolwell – one of three brothers who co-founded their own kit car company in Victoria, Australia – who has released one full-frontal image of the Nagari (named after the MkVIII Bolwell kit car from the '70s, not the Mazda show car), which he describes as drawing design elements from the McLaren F1 and "the best Italian mid-engined exotics". Construction is said to be of carbon fiber, and sources suggest either a V8 or a supercharged Toyota V6, mid-mounted and driving the rear wheels.
Gallery: Bolwell Nagari
[Source: Bolwell]
PRESS RELEASE:
Bolwell Breaks Cover
Bolwell Car Company has released the first pictures of its new high-performance Nagari sports car.
Scheduled for its public debut at 5pm on 29 February at the Melbourne Motor Show, the Nagari is beginning final assembly at Bolwell's Melbourne factory.
Campbell Bolwell is nearing the end of a three-year design and development program to produce a car designed for ultimate performance in Australian road conditions.
Designed to double as an everyday driving car, the low gearing and light weight ensure blistering acceleration, still with enough room for the shopping or the golf clubs.
Styling cues from the original Nagari can be seen in the latest incarnation, with the distinctive tunnel back opening to reveal the engine housing, spare tyre well and luggage space.
Serious production-car touches include a unique, custom-designed windscreen and compound-curvature, fully opening door windows.
Melbourne International Motor Show is organised and promoted by the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce through its dealer division the Australian Automobile Dealers Association (Vic).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mk 10:48AM (2/18/2008)
Could be interesting, I'll withhold final judgement until seeing more pictures...
But just from the front... it looks nicely finished, but timidly designed. The curves are soft and round, the eye line is upward arching, rather than more "angry", and the openings are all oval.
The headlights are not bad, but they seem to be a throwback to at least a decade ago. Big round reflectors seem to be a bit older tech than modern free-form reflectors and HID projectors, which perform better.
It will be interesting to see.
This almost looks more like a car in the idiom of the old Jaguar XJ15, or almost XJ220, at least from the front.
It is not as sharp looking as an italian Ferrari or Lamborghini. The McLaren F1 had some rounder elements, but seems more aggressive and taut than this.
Should be interesting to see the rest of it.
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Franz 11:59AM (2/18/2008)
Not bad looking from the front...
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ALEXDB9 12:39PM (2/18/2008)
Reminds me of a GranSport and the roof line from the Saab concept.
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DIRETTORE 6:53PM (2/18/2008)
* I dunno, I cant see notin.
SHOW ME THE $$$!!!
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downunderdriver 6:31AM (4/09/2008)
You gotta be kidding. This relic form the '70s is a poor mish-mash of various Toyota and Honda parts, looks like total ass and they are thinking of asking $300,000AUD for it ! I've seen better designed kitcars for a third the price. More pix at http://www.worldcarfans.com/9071218.003/bolwell-nagari-revival-first-photos-released
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