Articles

Between 1963 and 1965 Lightburn & Co., an Australian tool- and boat-manufacturing company based in Adelaide, started to manufacture a compact, light, and incredibly convenient vehicle which was dubbed the Lightburn ‘Runabout’ Zeta. The Zeta, also known as ‘Australia’s Micro-Car’, was the brain-child of the company’s managing director and founder, Harold Lightburn, who had been excited by the idea of manufacturing a car since the 1950s. He believed that many Australians who already owned a car would love the convenience of a second, a versatile and spacious vehicle that could be used for just about anything. He wanted to design a vehicle that was lightweight, small and simple, which was also reliable and of low cost to maintain.

On 14 June 1964, three Lightburn Zeta Runabouts started a courageous durability race in the Ampol Around Australia Trial with another 144 cars. An endurance race of 7000 miles (11 260 km) traversing 4 States and 1 Territory over 14 days. Starting and finishing at Bondi Beach, NSW and racing to Brisbane, Rockhampton, Bourke, Adelaide, along the Great Ocean Road, Melbourne, through the Snowy Mountains and back to Sydney.

The 1960 BSA Ladybird 3 wheeler was an original experimental idea by Edward Turner – Managing Director of BSA and is said to have been sketched on the back of a cigarette packet in June 1960 and produced in only 9 weeks by master craftsman Ben Johnston of Carbodies of Coventry which was part of the BSA group.

The Japanese Suzuki Mighty Boy (SS40T) was produced from February 1983 to January 1988. The Suzuki Mighty Boy still has a following in Japan and Australia. The 1986 Suzuki Mighty Boy Variant (SS40T – PS-QL) “BIGRIG” is the flagship of Microcar Models Australia.