by David Burrell
This is final instalment of the Australian Motor Heritage Foundation’s (AMHF) series which showcases the automotive design work of David Bentley when he worked in the styling studios of BMC Australia (BMCA) and BMC in the UK during the 1960s.
He has generously given the AMHF access to his private collection of original sketches and drawings. And what you see here is the proposal for the Tasman/Kimberley five door hatchback.
The hatchback proposal exists as two slightly different side drawings and a rear-view. They provide a tantalising glimpse of what BMCA could have created had they been in better financial shape and not been focused on developing the P76.
The line drawings have been enhanced with rendering software. This process adds depth and colour, and provides an additional perspective on the hatchback’s appearance.
Was the hatchback a lost opportunity for BMCA?
To answer that question, you must imagine a family-sized, five door, front wheel drive, six-seater, six-cylinder hatchback on Australian roads in 1971. When Wheels magazine tested the Tasman, Kingswood, Falcon 500 and Valiant Ranger in their June 1972 edition, a five-door hatchback would have been in a class of its own. Ford, Holden and Chrysler would not been able to match it. So, the answer is yes, a lost opportunity it was.
And it is not as if a hatchback was unfamiliar to BMCA. The Nomad was released in 1969 and in the UK BMC unveiled the Maxi. What prevented any consideration of a Tasman/Kimberley hatchback was the commitment to develop the P76.
Perhaps BMCA’s future would have been very different had they had given styling the priority it obviously needed, had they been able to retain talented designers like David Bentley and had they focused on developing the Tasman/ Kimberley range—sedan, wagon and hatchback—instead of cloning the Holden/Falcon/Valiant and calling it the P76?
