Marv’s Garage: A Corvette that’s actually a one tonne ute.

Another one from the "dear god whose malformed brain thought this was a good idea?" file... Based out of Bayswater, Revolution Fibreglass kicked off a range of kit cars in 1979 under the "Condor" name. Though named for a gigantic South American bird Revolution's kit was a fake Dino 246 based off a VW Beetle.

In 1983 they brought out the Perentti, a 2+2 Corvette lookalike built on a mid 1970s Holden One Tonner commercial chassis and drivetrain. Have you ever mucked about in MS Paint and dragged one corner of a picture out so it distorts the whole frame and makes it look odd? Well, that is a Perentti.

We all know the Datsun 240Z and Jag E-Type look their best in short-wheelbase format, but as as ugly as a hat full of burnt arseholes in 2+2 form. That was part one of the Perentti's problem, but it didn't help the chassis and suspension was actually designed for hauling a tonne of gravel or... anything, and didn't score the Corvette's IRS and big disc brakes.

The likely reason they built these showboating fibreglass wonders is because Corvettes have always been eye-wateringly expensive in Australia. By the time you ship one halfway around the world and have some backyard fella hack it to right-hand-drive the end result is a car costing Ferrari and Porsche money with no footroom (Vettes have smaller footwell on the RHS from the factory). So i can see why someone would want a Vette built on a RHD frame. The problem with the Perentti - supposedly a sports car - was they used a commercial ute frame and so it had the driving dynamics of a wheelbarrow with a flat tyre.

Thankfully the Perentti only lasted five years before the axe fell. These days the Condor and Perentti form a footnote to Australia's kit car history alongside highlights like the Bolwell Nagari and Giocattolo. But they are a story for another time…