IsraelRX

Today is Israel's 58th independence day, while not a powerhouse in the automotive industry it has some modest history...

Kaizer-Frazer, a small American company was looking to buy cars in Europe, and ended up investing in Israel, where in 1951 a new plant was built using the original name, Kaizer-Frazer Israel. Later the plant also won the right to bulid Jeeps on behalf of Willis-Overland. In its 5 years the plant manufactured 17,053 cars, 66% for export to 17 different countries.



The Studebaker Lark was built in Israel from 1960 to 1966, during which 3,500 samples were built, some still running today as a collector's items.



In 1963 in search of cheap cars, the Contessa, an improved Renault made by Hino in Japan, was brought to Israel, and built until 1968, when Hino than already Toyota (bought in 1966), refuse to do business in Israel due to the Arab boycott.

IsraelRX

1960 saw the first real Israeli car, the Sussita. Based on the British cars from Reliant, but changed and desinged a bit different.
The Sussita was made out of fiberglass, and used engines from Ford, and at the last stages an rather bad engine from Hillman.
There were different styles, sedan, station, pickup and even a sports car named Sabra. The name the Sussita used in the U.S (seriously :laugh: ) they made 171 Sabra Sport, which are until today a collectors item worldwide.

More info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocars_Co.











Today we have Automotive Industries Ltd which started in 1966, and has specialized in building offroad vehicles to both the military and civilian markets. its been assembling Jeeps, Dodge Trucks (D-100/500, W-200/600), the AMG M800 series tactical truck, International Navistar and Freightliner trucks and AIL's self-designed light tactical truck - the M- 325 Commandcar and its successor ABIR. Currently AIL sells its products mainly to the Israel Defence Forces and police, as well as to export markets.



The most famous one is the Storm, based on the Jeep.

BlkGS3

Memories...

LexFather

THanks for sharing, going to print out and read again. Very important to know all automotive history and I had no idea about this.

Thanks!

Lexmex

I heard recently from a friend who heads the Mazda Club over there that they will have legalized racing: circuit, drag, drift, etc.