Elfin Sports Cars to be reborn

DORMANT Aussie sports car brand Elfin will be “reborn” under new ownership with the announcement this week that Melbourne-based Young Timer’s Garage has purchased the iconic nameplate for an undisclosed sum from previous owners, Walkinshaw Automotive Group.

The historic race-car-turned-road-car manufacturer was originally formed by South Australian, Garrie Cooper, back in 1959. Cooper’s underdog operation went on to amass 29 championships and major Grand Prix titles and produced a slew of successful race cars before his untimely death in 1982.

In 1993, Elfin was acquired by Victorian, Murray Richards, who in turn sold the business to Bill Hemming and Nick Kovatch in 1998. The business was relocated to Melbourne and formed a collaboration with Holden, producing the MS8 Streamliner in time for the Melbourne International Motor Show in 2004.

Limited production of the MS8 Streamliner and Clubman began in 2006, the same year the business was sold to Tom Walkinshaw of Walkinshaw Automotive Group. The last vehicle was produced in 2012.

Now, brothers Shaun and Steve Baker, with their business partner Phani Bhogavalli, have announced plans to give new life to the Elfin brand. The trio says it is committed to preserving the brand’s heritage and legacy with a “plan to produce high-quality, high-performance road and track cars that are true to Elfin’s racing pedigree”.

“We believe that Elfin Sports Cars has enormous potential, and we are excited to work with the brand’s passionate community of devoted fans, owners and previous custodians to develop new and exciting products,” said Young Timer’s Garage founder and Elfin managing director, Shaun Baker.

“We would like to thank the Walkinshaw Automotive Group for entrusting us with this iconic brand and we look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead.”

Speaking to GoAuto this week, Young Timer’s Garage media manager and Elfin Sports Cars head of marketing, Nikolaos French, said his team is currently working on cataloguing numerous shipping containers of inventory which are being transported from Walkinshaw to YTG.

“We have been successful in purchasing the Elfin Sports Cars brand from the Walkinshaw trust and currently have a Type 5 sitting in our showroom, with the entire business’ manufacturing capacity packed into shipping containersbeing transported to our keysborough factory,” he said.

“At the moment, we are sorting through a wealth of tooling, parts, engines – and what we believe to be three cars in different stages of completion. We really need to catalogue everything before we announce any solid plans, but I can tell you that we have some very exciting announcements to make in the future.”

Mr French said strict Australian Design Rule regulations could mean the remaining cars are destined for a life on the racetrack but said there is potential for road-going models to once more bear the Elfin nameplate.

“When we made the decision to purchase Elfin Sports Cars, we naturally started forming connections, and that networking has yielded some very interesting results,” he said.

“We are definitely going to build the remaining cars. But as to whether we continue building those models or look at designing something new – perhaps in partnership with another entity – is something we cannot yet discuss."

While Mr French was not in a position to divulge much of the detail surrounding the rebirth of the Elfin Sports Cars brand, many enthusiasts will find it exciting to learn that a great Australian motoring name will once more rise from the ashes.