1000cc, 4 speeds, 40-odd kW of power and a very strong body. The body of one of these had been forward rolled a few times at speed during a rally in NSW I think, and survived to finish the event and continue its career for a few years to follow. Depending on when you hear these stories and who tells them, you can expect some embellishment, but they basically had a very strong unitary shell to which the motor and suspension were attached via subframes, the front carrying the motor/gearbox and front suspension (single transverse leaf spring) and the rear subframe carrying the differential and rear springs (leaf). Shock absorbers all round were woeful OEM stuff and, as you could in those days, I took off to Selby’s Suspension in Arncliffe and acquired a pair of re-valved Rover 100 telescopic shocks for the front and a pair of re-valved Ford Fairlane shocks for the rear.

 

Otherwise, the car was pretty much stock except for the MGB seat Bob loaned me to better fit me into the car and speedo additions to permit Haldas to be added when required. A pair of 7” Lucas QH spotlights turned night into day and put the wind up the possums. Tyres (OEM) were merde but some Michelin ZX and then Continental radials followed and some Michelin XN mud and snow tyres, if needed. All of this was constrained by 12” x 5-stud wheels – something unheard of for the last 40-odd years. You could use Toyota Crown 13” wheels with the right stud arrangement but that detracted from performance noticeably and as there was very little performance to start with, I did not go there.

 

So the little car was used day to day, thrashed on weekend. It took Pete from Sydney one Saturday arvo to Canberra via some interesting backroads that he could not possibly find today, getting into Canberra for a little tucker and being wide awake, deciding he would go to the pictures (yes, friends, The Wild Bunch in all of its bloody glory), So out of the flicks, into the car and back home. Mum did wonder why I had been a little late getting home but it took me a couple of years to let on what I had done, by which time The Old Dear was inured to what her sons might get up to in the dark.

 

Some years of car club stuff for youngsters, lap dashes at Amaroo and Oran Park, hill climbs at Amaroo, being a flagee’s helper at Bathurst, running control points for the Southern Cross Rally and then shock and horror, being distracted by a WOMAN saw the little Colt reserved for domestic duties which it did for a couple more years till it blew a head gasket somewhere between Sydney and Townsville. It did not actually blow the radiator hose until we had just arrived back in Sydney (so 4000km??). The joys of not appreciating that aluminium cylinder heads don’t like iron blocks, so you need a better coolant than tap water!

 

So, bye-bye to the Colt, a couple of years fanging a Fiat 850 Sports Coupe around Sydney before corrosion took it off the road and then a Renault 16TS. Some might say these did not sound like good choices but, yep, my wife stayed with me through all of this and that was the best bit. I could add in the story of a very pregnant lady driving over Gladesville Bridge in our MG TD (2nd car to the Reno) in pouring rain protected only by a failing umbrella held by her passenger, a giggling 90-year-old lady – but another day. In the maternity ward I was firmly instructed to get the rag top replaced!

 

Some years on now, I have misplaced my photos of my Colt but for anyone interested, the website about Old Colts in Australia has quite a few details particularly of the various cars built up for rallying and photos of competition events including some very studious shots of one Colin Bond doing what he did well (before Harry Firth gave him a shot at the big time in the HDT).

Pierre

PS – the term unitary might be debated with monocoque but that is worth trying after a really nice glass of merlot shiraz from the Clare Region in SA.

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Image: Not my Colt, but a Colt 1000F nevertheless.