Bolwell Nagari
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The Bolwell Nagari was one of the cars built by the three Bolwell brothers who started an Australian company in Mordialloc, Victoria that initially produced kit cars for assembly by the buyers. The brothers each designed their own car Mk I, Mk II and Mk III.
Kit car production started with the Mk IV and V for 4 and 6 cylinder Holden engines and the Mk VI was a mid engined competition car. The Mk VII was the first big success with a backbone chassis and 450 were made before the brothers decided to move into complete cars.
The Bolwell Nagari, an aboriginal word meaning flowing, and also known as the Mk VIII, was their first full production sports car with 127 coupes and 13 convertibles made. It was manufactured from 1969 to 1972 and became the best known out of the 9 Bolwell car designs: the Mk I-VIII and Ikara. The Nagari featured a Ford 302 or 351 cubic inch V8 mounted in a 920 kg, 2280 mm wheelbase body and backbone chassis. Other components came from Ford (suspension and dampers) and Austin 1800 (steering).
In 1979 an attempt was made to return to the car market with the Ikara fitted with a Volkswagen Golf 1588 cc engine mid mounted in a space frame body with suspension and steering from the Holden Gemini. It was well received but not a commercial success and only 10 were made.
The company returned to its roots in industrial fibre glass work.
