Whatever happened to Elfin?

If you visited the Melbourne International Motor Show in 2004, you certainly wouldn’t have missed the Elfin MS8 Streamliner.

Displayed alongside its similarly-powered, stripped-down sibling - the MS8 Clubman - the blunt, brutal and bright yellow two-seat sports car was a showpiece for Australian small-volume manufacturing capabilities.

And it promised to be a lot more than a toe-in-the-water motor show special: Two years after its Melbourne unveiling, in July 2006, Elfin announced that the MS8 Streamliner had advanced sufficiently to be given Australian Design Rule Compliance approval and would be going into production at the company’s facilities in Braeside, Victoria, with the Clubman version to follow shortly afterwards.

The MS8 Streamliner was indeed an exciting project, made even moreso after the late Tom Walkinshaw came on board to help smooth the path to production reality, while also helping establish national retail outlets. The partnership went further in the same year, when Elfin was purchased outright by Walkinshaw.

Exports to the UK and other offshore markets beginning in 2007 were being planned, and deliveries of production Streamliner and Clubman MS8s to Australian buyers were under way. It seemed the MS8 was building up a full head of steam.

Unquestionably, it was the Streamliner which captured most attention: Complete with its 254kW Gen II all-alloy 5.7-litre General Motors V8 engine, provocative styling employing unconventionally-hinged, flip-up doors, a comfortable air-conditioned, leather-trimmed cockpit and a solid structural base including space frame construction, fully-independent wishbone suspension and massive brakes, the Elfin Streamliner was a lot of high-performance sports car for just below $100,000

Designed for Elfin by the Holden design team under the guidance of high-profile styling director Mike Simcoe, the MS8 Streamliner (which wasn’t actually the first Elfin Streamliner: That title goes to a Lotus Eleven-based car built in small numbers from 1979) and Clubman were pinned at annual production rates of 100 cars each – spearheaded by five ‘Garrie Cooper Gold’ limited-edition versions.
That was then. This is now.

Whatever happened to the project which was understandably greeted with such excitement within the Australian car industry? And what is happening within Elfin Cars today?

Not a lot, according to Damon Paull, who is the general manager of marketing at Walkinshaw-owned Holden Special Vehicles, now essentially in charge of future directions for Elfin.

“We have no short term plans to elevate it (Elfin) at this point. We’re simply focusing on other areas and this isn’t a business priority right now.”

The background to the company’s arrival at this position indicates there has been a progressive cooling-down of enthusiasm for an Elfin resurrection.

Beginning with the cessation of manufacturing in 2012 – partly blamed on the ripple effects from the global economic crisis of 2007/2008 – and preceded by the death of Tom Walkinshaw in 2010, plus ongoing component supply problems for the smaller Type 5 Elfin clubman, what was once considered a strong business case for manufacture of the two MS8 models obviously didn’t look that strong any more.

Sadly, there’s still no sign of a resurrection. The group is focussing its attention on core activities such as aftermarket performance modifications and the impending arrival of the imported Holden Commodore.

Exactly how many MS8s were produced is hard to get a handle on too: Damon Paull was unable to confirm any build numbers for motoring.com.au.

Owners of Elfin racecars dating back to the brand’s foundation in 1957, and those lucky few who bought either of the two MS8 models, or T5 Clubmans, can think of themselves as lucky custodians of a significant piece of Australian motorsport history.

We can only hope the flame hasn’t sputtered out entirely.

Elfin founder Garrie Cooper was a leading Australian designer/racecar driver in the 1950s and 1960s and was best known for his Lotus 7 Clubman-style cars. Cooper died in 1982 after a career in which he won the Australian 1 ½-litre championship in 1968 and the Australian Sports Car Championship in 1975, as well as many podium championship finishes.

Elfin racecars have won 29 championships and major titles including two Australian Drivers' Championships, five Australian Sports Car Championships, four Australian Tourist Trophies and three Formula Ford titles.