Forgotten Cars of Australia: The Joss JT1

Sometimes we set out to achieve ambitious goals but just fall short of reaching them. This is the case with the JOSS supercar, another story of what could have been if everything had just fallen into place.

Matthew Thomas founded JOSS Developments back in 1999, naming his company after a gold miner from Gippsland, Victoria.

Five years later in 2004, Matt's dream of creating a true blue hypercar became a reality when the JOSS JT1 was revealed at the Melbourne motor show. The press was taken by storm; here was an Aussie built and engineered supercar set to take on the Italian heavyweights.

At the heart of the low-slung sports car was an all alloy 6.8 litre V8 connected to a five-speed Porsche gearbox. Power was rated at 328kW/570Nm and with only 940kg to shift, acceleration was rapid. It was rumoured the car could knock over the 0-100km/h sprint in under three seconds, and carry on to run 400 metres in 11.9 seconds. Top speed was said to be 300km/h.

However, both Matt and his JOSS disappeared until 2011, when a dark, shady image surfaced out of nowhere, raising hope that the Aussie supercar was still alive.

The JT1 then made an appearance in a number of racing games, such as Forza Motorsport and Project Gotham Racing.

In the same year the car was renamed JP1, with performance improved over the JT1. The plan was to release the production JP1 in 2013 with a price tag of $580,000.

Such a steep price reflected a number of changes from the original concept car for something closer to production reality. The engine, while still a V8, was planned to be sourced from Europe, possibly from Mercedes AMG (the actual supplier was never revealed) and the transmission was set to be sourced from Albins, the same company that supplies gearboxes to the V8 Supercar teams.

Only 25 of the JP1 were planned to be built each year, but by the time 2013 arrived… nothing. More hurdles stood in the way of the JP1, now named the Vanguard, from reaching production.

A major investor pulled out of the project, leaving Matt without the necessary funding to go ahead with his plans.

He then turned to crowd funding through kickstarter, looking to raise $480,000 to piece together a car for the 25th anniversary of the Targa Tasmania. Then it was onward to Germany to conquer the Nurburgring.

None of this ever materialised, however, as not even a quarter of the money was generated, leaving Matt with very few options left to make further progress.

So finally, the one prototype constructed was sold in early 2016, completely burying the hope of Australia becoming a major player in the supercar game.