Street Machine Australia — June 2017

BLOWIN’ GASKETS

STORY DAVE CAREY PHOTOS DAVE CAREY & SM ARCHIVES

T

HE Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit is a

handsome car, the epitome of the

super-luxury land yachts of the 1980s.

Sure, they ran the ageing 6.75-litre

V8 and a basic GM auto, but introduced

refinements such as active suspension, along

with – <scratching record sound>

What’s that? This ISN’T a Rolls-Royce?

Oh yeah, now that you mention it, closer

inspection reveals several issues. The grille’s a

bit ‘off’ for a start, like when you meet someone

whom you suspect has a papa that’s also their

brother. Looking down the back, those tail-light

lenses look a bit ‘Year 9 tech studies’, while the

doors are – well, they’re Kingswood doors.

So what is it? It’s a Glammer, baby. And it’s

from the 80s, back when any self-respecting

wannabe coke dealer improved their Hong

Kong-import Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC coupe

with a $4000 car fax and an expensive bodykit.

During those halcyon days, arguably the

crown prince of bodykit vendors was Geoff

Heard of Adelaide’s Creative Cars. Geoff’s

company could supply your Benz, RX-7, 300ZX

or KC Laser (not even kidding) with a slick kit

to match your white linen suit and ponytail, but

better still, could completely transform your

mum’s TA22 Celica into a semi-respectable

Ferrari 308 GTB replica.

If the ‘Cerino’ sushi/pizza hybrid wasn’t

to your liking, $10K could transmogrify any

shagged-out Volkswagen Beetle into a Porsche

930 replica, with Creative Cars supplying

everything from the panels and wheels to the

rivets and bonnet-release cable. If the idea of

turning your antiquated, tail-happy, air-cooled

German sedan into an antiquated, tail-happy,

air-cooled German supercar sounds ridiculous

in these modern times, try to understand that

for the 1980s, these things were high-end.

Just how high-end? Well, back then,

Creative Cars had their own stand at the

Adelaide Motor Show, and possibly others for

all we know. Given that Peter Brock’s HDT

was said to be Australia’s sixth-largest auto

manufacturer, Creative Cars could well have

been the seventh, after selling 57 ‘Poraga’ kits

in the first five months of production, including

one to Channel 9, and a ‘Porrera’ to Penthouse

magazine as its Pet Of The Year giveaway car.

For Geoff, clearly the sky was the limit, as he

turned his company’s attention to the (replica)

super-luxury saloon market. The Glammer

brought Silver Spirit styling to a Kingswood

body for beer money – assuming beer cost

about $30,000 in 1988. Then again, with

Rolls-Royce asking $250K for their product at

that time, it seems like a comparative bargain.

Creative Cars preferred the HX/HZ-series

up-spec Premier as the basis for their

GLAMMER MODEL

IN THE 1980 S, AN ENTERPRISING AUSSIE COMPANY SET OUT TO GIVE THE ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER

SPIRIT A LITTLE MORE ‘GLAMMER’

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