Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 96 i Australian Muscle Car

The countdown is on to October 20, 2017 when Holden will turn out the lights on Australian automotive manufacturing. This issue hits shelves less than 100 days before Holden closes its Elizabeth plant in South Australia and about 80 before Toyota does likewise at Altona, Victoria on October 3. Judging by the number of emails received here in the magazine’s office, the loss of this country’s car building industry is still being absorbed and processed by long-time readers. Of course, many words and phrases repeatedly pop up in this correspondence – “what a shame”, “devastated”, “sadness”, “tragedy”, etc. Yet, what I’ve found interesting as I read through the emails – and I do read every email sent to amceditorial@chevron.com.au – is the wide variety of reasons cited by readers for…

The word ‘cougar’ has taken on a life of its own in recent years, but here at AMC it’s first and foremost the Mercury division of Ford’s version of the Mustang. Honest! The long-awaited debut of Len Balme’s 1967 Mercury Cougar was a highlight of the Australian Trans-Am series’ third round, at Queensland Raceway in June. “We chose the Mercury Cougar because it was different, it looks good in race trim and powered by Ford, and I also haven’t seen another one here,” Balme said. “The colour scheme is of the Bud Moore Racing Cougars of 1967 which gave a good challenge to the factory Mustang team in the Trans-Am series.” Balme didn’t expect to threaten the leaders in its first meeting while the bugs are still being ironed out…

A parade lap at the 2017 Muscle Car Masters at Sydney Motorsport Park will kick off the Leukaemia Foundation of South Australia’s fifth Aussie Muscle Car Run. The annual fundraising leisure cruise crosses four states in 2017, leaving Sydney on October 28 and arriving in Adelaide on November 4. A few places are still available, with those entrants already signed up coming from SA, WA, the Northern Territory and NSW. Organisers are urging others interested in the event to hurry up and register for what has become the ultimate road trip for a cause. “This year’s route is fantastic and includes just the right mix of leisure cruising mixed with motorsport events, including a drive through the Snowy Mountains, a day at the War Memorial and time on the track…

“Work on the new XR GT was in progress as early as 1965. My role was developing a ‘police special’ as suitable camouflage – Vic police light blue and very stark trim and no embellishments such as chrome wheel trim and exotic dash. The economics of this was very simple: 1000 GTs only would be expensive to make and would tie up a production line. But add to that base build another 2000 police specials and costs go way down. This is how the XR GT was put on the market at a very reasonable price. An automatic version was run in the BP Rally and the Surfers Paradise 4 Hour race for series production cars. It led the Surfers race in the dry, but fell back to second in…

This 1974 Holden Torana SL/R 5000 L34 is a bit like that attractive girl you’ve already known for yonks before you ‘officially’ start dating. You think you know her well when you start going out, but it’s not until you’re well-and-truly hitched that her past is fully revealed. Gary Bartlett had known and coveted this car for 21 years before he finally bought it in 2005. It was another two years before he discovered surprising details of its early life. No skeletons in this closet, though. When Bartlett went digging a decade ago he learned the L34 he had long lusted after played a significant part in the famous model’s racing history – as we will explain over the following pages. Kind of like being married for two years before…

The XC Falcon hardtop was not selling well and Ford’s sales and marketing department projected - based on past sales records – the company would sell around 100 hardtops in 1978. This presented a problem for the Ford Motor Company. It didn’t want to be left with a bunch of unused XC hardtops. So, with a little over 500 hardtop shells still in stock, this left about 400 shells with potentially no home. The bean counters decided that scrapping them was not a financially viable option. Ford was no stranger to Limited Edition specials as it had produced the XA GT RPO83s, the XA Falcon ‘Superbird’ and XB Falcon ‘John Goss Special’ hardtops and more recently the XC Falcon ‘Allan Moffat Special’ sedan. At the time, one suggestion was a…

