What car comes to your mind when I say it was built by the Australians? For me it’s the Holden Ute, but what if I told you they built a sports car! Like you I too was a little surprised when I came across this bit of information and decided to dig a little deeper.
There was a car called the PURVIS EUREKA. Purvis built cars in Australia between 1974 and 1991, and was founded by Allan Purvis in Melbourne. Allan was interested in the UK kit car manufacturer called Nova. The interest in kit car manufacturing was something prevalent during the 70s to the late 90s when we saw a lot of them. These companies mostly borrowed a power plant from Ford or GM, had a basic tubular steel chassis, and a fiberglass or aluminum body. Allan was so impressed with the Nova kit car that he decided to source the kit and sell it in Australia. However he did not want to just sell it directly, instead along with his team he perfected the car for 3 years and unveiled it at the Melbourne auto show in 1974. One may wonder why he renamed it from Nova to Eureka. Well this was done to honor the fighting spirit of the miners at the Eureka Stockade, this is where the Eureka Rebellion occurred in 1854. The company’s logo was the Eureka flag. In total an estimated 10-11,000 Nova based kit cars have been sold around the world.
Who was the brain behind Nova?
The Nova kit car manufacturing company was the brainchild of Richard Oakes, a song writer who was interested in the kit car business and went around enquiring various British fiberglass and kit car manufacturers. His search led to a car called Tramp which was based on the VW Beetle. I understand only 75 were built during an 18 month period.
About the car
The car with its low-slung roof line and wide wheel arches was an absolute head turner and remains so till date. The car was also marketed with the motto 'For the Individual'. Why this motto? Well, if the factory options were not satisfactory then the owner had the choice to personalize it to his standard. VW or Ford engines could be fitted up in all manner of ways, while there was a scope to fit Mazda rotary and Subaru flat 4 engines as well.
The updated Eureka
In 1976 the Eureka got a minor face lift, known as the PL30 it now had a taller roof with increased windscreen angle, allowing taller users to easily ingress into the car. The exterior saw some minor changes with the tail lamps being squared out with double rear lights and the rear bumper was made slimmer. The other changes revolved around ergonomic changes to the interior. The canopy was now operated via an electro-hydraulic mechanism which led to major reliability issues, even trapping some owners inside the glass house like interior.
The final Eureka
In 1997 not only did Eureka expand its production setup to New Zealand they also came out with the F4, what would end up becoming the ultimate iteration of the Eureka. The car received some cosmetic updates. What stood out amongst these updates was a cheap Lamborghini Countach style wing and air intakes. The more significant update that the F4 got was the engine from a Ford pinto the 1.6L and 2.0L inline 4 to be specific, while the power figures hardly changed the power delivery was now much smoother when compared to the VW engine. What we enthusiasts find interesting is the fact that a minority of the Eureka F4’s had the Mazda derived rotary engines, (the 13B rotary to be specific) that engine in a car that weighed just 780Kg was mind bogglingly fun to drive.
Some of the cars that did not see daylight
Concept 1 FREEDOM MACHINE: The Freedom machine was a concept kit car that Eureka built, it was manufactured by Colleen Long, it was essentially a Eureka with the rear tunnel section and window cut off, it didn’t have doors or a roof either.
Concept 2 Free Spirit
The free spirit was a completely new car that was very angular and had sharp bodylines, it was supposed to use a mid-mounted Ford Laser drive train and a purpose-built chassis, built by Elfin Sports cars. However, Allan was never able to source enough funds resulting in the car remaining as a concept.
The downfall of Eureka
Apart from the attractive Targa top variant, the Eureka received very minimal updates. This played a major role in the diminishing sales. Not being able to generate enough revenue, the creator of the company Allan Purvis was forced to sell the company. The brand changed hands a few more times before completely closing down in 1991. Like any other kit car manufacturer, they eventually ran out of funding, and they could never compete with other sports car manufacturers. But for me what makes the Eureka special is its origin. It hails from a country that has a sedan based pickup truck, and if that wasn’t enough this wired sedan/pickup (Ute) could have been bought with a big V8. The Eureka hence stands out in a similar way to DMC DeLorean. Overall it was a well-received car and they even participated in racing events in Australia. There are a few Eureka’s that roam the streets of Australia and New Zealand, and there is a small Eureka club as well. It was definitely an interesting car and fun researching about it for this article.
Loved this article. The whole structure of the article is lucid and easy to follow. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI was unaware of the fact that there was a sports car from Australia. Well written with a whole lot of information. Keep it up đŸ’¯
ReplyDeleteA well researched blog.i was amazed at the wealth of information that has been provided on a car .honestly I was not aware that a car made in Australia was named Eureka! Sports cars are always attractive.i congratulate you on your wonderful and informative blog.
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