Glammer, to which they fitted WB Caprice
headlights, Rolls-style bumpers and their own
fibreglass body, in some places simply over
the Holden sheet metal. The exact number
produced is uncertain, but about a dozen
seems to be the consensus, with sedan
variants joined by at least two limos, and a
solitary ute (in very un-Rolls orange) that is
purported to still be with the original owner.
So have you heard of one of these? Do you
remember noticing them? Well do you know
who did? Rolls-freaking-Royce, that’s who!
They spent November 1988 suing the crap
out of Creative Cars, citing that “the level of
copying was such that there was an attempt to
pass the car off as genuine”.
Having cast an eye over one of these both
in 2010 and more recently at the 2017 Old
Skool N New Age Auto Show in SA, it’s pretty
obvious the Glammer and the Roller are chalk
and cheese. The driver of one of the Glammers
showed me the sloped Holden rear quarters
hiding behind the square fibreglass items,
while mentioning that when the boot lock broke
they didn’t bother replacing it; the boot lid is
heavy enough to stay shut without latching!
And although my experience with actual Silver
Spirits is limited to a 1987 Matchbox release,
I’m fairly certain the real deal didn’t have a
pair of opposing Kingswood bench seats
retrimmed in strip club-spec fuzzy velour.
Geoff’s brush with copyright law wasn’t
his first. His ‘Cerino’ Ferrari replica was first
released as the ‘Ferrino’, complete with a
Prancing Horse logo, until a certain little
Italian supercar company sent him a cease-
and-desist letter.
Despite this prior form, in the case of the
Glammer, Justice Trevor Morling was lenient,
ordering only for Creative Cars to un-Rollsthe grille a bit and refrain from using any
actual Silver Spirits in their sales literature, for
comparative purposes or otherwise.
Geoff was satisfied with the decision
and made the changes required, with the
car going into production more or less as
originally intended. Interest was said to be
high from hire car companies, and indeed the
two Glammers I’ve seen were still plying that
trade decades later.
As for private buyers, aside from ‘ute guy’
I’m not sure there were many takers for a
Rolls-Royce based on a Holden and built
in a saucepan factory in the back-blocks
of Adelaide. But we hope there are some
survivors out there, if only to make an
LS-swapped Kinger that stands out from the
rest, or at worst to donate its front panels to
make a sick 80s pano the most ‘Glammerous’
in all the land. sCREATIVE CARS COULD TRANSFORM YOUR HZ INTO A
ROLLS, YOUR BEETLE INTO A PORSCHE OR EVEN YOUR
MUM’S TA22 CELICA INTO A SEMI-RESPECTABLE FERRARI
CRE
LE FE