Can-Am Slot Cars With Can-Am being a big part of the last two AMC issues, we thought we’d take a look at what Can-Am machines have been produced in slot car form. Especially since the golden retro glow surrounding the original Can-Am era only seems to be growing – if the increase in magazine stories and the magnetism of surviving machines at Historic race meetings is any guide. Although once a popular slot car body shape due to their low centre of gravity, their scarcity in recent years would, at first, suggest they fell out of favour with consumers. Yet the real reason behind the lack of new releases in recent years most likely lies in the decline of American slot car manufacturers. Where Revell/Monogram would once have produced a…

WJones - Can-Am competition after the clinching the ’78 title, Carl Haas replaced him with another driver with a stint with Frank Williams in Formula 1 on his resume – Jacky Ickx. Ickx’s main competition for the ’79 title was a future Williams F1 driver, Keke Rosberg, who was signed by the Paul Newman-fronted Newman-Freeman Racing. Rosberg, of course, would replace Jones at Williams for the 1982 season, winning the World Championship that year. The success of both the Australian and the Finn would suggest Can-Am MkII was, in the very least, no hindrance to Grand Prix success. Rosberg won first time out in Can-Am at Atlanta and again mid-season at Watkins Glen in the Lola T333CS-based Spyder NF-11. Rosberg’s teammate Elliott Forbes-Robinson won the Trois-Rivieres round that year. Thus,…

Geoff Brabham had a stellar racing career in the USA, winning multiple IMSA championships and clocking up 10 Indianapolis 500 starts. Elsewhere, he also won a 24 Hours of Le Mans and a Super Touring Bathurst 1000, but it was his 1981 Can-Am championship that really helped establish him in America. Brabham, like many before him, including his legendary father Sir Jack, travelled to Europe to chase his Formula 1 dream. When things didn’t work out, instead of heading home he jumped over the pond to try his luck stateside. “I came over to America in late 1978,” Geoff Brabham told AMC. “I did a couple of races in Super Vee and then did the whole series in ’79, which I won. It put me on the map and gave…

Graham McRae was the most prolific of the New Zealanders to tackle Can-Am MkII. He raced at a handful of events the first season in his McRae GM3 with a best finish of sixth, returning three years later with the GM9 in the distinctive white and pink livery of casino chain Circus Circus. McRae hovered around the top 10 most outings, unable to match his starring role on the US F5000 scene a decade earlier. McRae wasn’t the first Kiwi to contest the series though, with Chris Amon running the first race of the new era in a Wolf-Dallara, yet never returning after that solitary outing. The last was NZ-born Californian Clive Bush, who raced once or twice a year in the series between 1980 and 1985.…

In the early 1970s, Formula 5000 grabbed the attention of drivers, teams and fans in the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Frank Matich was an early F5000 competitor, first in a McLaren M10 and later with his own creation, the Matich A50. Success was realised at home when he won the 1970 and 1971 Australian Grands Prix, in McLaren and Matich chassis respectively. There’s nothing like success to create demand, and additional Matich A50s ensued with one making its way to the US. Over three seasons that car made appearances in the L&M F5000 series in the hands of George Follmer, John Gimbel and Merle Brennan. Brennan can be seen in the hat offloading the black A50 at the Virginia City Hillclimb (above). Another time, while Brennan was…

“Celebrating our performance heritage” Tickets now on sale! Cheaper tickets for the 2017 Australian Muscle Car Masters at Sydney Motorsport Park are available by pre-purchasing online. A two-day adult ticket purchased online is just $55 (plus $3.95 service fee) versus $70 at the gate, while a Saturday-only adult tickets at $25 and Sunday-only tickets $40 (plus $3.95 service fee) will save you 30% and 20% respectively. Concessions available. Children 12 and under free with a paying adult. Purchase tickets at musclecarmasters.com.au Picking up some static The fertile mind of Todd Martin has dreamt up some funtastic – now there’s a ’70s word! – static displays. Todd helped bring the early Muscle Car Masters to life and he’s back involved for 2017. There’ll be a beach scene and paddock area displays…

