The J&S Hunter, an Australian Classic

Posted by John Mellberg November 13, 2020

The J&S Hunter, an Australian Classic

The J&S Hunter Coupe

The Hunter Coupe was an Australian fiberglass kit car made in the 1960s by "J&S Fiberglass", a small company that specialized in making various removable hard tops and other kit cars including the J&S Beach Buggy, their most successful model. The company was located in Five Dock, New South Wales.

Available in kit-form, the "Hunter" sports car, was designed by Len Moir. Various motors and components were fitted to the cars. The most common version was fitted with Holden "grey" motors and chassis components. Other known variants include two cars fitted with Jaguar 3.4 liter engines coupled with some Studebaker suspension components, another was fitted with a Ford Zephyr inline 6 cylinder engine.

The Hunter Coupe - Engine bay

Several cars were raced. The most famous was built by Ian & Jill Hindmarsh of Kiama, New South Wales. Hindmarsh was a skilled motor mechanic and the car that he built up was presented exceptionally well. As a result the car featured in all of the J&S promotional materials and brochures.

The Hunter Coupe - Interior

The Hindmarsh Hunter was raced in various club events and was quite successful from 1962 to 1966. In Easter 1965 the car was raced at Mount Panorama Circuit New South Wales recording a maximum speed of 125 mph on Conrod Straight. In mid 1965 the Hindmarsh Hunter was fitted with a new Holden 179 engine and raced at Warwick Farm race circuit.

The Hindmarsh Hunter

The Hunter however was not a great success with only 14 completed before the project ended by 1961. 1961 also brought with it a severe "credit squeeze" which nearly drove J&S to the wall. The manufacture of fiberglass industrial tanks kept things ticking over however till the national financial situation began to ease, and J&S looked for new automobile ventures to explore. They acquired the body molds for the Buchanan Cobra sports car from "Pressed Metal" (who coincidentally assembled the MGA and thereafter the Mk1 MGB's in the Sydney suburb of Enfield).

It became clear however that the manufacture of complete motor cars and related kits was not the solution to J&S's survival. The introduction of the locally assembled MGB in 1963 however brought with it the realization of the potential for after-market sports car hard tops, and J&S set out to fill this niche with great success.

In the end approximately 20 Hunter body shells and chassis units were made. The last was recorded in 1968.

Sources:

The J&S Hunter, Facebook Page

Wikipedia

Stacey Nico (via Facebook)