Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 99 i Australian Muscle Car

Now that was an epic encounter! Even those who sniff at Supercars would admit the 2017 title-decider on the challenging Newcastle street circuit was nothing less than riveting viewing. Personally, I reckon Sunday’s series climax was the most amazing car race I’ve ever seen. Big call, I know, but I believe it set a new benchmark as the best decider in the 58-year history of the ATCC/ Supercars championship. It had everything. It was edge of the seat stuff watching McLaughlin, after his setbacks, rise through the field to the necessary 11th place. Lo and behold, upon reaching that position, with one hand on the trophy, he had to defend the spot from wily and speedy Craig Lowndes, teammate to eventual champion Jamie Whincup. Hollywood couldn’t have scripted it better.…

Reader: Vince Villarosa Car: 1968 Holden HK Monaro GTS 307 Hometown: Sydney, NSW What is it? “It’s a Pagewood-built, matching numbers 4-speed manual HK Monaro GTS 307. It’s Inca Gold in colour.” When did you buy it? “2001.” Why did you buy it? “I’d had various muscle cars over the years and Monaros are a bit of a thing in the family. I thought, ‘I’ve just to have one myself’, a V8 Monaro, that is. I started looking around, contacted the Monaro club here in NSW for help, and then I found this one in the Trading Post. It was a known car amongst Monaro enthusiasts, had all its paperwork and logbooks, and was too good an opportunity to let go. So I jumped on it. ” What do you…

The order book for the Tickford Bathurst ’77 Special Mustang is filled with fans with vivid memories of the famous Moffat/Bond 1-2. Some were even at Mount Panorama that day. But there’s one ’77 Special owner who witnessed the Moffat Ford Dealers Team juggernaut at close quarters on October 2, 1977 – Terry Daly. You see, Terry was actually in the race and aboard a Ford. He and Barry Jones finished 20th outright in the ’77 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 in an Escort RS2000, covering 137 laps, good enough for sixth in class C for cars up to 2000cc. We can only imagine contesting the tiddler class and seeing the big XC Falcons looming large in the rearview mirrors before sweeping by at a great rate of knots. The Daly/Jones Escort started…

Australian muscle car history is littered with Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda tales – models the big three local manufacturers considered producing in significant numbers but ultimately never saw the light of day. Indeed, this very magazine since inception has told the stories of countless such stillborn vehicles. Over the following pages AMC presents six such models that, for one reason or another, slipped through the cracks. Three of the cars you’ll read about here were prototypes in one form or another, proving how close the vehicles came to entering production. Another was built by an engineer who was so disappointed that his employer didn’t go down the path originally discussed, that many years later he built his own one-off version to see how it would have performed. Our final two were,…

Few Chrysler enthusiasts would argue that the Centura was a huge missed opportunity for the company. Originally scheduled for release in Australia in 1973, poor Chrysler was forced by circumstances beyond its control to delay its release until March in 1975. It does not sound like much, but that 18 month delay was critical to the car’s success, or otherwise, in the market. Chrysler was eager to compete in the burgeoning compact family car segment of the market that was dominated by the Holden Torana, the first six-cylinder versions of which arrived in November 1969. Ford belatedly followed in October 1972 by offering a six-cylinder option to TC Cortina buyers, but it would be fair to say that the Cortina body was never designed to house the physically large and…

Jac Nasser swept into Ford Australia like a force of nature in 1990, rallying his troops to get serious about muscle cars and motorsport. And the car you see here shows just how serious the Ford Australia president was about putting V8 performance back into the fading Blue Oval. This is the GT Falcon that never was, the car that may have restored the famous badge earlier than Ford eventually managed with the 25th Anniversary EB GT in 1992. It’s also a car that was regarded as a possible GT-HO Phase V. Importantly, it was the first V8-powered Falcon produced by Ford Australia since the V8 was unceremoniously dumped by short-sighted management in 1982. But this car is a one-off, a prototype that sat quietly in the corner of Ford’s…

Bentley Boys at Bathurst Call me a grumpy old git, but I’m over our current Supercars formula at Bathurst. There, I said it. I’m sorry, but I get a bit cynical when each and every year, the monster that is television wants the Bathurst 1000 to be the closest ever, to the soundtrack of Holden and Ford fans yelling and getting mad in an automotive version of the World Wrestling Federation. Don’t they – ‘they’ being the ones that have developed the format – realise that each year Bathurst 1000 can’t be the best ever? How can you appreciate the excellent ones, when there are no mundane ones? I get the feeling that, while Brocky’s 1979 Bathurst victory was one for the record books, ‘they’ mutter in dark corners that…