The 40th anniversary celebrations of Allan Moffat’s Bathurst 1977 1-2 went to a whole new level when the Ford legend unveiled a special commemorative Tickford Mustang GT paying homage to his and teammate Colin Bond’s famous feat. The Tickford Bathurst ’77 Special will be fitted with a high-performance supercharger, significantly upping the output of the Mustang’s 5.0-litre powerplant. Externally, the white car runs a modern interpretation of the livery, fitted with a full decal kit and replica rear wing. The limited edition model will include a full OEM-spec leather interior with unique Tickford Bathurst ’77 Special treatment, including XC hardtop red and blue stitching on the seats, a bespoke steering wheel plus cabin badging. No more than 77 of the Tickford pony cars will be built, each fitted with a…

The Holden Torana’s 50th birthday will be celebrated at Toranafest 2017. The Hunter Valley Torana Club’s big bash is set for September 16-17 in Maitland with HDT identities Colin Bond and Ned Nowacki among the special guests. The ‘Festival of the Torana’ continues to go from strength to strength. It began in 1994 when then New FM radio host Maynard made mention on air of the inordinate amount of Toranas he’d noticed on the road locally. This became an ongoing topic of conversation, especially when Newcastle Torana owners began ribbing Maynard about his VW. Someone then brainstormed the idea of an all-Torana car show, which the station got behind. The first Toranafest attracted 183 entries at Bar Beach and it’s grown ever since. This year 400 Toranas are expected to…

Reader: Craig Czintos Car: VN Commodore Group A Hometown: Sydney, NSW What is it? “1990 VN SS Group A.” When did you buy it? “April 2017.” Why did you buy it? “I had dreamt of owning one since I was nine years old. Over the years the love hadn’t dwindled and I could see the prices starting to climb. I had a VN SV5000 which was a show car and that I loved dearly, but I knew I couldn’t have both and so I moved the SV5000 on to buy this particular car which had been lovingly cared for. To finally own the last of the homologation specials is incredible. I picked it up on my birthday from Bathurst and drove straight to the racetrack for photos. Not sure if…

Numero uno It’s the first Falcon GT! Mustang was such a hit on the sales charts in the US and as a brand builder for Ford globally that it influenced how the Australian XR Falcon range was marketed upon its release in 1966. Ford Australia then took the ‘Mustang-bred’ XR promotional strategy one step further, adding the GT to the range in April ‘67. Its success laid the groundwork for future GTs and the legendary GT-HOs. Birthday toy It represents the birth of the Australian muscle car. It was, by a long shot, the fastest car ever produced in this country to that point. Arms race trigger The XR threw down the gauntlet to Holden. Hitting the market first and winning upon its Bathurst debut sparked an arms race that…

If not for its title-sponsorship of the fledgling Bathurst production car race in the mid 1960s and accompanying promotional cars, virtually all trace of the now defunct Gallaher GT cigarette brand would have been stubbed out decades ago. Yet, in its own unique way, the Gallaher brand endures. In fact, it’s fair to say it will always command its own page in the annals of Australian muscle car history. Contrast that with other Gallaher International (Australia) Ltd’s cigarette brands that disappeared off the shelves around the same time – Park Drive, Ski, Waldorf and Edinburgh. These were all soon forgotten. The Gallaher brand keeps smouldering thanks to the rep mobiles painted silver with rep stripes exactly half a century ago. It would have been a different story if, instead, those…

With our landmark 100th issue just six months away, we are getting all nostalgic here at AMC HQ and digging up behind-the-scenes pics from our earliest days. Here’s issue #11’s cover image ‘unplugged’. The lime green of the Hinton family’s A9X (sister car to the recently auctioned Brevillemobile) just ‘punches’ off the cover with the help of photographer Eric Williamson’s clever studio lighting. Note the illumination from underneath – and the white board positioned from the front – ensuring dark blue sections are adequately lit, so the front spoiler doesn’t get lost in a sea of black. Then there’s the black sheet behind the drivers’ side windows, helping the mag’s graphic designer weave his magic when etching Williamson’s raw image. This stunner has inspired us to put another A9X (or…

