Intro

I love all cars, and could happily rant about them for days. My favorite cars are exotic cars and quirky cars. When I set up this blog however, I was looking to focus on weird and unknown cars; which meant that unfortunately, there were few exotics I could talk about. Exotic cars are usually actually quite same-y, and are usually incredibly well known. So finding a truly unique and unknown supercar is incredibly difficult, but I’ve done it.

I present to you the Covini C6W, the 6-wheeled supercar.

What is it?

The Covini is an extremely limited production supercar. Powered by a 4.2 V8 from an Audi RS4 producing 325KW of power which is coupled to a 6 speed manual gearbox, it can allegedly go over 300kph. This is due to its incredibly lightweight, despite its extra axle and it having 4 seats, it’s only 1,150kg, which is almost unbelievably light for a V8 supercar. This is thanks to its body being made from a combination of fiberglass and carbon fiber as well as a tubular chassis. It also features a removable roof, much like a Koenigsegg.

History

The Covini C6W is the brainchild of Ferruccio Covini, founder of Covini Engineering. This company is known for doing weird things with sports cars, mainly making bespoke sports cars with diesel engines, but the C6W is easily their wackiest. It was inspired by the equally wheeled Tyrrell P34 F1 car from the 70s, and has been in the making for 40 years. Ferruccio had the idea back in the 70s, but was unable to make the project come to life as there was no technology available that supported such a design. Fast forward to 2004, and the first prototype was revealed.

What’s the Point of a 6-Wheeled Supercar?

This seems like the most obvious question, why make it at all? There are plenty of supercar that make do with only two axles, so why put another one on? Well, the Covini is supposed to be better in basically every way. The extra tires seems hairbrained, but they actually make a lot of sense. Thanks to the extra wheels, there is more potential for bump absorption, making for a better ride. There is more rubber touching the ground, meaning that there is more front end grip. If you have a tire blowout at high speed, the extra wheels mean that the car won’t spin out. Due to there being more tire-ground contact, it is easier for the tires to dispel water in the rain, meaning that there is still grip even in terrible weather; and here’s my favorite thing about the car in the rain: the front wheel are designed to lock up in wet weather, pushing water out of the way, meaning that there is more grip for the rear tires as they are basically on dry ground.

Bizarre or not, it is impossible to deny the advantages of having more front wheels. It makes the car overall more stable and more comfortable, as well as safer. To be honest, it is strange that no car company has tried this before, as it seems to be the perfect engineering solution.

How Come I’ve Never Heard of it?

At this part of my blog posts, I like to talk about the impact the car had on the world and the people around it. Unfortunately, the Covini seems to have made little to no impact. Every time Covini take this thing to a motor show, it makes a massive slash. People talk about it endlessly, there are many articles written, all of them getting tons of views. For a moment, it’s the biggest thing ever. But, much like a splash, after a bit the water calms, and everyone forgets it happened.

Despite its fantastic ability to draw crowds, it’s never been on a Top Gear episode. Hell, it’s not even been on Fifth Gear. The Covini has never been in a video game. If you Google its name, you get plenty of results, but all of these are old posts, and you realise how quickly people forget this wonderfully weird car.

The Covini is a rarity in the car world. A new idea, done well, first time round. A strange car that really does challenge the way we make cars, and proves that cars have been the same for too long, and that new things are good, change can be positive and fantastic. The Covini is one of my favorite cars because it does everything a great car should do, it’s fast, great to drive, tells a fascinating story, and most importantly, challenges the stagnated world of cars. The only reason I didn’t name this blog “I Want a Covini” is because I know I’d not get any views.

The Covini C6W is a truly wonderful car, a fantastic inspiration and a slap to the face of big car companies, reminding them that change is good and that new is better. It is a true tragedy that this car didn’t take off, because it is one of the most exciting cars ever, and deserves much better than its got.

Intro

New Zealand is a great country, good people, good food, incredible views and some nice drives hidden around the place. I personally have never been, but everyone I know that has claims that they’d move from Australia to New Zealand in a heartbeat. But one of the best things about Kiwis is their “can-do” attitude, their ability to continue on in the face of adversity, even against incredible odds. Therefore New Zealand is full of great underdog stories, and one of these stories is about their only locally made car, the Trekka.

What is it?

