Marv’s Garage: Giocattolo, wombats can fly.

While we’ve made some cool cars through the years, Australia has never really built a proper supercar and the closest we came was the Giocattolo Group B in the 80s, a partnership between entrepreneur Paul Halstead and F1-designer Barry Lock.

While they were working on Lock’s epic DeTomaso Pantera race car , they decided to build a homegrown Aussie supercar, starting with a federal government grant to support small-volume manufacturing start-ups.

Taking inspiration from an Alfa Romeo concept the Giocattolo car company was born. The fattened-up bodies sported hyper-advanced (for the era) kevlar and carbon-fibre, while Aussie 3-piece Simmons wheels were also used. They bought complete Alfa Romeo Sud Sprint cars and reengineered them to feature a mid-mounted engine and 5-speed ZF transaxle. Originally powered by a temperamental 2.5L Alfa V6 (like the concept) this was quickly replaced by a twin-throttle-fed fuel-injected Holden 5-litre (304ci) V8 modified by race deity Tom Walkinshaw’s new Holden Special Vehicles operation.

Producing between up to 220kW (300hp) it turned the 1085kg Giocattolo into a monster, though the terrifying nose-lift it suffered near its 260km/h top whack also gave it drivers the Genuine 80s Supercar Experience. These high-speed foibles were probably the reason why Halstead and Lock included a bottle of Aussie Bundaberg Rum in the tool kit.

Launched in 1988 the project lasted one year before the federal funding was pulled. Of the 15 Giocattolos built, there are 13 known and accounted for. Unfortunately, Australian street machining legend Todd “Judge” Wilkes lost his life in his twin-turbo example at a racing event in Sydney, while one other example remains unaccounted for.