The story
History
Bill Buckle (1926–2023) was the son of the founder of Buckle Motors of Sydney, a dealer whose franchises included Citroën, Borgward, Triumph and Humber. He was a racing driver too, in the Redex Trial and the Australian GT Championship, with five starts in the 1960s in the race JustCars calls the Armstrong/Gallaher 500.source 5 Before the Dart came the Buckle Coupe, shown as a prototype at the Sydney Motor Show of 1955 on a chassis by Ron Tauranac, with the mechanical parts of a six-cylinder Ford Zephyr; 20 were built, and all but three survive.source 5source 1 It did well in racing.source 1 The Weiner museum tells the story another way: a roadster prototype on Zephyr parts in 1955, then the 2.5-litre coupé of 1957.source 1
In 1958 Buckle signed an agreement with Hans Glas of Dingolfing to build the Goggomobil in Australia.source 5source 6 Import duty was far lower on a bare chassis than on a whole car, so Buckle brought chassis in by the boatload and made glass-fibre copies of the steel bodies in Sydney (see built under licence).source 1source 7 About 5,000 Australian Goggomobils were built in all: saloons, coupés, vans and Darts.source 5source 3source 7
A sports car without doors
By Below the Radar’s account, Buckle drew the Dart himself in 1958, a prototype was ready within five months of the first sketches, and Stan Brown, a panel beater, built it in aluminium.source 6 The Weiner museum tells it differently: Buckle passed the idea to Brown, whom it calls a local engineer and race-car designer.source 1 Its lines owed something to the Lotus Eleven.source 1source 2 (Buckle’s place among the designers is on our page of the designers.)
The body was glass fibre, moulded in an upper and a lower half and joined at the waist under a strip of rubber or chrome.source 2source 4source 3 Leaving out the doors kept the moulds simple and made the shell stiffer.source 6 The windscreen was the rear window of a Renault Dauphine.source 1source 2source 4 Later a single small door was offered on the driver’s side, and there was a hardtop hinged at the back.source 1source 2source 3 The only instrument was a speedometer; the driver checked the fuel through the translucent tank.source 7
Underneath was the Glas platform with its air-cooled two-stroke twin at the back, started by a Dynastart: 293 cc and 15 bhp (11 kW), or the larger 400 of 18.5 to 20 bhp. It had four speeds, coil springs, swing axles, rack-and-pinion steering and 10-inch drums.source 1source 2source 4source 6
Half the price of a Sprite
The Dart was built from June 1959 to September 1961.source 6 At launch it cost about £A685, roughly half the £1,174 of an Austin-Healey Sprite, and at its peak the factory at Punchbowl made seven a day.source 5source 6 Collectible Automobile gives the years as 1957–61, and RM and the Weiner museum titled their cars 1958, but the Glas agreement and the drawings both date from 1958, so a Dart dated earlier than 1959 is a quirk of its papers.source 2source 1source 4source 6
It reached 50 mph from rest in 27 seconds, and 65 mph (105 km/h) with the larger engine; Marque News credits it with remarkable acceleration despite its low gearing.source 6source 1source 2source 3 RM Auctions’ catalogue says its designer remembered it as quick, that reviewers of the day loved it and that motoring writers bought them.source 4 Below the Radar, looking back, found it tremendous fun, but noted that the Mini was a lot more usable.source 6
The Mini was one of three things that finished it. A 40% sales tax arrived in 1960, the recession of the early 1960s followed, and the Mini offered more car for similar money.source 2source 3source 6 Goggomobil production ended in 1961. Buckle sold Buckle Motors that year and set up Bill Buckle Autos, took a Toyota franchise in 1964 and became a major dealer. He was awarded the OAM, the Medal of the Order of Australia, in 2014, for services to the motor industry as a designer and retailer, and died on 9 May 2023, aged 96.source 5source 6
Not the Dart.
