Archival Obsessions: The car from Malcolm

Who

Elena Guest, Senior Curator, Cultural Collections, Curatorial and Accessioning

What

The car from Malcolm (Nadia Tass, 1986)

Anatomy of a getaway car

It’s a cult 1980s hit with all the right ingredients for a heist flick – mismatched allies, an audacious plan, and a getaway vehicle. But Malcolm, the 1986 comedy from director Nadia Tass, trades the high-speed luxury of action flicks for something far quirkier: a 1970 yellow Honda Z. It’s a fan favourite at the NFSA, and for Elena Guest, Senior Curator, it’s a standout artefact. ‘When I joined the NFSA, on the tour of the Mitchell storage facilities, we were directed to look at a very large crate – it was the car from Malcolm,’ Guest recalls. ‘I couldn’t believe we had it in our collection.’

Breaking down a prop

The prop is one of the largest items in the NFSA collection – an unmissable yellow Honda, meticulously crafted from two cars sliced lengthwise and mounted onto modified Yamaha motorbikes. Achieving that seamless split required some serious tinkering. The car plays a pivotal role in this AFI Award-winning film, where Colin Friels stars as Malcolm, an eccentric introvert with a love for inventing gadgets. He shares his home – and later his life of crime – with Lindy Davies as Judith and John Hargreaves as Frank. Their unconventional friendship sparks Malcolm’s awakening, from reclusive inventor to accidental criminal mastermind.

The Melbourne-shot comedy also features Heather Mitchell, Charles 'Bud' Tingwell and Denise Scott. ‘This was Nadia Tass’s first feature as director, and she also produced it,’ Guest notes. ‘Writer, cinematographer and producer David Parker – Tass’s husband – built many of the film’s props himself.’

The split car was engineered by Parker and first assistant director Tony Mahood, with some help from Parker’s friend Steve Mills. Tass and Parker’s production company, Cascade Films, donated the iconic car to the NFSA. It was later displayed with other props and memorabilia for the film’s 30th anniversary in 2016.

Its singular delights

For Guest, the charm of Malcolm lies in its oddball inventions. ‘I remember seeing the film at the cinema and loving all the unexpected and wonderful gadgets that were “real”,’ she says. ‘They weren’t sleek Hollywood props – they looked like things Malcolm would have actually built.’ NFSA film curator Paul Byrnes praises the film’s elegant simplicity. ‘The script is cleverly constructed, with only three main characters, a handful of locations, and minimal dialogue.’

Byrnes highlights the scene where Malcolm’s split car makes its debut – during a police pursuit following a bank heist – as one of the film’s most brilliant moments. ‘Frank knows Malcolm has been working on an invention, but it’s only in this scene that he realises the extent of Malcolm’s technical genius. The two halves of the car genuinely worked, and their wobbly progress makes that clear.’

A unique asset, divided

The film’s split car is its most striking feature. ‘There aren’t many films with a car that splits in two,’ Guest points out. ‘It’s something you’d expect in animation, not live action – and certainly not in a low-budget film.’ The car’s oddball charm stands in sharp contrast to the roaring muscle cars of George Miller’s Mad Max series, which dominated Australian cinema at the time. Where Miller’s cars roar, Malcolm's car playfully sputters – embodying the film’s quirky, understated tone.

Why it still matters

Malcolm remains a beloved cult favourite. Its audience score on Rotten Tomatoes holds steady at 84 per cent, and thanks to Umbrella Entertainment, the film is still widely available on streaming platforms. For Byrnes, the film offers a masterclass in independent filmmaking. ‘It’s a textbook example of how to make a first feature – maximum imagination with controlled logistics, even if the gadgets required remarkable technical ingenuity to pull off.’

Main image: Malcolm's getaway car splits into two in Malcolm (Nadia Tass, 1986). Courtesy: Cascade Films