The 1976 Bathurst 1000 was a classic. It had a strong and varied field, including two of the biggest names in the sport. There were numerous lead changes. It had a very close and dramatic finish. And there was even a post-race controversy which rather curiously bubbled away quietly for a few decades. The weapons of choice for the outright win were the Ford Falcon XB GT and the Holden Torana LH L34. Falcon numbers were painfully thin at just three, but on the credit side, the Ford factory was making one of its intermittent returns to the sport. Allan Moffat’s team was now styled Moffat Ford Dealers, a works campaign in all but name. John Goss, who had won in 1974 but failed early in 1975, was looking for…

The sequel is rarely as good as the original and the best follow-ups are invariably those with their own distinct identity. Such was the case with the second coming of Can-Am. The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, the blockbuster of 1966-1974, was critically acclaimed at the time and increasingly treasured as time goes by. This biggest of Big Banger racing categories was a wild affair with few rules. It’s viewed through modern eyes as the zenith of motorsport innovation and spectacle. Can-Am MkII, the 1977-1986 single-seater era, never reached the same lofty heights as the earlier two-seater period. Nonetheless, it deserves space in the racing history books, particularly those covering the achievements of Australians on the world motorsport stage. Second-generation Can-Am, the Canadian-American Challenge to give it its full name (note no…

Warwick Brown was a Formula 5000 frontrunner in the early to mid 1970s in both his native country and in the United States. So it stands to reason he would be competitive in the rebodied F5000 machines of the re-born Canadian-American Challenge when he landed a deal with the crack Racing Team VDS. The word ‘competitive’, though, really doesn’t do Brown’s 1978 Can-Am season justice, given he finished runner-up to Alan Jones at the peak of the soon-to-be World Champion’s powers. The Sydney-born ace finished on the podium in eight of the 10 rounds including victory at Watkins Glen and five consecutive second places to finish the season. In doing so he took the series down the wire at a dramatic season-finale at Riverside in California. Brown first raced in…

Adelaide is a sleepy little place that has a lot of churches. That’s the stereotypical view of the South Australian capital held in larger centres such as archrival Melbourne. But while Melbourne likes to think of itself as the sporting capital of the world, it was Adelaide which secured for Australia the seemingly unattainable holy grail of world motorsport – a Formula 1 grand prix. Where Melbourne and Sydney had failed, in 1985 Adelaide unexpectedly succeeded in bringing the World Drivers’ Championship to our shores. The circuit the South Australians devised to host the first Australian Formula 1 grand prix was thrown together in a ridiculously short timeframe, but it turned out to be a magnificent venue, something unlike anything F1 had experienced before. For 11 years Adelaide played host…

2012 FPV GT RSpec This big Ford turned heads, especially in this black-with-red livery. Open the bonnet and the black cover on top of the engine looks a bit like a ‘shaker’. The red stripe looks a bit like a Mustang’s. And if you bought one new, you could be getting nearly as much as you spent on it – it’s held its value remarkably well. A quick peruse of a couple of ‘cars for sale’ sites showed a few around starting in the sixties and at least one for sale north of $100k. Not bad for a car that was $76k new. If you’re a mere mortal and can’t stump up that sort of cash, then Apex Replicas have a substitute for you in 1:18 to hold you over…

General Motors Chevrolet C8 Corvette TC shaping up as Holden’s next V8 hero, the recent confirmation that the next-gen high-performance coupe will be built in right-hand drive fuelling speculation that it will be offered locally. However, it’s unlikely it will wear a Lion badge. The C8 will realise its maker’s long-term ambition to build a mid-engined Corvette and in ultimate form will have a power-to-weight that tops any machine in the 64-year history of the nameplate, thanks to an aluminium-intensive structure and carbonfibre exterior panels that will also make this the most exotic Corvette yet. It’s expected the C8 will be offered at a series of price points and performance grades, starting with a circa 375kW version with a pushrod V8 slotted in the middle of the chassis. This version…