The Trekka is a small agricultural vehicle based off of the Skoda Octavia, and was built between 1966 and 1973. It had a miniscule 1.2l I4 producing only 35kw of power, weirdly for a budget commercial vehicle, it had a four on the floor transmission with syncros. This meant it could reach a top speed of 110kph, but not much more. Despite looking kind of Land Rover-esque, it was only rear wheel drive with an open differential. But due to the car struggling to deal with slippery conditions, a limited slip diff was added as a pay-for option later on. It was offered as a wagon, a ute, or a wagon with a canvas top.

Why was it made?

The story behind the Trekka is a fascinating one. At the time of its development, New Zealand had huge taxes on new and imported car, and massive tariffs on car imports. This meant that very few cars made it into the country, and those that did were extremely expensive, it was so hard to get a car that used cars would sell for more than brand new ones, because it was so difficult to get your hands on a new one. But, such tariffs couldn’t be applied to locally made cars, and the crazy taxes weren’t applied to agricultural vehicles, so the idea of the Trekka was born, a locally made agricultural vehicle that would double as a car, but without the costs associated with cars.

The Development

The idea for the car came from Skoda importer Philip Andrews. He had recently came into ownership of the Motor Lines vehicle construction company, and saw the potential in the market for a car the people could actually realistically own. The idea to base it off the Skoda was born from the fact that the parts were cheap, and that it was incredibly reliable. When Motor Lines fell under the ownership of Noel Turner, Andrews convinced him that there was place in the market for his vision.

Turner learned that an engineering company in the small town of Kawerau run by a man named Peter Risbridge had already developed a prototype for a small utility vehicle, much like what the Trekka was to become. Rusbridge happily shipped the prototype down to Auckland for Turner, under the impression that it was the start of a relationship between the two companies. But, Motor Lines developed the Trekka completely independently using Risbridge’s prototype as a base, and Risbridge never saw any money. To this day, it is still not known whether this was malicious or just a case of miscommunication.

How was it received

The Trekka was unbelievably cheap, cheaper than a basic Morris 1100, and free from the hidden costs of car ownership in New Zealand at the time. Despite this, the Trekka ownly saw mild success in agricultural and urban commercial markets. This was due, in part, to it not actually being that great of a car. It had an unpainted steel interior, not too uncommon for older budget cars, but a neat trick of the Trekka was the ability to rust from the inside out.

The rear wheel drive and open differential was also a big issue. The Trekka was intended to sell to farmers for farm work, but the Trekka had almost no grip, and struggled immensely in anything other than dry, solid ground. Eventually, there was a paid option to have a limited slip diff installed, but that added cost, a massive issue on a budget vehicle.

Unlike Australian vehicles however, the Trekka had a go at being exported. One of the most obvious places was Australia, as we are just across the pond, so to speak. Unfortunately, Australians were still interested in big sedans and wagons, and a market for the Trekka didn’t exist. During the Vietnam War, some Trekkas were shipped over there, but they proved again unpopular, but this time because people were more interested in the American Jeeps and British Land Rovers over this Kiwi curiosity. The Trekka did see a small amount of success in Indonesia however, but nothing huge.

Weirdly, General Motors demanded that one be rushed over to Detroit, so a Trekka made its way over to America. But, the reason why they wanted one, and even what they did with it remains unknown. So somewhere in America, is the only Trekka on that half of the world. That’s a cool thought, so I’m terribly curious to the story of that one.

In 1973, the import tariffs in New Zealand were lifted, and the economy improved, meaning that the market for the Trekka dried up, and it was taken out of production.

Kiwi can-do

Despite the Trekka having a small, short life, it remains a pillar of the Kiwis’ ability to continue on in the face of adversity. The Trekka was by all accounts, small and underpowered, but that gave it personality and character. Yeah, a British Land Rover could climb that hill with ease, but the Kiwi Trekka would still give its all and make it to the top, even without all of the Land Rover’s off road-y bits.

The Trekka will forever remain a testament to what makes the Kiwis great: charm, character, and a determination to never give up, no matter the odds. On ya, Trekka mate.

Intro

Back in the 70s, there were three Australian built, large cars targeted at families for sale in Australia, the Holden Kingswood, the Ford Falcon and the Chrysler Valiant. Since the market was quite small, there only being about 14 million people in Australia, the market was crowded. As well the oil crisis causing people to turn away from this market due to high fuel prices.

So obviously, Leyland Australia decided it was perfect time to make a car for that market. Despite the small company, and the new car on a crowded market, the car is still remembered to this day.

As the worst car Australia ever built.

