The $1.6 Million Australian Coupe Built for the Driven
Hand-built in Melbourne and limited to just 10 cars a year, the Zeigler/Bailey Z/B 4.4 is reshaping what a modern collector car can be.
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In a quiet workshop in inner city Melbourne, one of the most ambitious performance cars in Australia is being built by hand.
Limited to just 10 cars a year and priced at $1.6 million, the Zeigler/Bailey Z/B 4.4 is not designed to chase mass appeal.
It is built for a very specific kind of driver. One who wants feel over flash, engineering over hype, and a car with soul as well as speed.
The Z/B 4.4 takes visual cues from the classic air-cooled Porsche era of the late 1970s and 80s, but beneath the familiar silhouette sits an entirely new platform.
Rather than restoring or lightly modifying an old chassis, the team has replaced the floor and structure with a clean-sheet, motorsport-bred tub, engineered to modern Australian safety standards and designed to work in both right- and left-hand drive.
The result is a car that looks nostalgic, but behaves like a thoroughly modern performance machine.
Power comes from a bespoke 4.4-litre air-cooled flat-six engine, designed and assembled in-house and machined from solid aluminium billet.
With 300 kilowatts of power and 500 Newton-metres of torque, its output slightly surpasses that of today’s Porsche 911 Carrera, while retaining the raw sound and character of classic air-cooled engineering.
Much of the car’s suspension architecture is inspired by Le Mans prototype racing, with push-rod actuated dampers and a multi-link rear system designed to deliver both comfort and precision.
The electronics have also been built from scratch, using a solid-state CAN-bus architecture that allows for digital instrumentation, remote diagnostics and ongoing software updates.
Every Z/B 4.4 begins life as a donor Porsche 911 from the 1975 to 1989 G-series era. From there, almost everything mechanical, structural and electronic is reimagined. More than 3,500 bespoke parts go into each finished car.
Despite the engineering depth, this is not a track-only machine.
Owners are involved in the personalisation of colour, trim and finishes, with many choosing to take part in selected phases of the build itself. Seating, ride settings, digital displays and even engine tuning can all be adjusted to suit the driver.
Behind the project are entrepreneur and Porsche collector John Zeigler Jr and automotive engineer Greg Bailey.
Together, they have created not just a car, but a global low-volume manufacturing model, using advanced CNC machining and 3D printing to produce parts that would once have been impossible to fabricate locally.
The business now employs a specialised team of designers, engineers and assemblers, and has plans to scale internationally through engines, components and licensed assembly.
For collectors, the appeal is as much about rarity as performance. Only 10 cars a year will be built for the Australian market. Six are already sold. Delivery from order is about 12 months.
In a world where hypercars increasingly blur into one another, the Z/B 4.4 stands apart as something deeply personal and proudly Australian. It is not designed to dominate social media feeds or sit under velvet ropes. It is designed to be driven.
As the creators like to say, you do not buy cool. You build it.
A Sydney couple has paid $15.5 million for the Grand Penthouse at Marquee’s $285 million La Belle Residences beachfront development which is nearing completion at Palm Beach, eclipsing the record for an off-the-plan apartment sale on the southern Gold Coast. The sprawling single level 640 sqm beachfront residence, with sweeping views of the Gold Coast …
Continue reading “$15.5m La Belle Penthouse eclipses southern Gold Coast record”
On the owner’s deck, a 20-metre swimming pool incorporates Feadship’s patented ContraWave technology and extends indoors as a suspended, glass-bottomed infinity pool.
A new study models a potential $80.6 billion lift in Australian GDP after a decade, as national testing shows a decline in Year 10 digital literacy.
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Australia trails Singapore and Malta in a new Commonwealth index, while national testing shows fewer than four in 10 Year 10 students meet the standard for digital literacy.
Australia has ranked third among 56 Commonwealth countries for youth AI readiness, with researchers estimating that artificial intelligence could lift the level of Australian GDP by $80.6 billion after a decade under their middle scenario.
The Ayre Think Tank released the index at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda. Australia scored 71 out of 100, behind Singapore on 77.6 and Malta on 75. The United Kingdom followed closely on 70.8, with Canada fifth on 70.2. Only 15 countries reached the study’s benchmark of 53.
What the $80.6 billion figure measures
The researchers applied International Monetary Fund estimates for broad groups of economies to Australia’s 2025 GDP. The resulting scenarios put the potential lift in Australian GDP after 10 years at between $40.9 billion and $120.3 billion, with $80.6 billion representing the midpoint.
The figures describe how much larger the economy could be at the end of the period under each scenario. They represent a change in the level of GDP in year 10.
Digital literacy falls as schools roll out AI tools
Australia scored 8.7 out of 10 for access to technology and 7.5 for digital, data, media and AI capability. Separate national testing found that 37 per cent of Year 10 students met the proficient standard for information and communications technology literacy in 2025, down from 46 per cent in 2022. About one in 10 students reported receiving substantial teaching on AI-related tasks. National assessment results
The report points to two state initiatives aimed at building those skills. Queensland began rolling out an AI education platform in state schools in 2026, while Victoria introduced free specialist training for workers looking to develop AI skills or move into related roles.
The index draws on 1,128 sources and examines the conditions facing people aged 15 to 29, including access to technology, education and pathways into work. Australia had usable data for 76 of the 102 indicators used in the rankings. The researchers found too little comparable evidence to score an eighth area covering critical judgement and people’s ability to exercise control over AI systems.
Professor C. Justin Robinson, campus principal of the University of the West Indies’ Five Islands Campus, said young people should be equipped to question and improve AI tools and supported in building alternatives suited to their needs.
The report calls for affordable access to technology, more practical education and stronger links between training, employment and entrepreneurship. It also urges governments and educators to support AI tools suited to local languages and give young people ways to challenge automated decisions.
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Two coming 2027 models – the first of the “Neue Klasse” cars coming to the U.S. early next year – have been revealed.