A treasure trove of Australian motoring history goes under the hammer on Sunday, August 20 at Mallala Motorsport Park in the form of the late Clem Smith’s eclectic car collection. The circuit’s rescuer and long-time owner passed away in February, aged 90, the Smith family selling the facility to Peregrine Corporation, developers of the Tailem Bend circuit currently under construction. Now 36 of Clem’s favourite machines will be auction by mossgreen at the South Australian track where they were housed, in most cases, for decades. Topping the list of locally-built cars is Smith’s famous Charger Sports Sedan, his roadgoing Charger E38 in Mercury Silver and a replica of the E38 raced by Norm Beechey/Jim McKeown at Bathurst ’71. Then there’s an Adelaide-assembled 1962 Dodge Phoenix and several Ramblers assembled in…

Last issue’s VJ Charger E49 story outlined that four such machines escaped from Chrysler’s Tonsley Park factory in the second half of 1973. This snippet of information had Mopar-loving AMC readers requesting more info on the quartet. Thankfully, Chrysler numbers guru Andrew Clark has come to the rescue. Andrew advises that out of the four factory-built VJ Charger E49s, there are, in fact, two with a later build date than issue #95’s cover car. Andrew searched through his Charger database and has confirmed that ‘our’ Sunfire Yellow machine (VJ7D29-1281), owned by WA’s Shane Anderson, was actually the third last E49-engined car built. As to the others, the fourth last (VJ7D29-0828) was built in August 1973 for Kiwi racing legend Leo Leonard’s first attempt at Bathurst that year, driving with Ernie…

Back at the Masters After a hiatus from involvement in the Muscle Car Masters I’m pleased to be back in the passenger’s seat organising suitable elements that showcase sights and sounds from the golden era of motoring and motorsport. This year’s Masters, over October 28-29, will have a number of awesome added elements that we reckon will give you an excuse to head back to the event. This includes the reintroduction of road and club cars into the pit/paddock area for dedicated displays. The MCM s success was built upon providing punters with countless must-see displays and must-meet legends – lots of different experiences that, when combined, give everyone a great day or weekend out. And we are cooking up plenty of these for the Sydney Motorsport Park spectacular in…

Ian Vaughan seems as busy in retirement as he ever was in a decorated 37-year career with Ford Australia. Yet Vaughan is more than happy to stop to discuss the birth of the Falcon GT – the V8-powered XR that marks the start of the Aussie muscle car exactly 50 years ago. At that time Vaughan was a young product planner and budding rally driver. Fate saw him land at Ford as a graduate trainee in 1964, at virtually the same time that American marketing whiz Bill Bourke arrived in Melbourne. Bourke would soon blaze a trail through Broadmeadows, changing it from a producer of bland family sedans into a vibrant marketing outfit where the key word seemed to be ‘excitement’. Vaughan strapped himself in went along for the ride.…

They did things differently in 1967. But then Harry Firth, to whom the Ford Motor Company entrusted preparation of its three official Gallaher 500 challengers, always marched to the beat of a very different drum. Harry operated Firth Motors from Auburn in suburban Melbourne in his own unique style. It was here, Harry told AMC shortly before his passing in 2014, that three XR GTs lobbed fresh off the Broadmeadows line. There was an Ivy Green Metallic example for Firth and co-driver Fred Gibson; a Sultan Maroon machine for Bob Jane and Spencer Martin; and a Polar White car for Ian and Leo Geoghegan. Receiving a white car enabled the brothers to mimic the colour scheme of their other green-striped Castrolbacked racing machines. After basic fettling by Firth and his…

