DECEMBER 13, 2006

Tom Walkinshaw buys a car company

Tom Walkinshaw is the proud new owner of the Elfin car company - Australia's best known manufacturer of racing machinery - and the builder of some interesting road cars in recent years. In recent months Walkinshaw and his staff have been working with Elfin to revamp Elfin's production processes for the Holden V8-powered Clubman and Streamliner models.

Established in 1956 in South Australia by racer Garrie Cooper, Elfin won many national championships but made little impact outside Australia, despite building big sportscars and Formula 5000 chassis.

Elfin has been owned since 1998 by Nick Kovatch and Bill Hemming. Kovatch will stay on as Technical Director. The company launched the Clubman and Streamliner models two and a half years ago but has struggled to move forward because of a lack of resources. The is aiming to build around 75 cars next year and these will be sold through the HSV dealer network and it is expected that the cars may also go on sale in Walkinshaw operations in Britain as well.