Some History

Leyland Australia was a subsidiary of British Leyland, and had existed mainly to tune and sell cars in and for Australia. But all Leyland cars were quite small, so Leyland Australia proposed to their British masters Project 76, a new big car for Australia, one that would blow its competition out of the water and resonate with Aussies. British Leyland were suffering serious financial woes, so gave the Australian team a small budget of $20 million to design, develop, and sell a brand new vehicle.

Despite its minuscule budget, Leyland Australia pushed on, determined to make a car that would make a serious splash on the market, and would go on to successfully make the first entirely Australian car. All the other big companies borrowed bits from America, but Leyland made a truly Australian car.

The Car

The Leyland P76, creatively named after its internal name Project 76, was possibly the best car Australia made at the time. It was modern, good looking, drove beautifully, and was amazingly practical.

Part of this was due to its brilliant suspension. Unlike the Valiant and Falcon, it had fully independent suspension all round, and unlike the Kingswood, its suspension wasn’t shit. The P76 rode well, unsurprising for a big heavy car, but it also had good road manners, and handled far, far better than its competitors. It was also confident and comfortable on badly maintained and dirt roads, very helpful for 70s Australia.

Another big part of the P76s quality was due to its engines. Unlike the others with did with huge iron I6s and V8s, the P76s engines were small, and modern. The V8 was aluminium and derived from a Formula One engine. The P76s engines weren’t as powerful as its rivals, but due to lower weight, the car was both faster, and more fuel efficient.

The most famous thing about the P76 was its massive boot, capable of holding a 44 gallon (167 liters) drum barrel with ease. This makes for a ridiculous looking special and a bragging point for P76 owners, but did have a purpose. The idea was that a farmer could would put a barrel of pesticide, or fertilizer or whatever, in the boot, and drive around the farm, spraying crops from the car.

Where did it go wrong?

The P76, as a piece of design, is undeniably good, great even, and was far above anything else that Australia made at the time. It should’ve been an absolute killer on the market, but it all fell apart incredibly quickly. The P76 had one massive flaw, one that was enough to kill the car, and stomp on its reputation for years to come.

Leyland built it.

For you see, Leyland are great at designing cars, think Rover SD1, think Dolomite Sprint, think Range Rover, but they were also terrible at actually building those cars, think, well, the same list. This was mirrored in Leyland Australia, and the P76 was plagued with build issues. The door seals, for example, were crap. It was common for a P76 driver to get incredibly wet during rainstorms. If driving along at high speeds, you decide to open all four windows, it was possible to blow the rear window out. And the V8 was prone to overheating, not good in a country known, primarily, for kangaroos and being hot. (Though I should point out, that despite these build issues, the P76 was tremendously reliable)

Another big issue was brand loyalty and snobbery. Australians are extremely prone to display extreme brand loyalty and snobbery. Brand loyalty is when someone will buy a product from one company alone, and brand snobbery is when someone holds prejudices against a company and will refuse to buy a product from them. Nowhere is this more visible than in the classic Holden vs Ford fight, in which people will happily get violent over which is better in their opinion, not even looking at facts.

Leyland was known, primarily, for the Mini and the Marina, so when came the P76, they had to convince people not only to now accept Leyland as a large Australian car maker, but also convince people to part with their beloved Holdens, Fords and Valiants. It’d probably have been easier for Leyland to try to push the moon out of orbit. Even its catchy marketing slogan, “Anything but Average”, was nowhere near enough.

These issues, while huge, weren’t actually surprising for a new car, they were teething issues, nothing a car couldn’t come back from. All it needed was a bit of time and polishing. Indeed, Leyland saw this as the case, making prototypes for both a wagon and a coupe, to make it even more competitive. But Leyland didn’t have enough money to keep the P76 going. Leyland needed it to hit the ground running, and unsurprisingly it didn’t, as nothing does, so Leyland pulled the plug after just two years of sale.

When the Prime Minister of Australia, Gough Whitlam called the car “a dud” and the Governor General called it a lemon, it really was the final nail in the coffin.

Legacy

The legend of the P76 still lives on to this day, and it’s arguably remembered more than its competitors, due to its supposed terribleness. Mention a P76 to an Australian from that time and you’ll hear lots of, “oh I remember that,” and “what a classic lemon!”

But there are also plenty who remember the car for what it was, not for the joke it became. There are no less than seven owners clubs across Australia and New Zealand, who proudly remind people that the P76 was, indeed, a great car, a true testament to what a truly Australian car could be, modern, cool, well designed. It’s an uphill battle, but hopefully one day, people will remember the P76 for what it truly was.

The Leyland P76, Anything but Average.