AMC: Alfa Romeo in Australia in the 1980s were led by executives who were passionate about the brand and racing? Colin Bond: Yes. Enrico Zanarini and Ruggero Rotondo were real enthusiasts. Though they thought more of their stomachs than their cars! Enrico would drive like a maniac in Italy and get away with it. He was hopeless on the racetrack but terrific in traffic. Once coming back from Amaroo in the passenger seat with Enrico I asked whether he ever got booked? He said: ‘No, but I get chased a lot!’ AMC: Unlike other race teams, you operated out of ARA’s factory complex in Botany? CB: They had a massive workshop and bond facility. The thinking was they were going to sell 5000 cars…

Drag racing legend Santo Rapisarda and his team Rapisarda Autosport International have developed a cult-like following since bursting onto the biggest stage in the world of Top Fuel racing – the American-based National Hot Rod Association Championship series in 2010. The Sydney-based team and their driver, Mark Mariani, made their debut at the Las Vegas Nationals and rocked the establishment when they qualified 15th and caused a major boilover in the first round when they defeated title contender Cory McClenathan before losing to NHRA megastar Antron Brown. Over the next two years the Rapisarda team concentrated its efforts on the Australian National Drag Racing series and only raced sporadically in America where they rarely advanced beyond the first round. The team struggled with a revolving roster of Australian and US…

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…

Let history record that the 7,687,675th and final Holden rolled from Holden’s Elizabeth, South Australia production line at 10.45am on Friday, October 20. The downing of tools on the last Commodore sedan, a ‘Red Hot’ SSV Redline manual, marked the end of 69 years of Holden as a manufacturer – and Australia as a country that produces cars – and the start of the brand’s next phase as a sales, engineering and design business. The last Commodore, along with the final Caprice, wagon and ute – representing one of each body style – will be retained in a heritage centre at the Elizabeth site. A private celebration and farewell followed for the 945 remaining Elizabeth employees. “Treating our people with dignity and respect was always our number one priority during…

Gatherings marking the end of Aussie-built Holdens weren’t confined to the Holden Dream Cruise in Elizabeth. Red Lion enthusiasts across the country dipped their lids to their favourite brand’s passing as a local manufacturer. In Perth, more than a dozen members of the Holden Car Club of WA made their way to the former site of GM-H’s Mosman Park assembly plant in the week of Elizabeth’s shutdown. Among the 14 classic Holdens that congregated on the old Mosman Park site were five vehicles built at that very spot. Iona Presentation Primary School sits on that site today and the school’s principal granted the club permission to park the cars on the sports field. The ‘Kodak moment’ was the brainchild of club member Craig Poole, who dropped AMC a line pre-event…

Steven Johnson clinched the first national title of his 25-season career in winning the 2017 Touring Car Masters series. The 43-year-old overhauled the slender points lead held by former mentor John Bowe heading into the Newcastle finale, winning aboard Team Johnson’s #17 Mustang. A pair of victories at the new event, including a tension-filled 12-lap finale, saw him take the title by 11 points. Sportingly, four-time TCM champ Bowe was the first to congratulate him, drawing alongside in his Torana on the cool-down lap. At this point, it appeared Sunday November 26 would be a red letter day for the Johnson clan, with DJR Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin seemingly with one hand on the Supercars trophy. But the top prize eluded the oldest team in pitlane and Steven’s crown provided…

No episode better sums up the camaraderie of the Aussie Muscle Car Run than the events of day three. West Australians Anthony Matthews and Grant Corry have blown their Monaro’s engine to smithereens and are parked beside the Hume Highway in northern Victoria. They are a long way from home and seemingly parked for the duration of the 2017 event. Except the other participants wouldn’t have a bar of this. Particularly loggers Snow and Pork Merrett, who have a suitable replacement back home at Penola in South Australia. The dynamic father-and-son duo quickly tasked one of their employees to load it on the back of a ute to drive the 550km from their base in south eastern SA to Benalla. It’s a big undertaking, but such is the will of…

An early 1970s Cortina with a factory-fitted V8? Surely this one falls into the category of tell ’em they’re dreamin’, son! Actually, not quite. Back in 1971 Ford Australia was riding the crest of a wave of performance car-led prosperity with the Falcon GT-HO as spearhead. In its bid to stay ahead of the curve, Ford gave consideration to replacing its hottest Falcon with a V8-powered TC Cortina, in readiness for the impending arrival of, firstly, Holden’s V8 Torana XU-1 and then the similar-sized LH model Torana V8 challenger. This was a story AMC told way back in issue #22 after the discovery of confidential factory document that provided a rare insight into the numerous ideas being discussed at Ford during that turbulent time. Had these ideas been implemented they…

Strike me pink! There’s a 308ci engine back under the bonnet of the LJ Torana V8 prototype. Two years ago in AMC’s Great Escapes issue, #84, we brought you the story of how Tasmanian Torana enthusiast Allan Mills spent 30 years tracking down this car, before finally taking ownership in 2012. Mills’ car was still fitted with a six-cylinder engine when that story was published in late 2015, as Allan pieced together as much information of the stillborn GM-H product ‘XW7’ as possible. This survivor now stands as a symbol of Holden’s long-lost plan to race a V8-powered LJ Torana at Bathurst in 1972. The Supercar Scare of mid 1972 killed off those ambitions and, according to Holden’s official line, the prototypes were said to have been destroyed. Yet the…