No less than 42 drivers have finished second in the Bathurst 500/1000 without scoring that much-coveted win. Here we present the most notable among them. Our line-up is a curious mix of hard luck stories and sensational surprise results – the disappointed and the delighted! Inspiration for exploring this Top 25 topic came from stories featured this issue, most notably the Geoghegan brothers’ experience in 1967 when their XR GT received the chequered flag first only to be stripped of the victory a few hours later. This proved to the closest Leo got to winning The Great Race. Then there’s this issue’s Muscle Man Bob Forbes, who, in the wet of 1974, opted to preserve second place (and his life!) rather than risk crashing out in the pursuit of victory.…

While the original Canadian-American Challenge Cup,1966-1974, was dominated by New Zealanders and lightly spiced by a quartet of Australians, the shoe was on the other foot for the series’ second coming from 1977. Alan Jones, Geoff Brabham and Warwick Brown all starred, with several others providing back-up. Jones scored his first major title with the 1978 Can-Am Challenge but has always played it down as little more than an opportunity to make a buck with minimal stress. Or, in AJ-speak, “cruise and collect.” That the gritty Aussie and his semi-works Lola-Chev T333CS were the class of the field is beyond contradiction – nine pole positions from as many attempts, and by large margins, settles that argument – but it turned out to be a bigger battle than AJ expected. The…

Kiwi mechanic Garry Simkin talked himself into a job with Pat Burke Racing at the time Warwick Brown won the 1975 Tasman Series. Molloy suggested that Warwick should take Garry over with him to the States. “I went over with Warwick Brown for the ’75 US F5000 championship,” remembers Simkin today. “I was a gopher on the Talon that he was racing. When Brown’s deal with Bay Racing fell over in mid 1976 I joined Racing Team VDS. The drivers then were Teddy Pilette and Peter Gethin. Warwick joined the team for the final round at Riverside in a new Lola T430 and beat the regular drivers.” Simkin remained with VDS for the first season of the re-born Can-Am. “We were using Lola T333 CS, which had a stronger tub…

With two series champions – Alan Jones and Geoff Brabham – plus another race winner in the form of Warwick Brown, an Aussie or three was seemingly always at the pointy end of the revamped Canadian-American Challenge between 1977 and 1981. In contrast, just one New Zealander, Graham McRae, was a regular series competitor during this time (see breakout). A flick through the results sheets reveals that a surprising level of Australian involvement and flavour, quite apart from the aforementioned trio. Most prominent was South Australian Vern Schuppan who, by the time he joined the Can-Am scene in late 1977, had already that season had a handful of Formula 1 outings, attempted to qualify for the Indy 500, finished runner-up at Le Mans and ran the Bathurst 1000 with Dick…

Today the F1 race is a distant memory for most Australian motor racing fans. Yet it’s not been forgotten by South Australians. Last November the Victoria Park section of the old track echoed once more to the sound of F1 cars competing at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival (below). And earlier this year, the Adelaide City Council requested the state government investigate the possibility of bringing the GP back to South Australia. In the unlikely event of that happening, it wouldn’t be taking place on the original layout. Adelaide’s new tram network currently under construction will cut across Rundle Road, effectively slicing off the section from Banana Bend to Turn 10. In any case, F1 is now part of Adelaide’s past. Today, the Parklands circuit is more synonymous with Supercars and…

Some muscle cars are bought by loving owners who pamper them like members of the family. Other muscle cars, though, aren’t so lucky. Some get stolen, smashed or thrashed. Some get parked and lost under a layer of dust in an old shed, others get left outside to brave the elements and slowly rust away. Sad, but true. We eyeball plenty of beautifully maintained and/or fully restored muscle classics in AMC, but as serious car pervs we have to admit there’s few things more intriguing – or exciting – than spotting an old classic in a paddock, or a shed, or under a shady tree, that’s seen better days and in need of some TLC. Some are beyond saving, but they all have a story to tell. So, get out…