Bob Morris will forever be known as a Holden touring car racing legend. Under the Ron Hodgson banner, Morris starred in Toranas for most of the 1970s. He was the only privateer Holden driver that entire decade to win Bathurst other than Peter Brock. Three years later Morris and the Hodgson team would deny Brock and the factory Holden team in the championship. Bob Morris’ 1979 Australian Touring Car Championship surely remains today the most impressive victory in the history of the ATCC. That fairytale title triumph also goes part of the way to explain why one of Morris’ Ron Hodgson Torana A9Xs from that era recently was sold for a scarcely-believable $740,000… Yet for a driver so synonymous with Holden, Bob Morris could easily have been a Ford touring…

The highlight of the 2017 Muscle Car Masters at Sydney Motorsport Park for many attendees was the range of themed displays. Organisers went to considerable lengths to up the automotive eye-candy levels, dishing up everything from oddball rarities to a truly unique Torana XU-1 salute. Recreating the six-car Ron Hodgson Holden promotional masterpiece from Bathurst 1973 gave Muscle Car Masters ‘creative director’ Todd Martin plenty of headaches, but the end result was well worth the effort. Firstly. there was sourcing the right mix of five two-door LJ Toranas and a sole four-door– all in red – to accurately reflect the original line-up. Back in ’73 the dealership’s service department attached boot spoilers and air dams with matching decals to four GTRs, a Torana S two-door and a four-door disguised…

They were the little cars that could. Distinctive yellow Alfa Romeos that nipped at the heels of the bigger machines of the new Group A era. In the hands of gun drivers Colin Bond and Alan Jones, these wedgy Italians could be made to dance and sing. And oh how they could they sing! The single-cam alloy 2.5-litre V6 had a mesmerising banshee wail quite distinct from the deep snarl of the BMW six and familiar V8 rumble. Yet these pretty Alfa GTV6s had a shelf life of just two years, and were only giant-killers in that first year. Faster turbo cars saw to that. Of the three factory cars raced by Alfa Romeo Australia, only one survives today. This car has been owned by the same Melbourne enthusiast for…

On paper, the Group A 75 Turbo ticked all the right boxes. The turbocharged 1.8 twin-cam four-cylinder engine cleverly placed the car in the under 2500cc class and the longer wheelbase of the boxy sedan aided stability. Coil-over front-suspension (replacing the torsion bar set-up of the GTV6) and fully adjustable de dion tube rear-suspension promised textbook suspension geometry. The Luigi-built 75 Turbo, specially built for the team, arrived late. It was due to arrive for the 1986 endurance championship, including Bathurst – with the old suspension. Colin Bond’s crew were not impressed. “They fitted an alloy cage,” remembers John Gray. “It was so flexible that you couldn’t tune the car. We threw different torsion bars at it and it made no difference. We built a new steel roll-cage for the…

Sandown Park was envisaged from the outset to be the premier permanent motor racing circuit in Australia and as such has played host to some of the biggest events – and controversies – in the sport’s history. It has undergone significant changes over the 55 years of its existence, yet remains remarkably recognisable from its glory days. Born of the early 1960s boom in circuit construction that saw numerous tracks sprout up all around the country, Sandown Park set a whole new standard when it opened in March 1962. Unlike many of the little circuits built in Australia, including across town at Calder, Sandown was big, fast, challenging and classy. With its acres of green lawns, massive concrete grandstand and huge spectator banks, it was like comparing Flemington with Birdsville.…

Ultimately, the Holden manufacturing story ended in the city where it started. The send-off climaxed over the course of a week in October, starting with the Holden Dream Cruise, which gave 25,000 supporters the chance to farewell their favourite brand. More than 1200 Holdens turned out for the event, representing almost seven decades of Aussie-built history, for a procession led by a pristine 48-215 driven by Holden chairman and managing director Mark Bernhard. Held on Sunday, October 15 ahead of the private farewell and celebration for Holden employees on Friday October 20, the parade and car show included guests such as Beverly Brock and Mark Skaife, who also judged the finest Lions on display. “It was truly inspirational to see the passion from the Holden fans and our employees past…

If there’s a better name for an annual national gathering than ‘Brocktober’, we’re yet to hear it. The Brock Commodore Owners Association of Australia assembled its biggest-ever line up of HDT Special Vehicles-built machines for Brocktober 2017, held a week after the 1000km event that made their main man famous. No fewer than 78 HDT/Brock built cars and 140 people made the pilgrimage to Bathurst, with BCOAA members travelling from Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland and the length and breadth of NSW. The weekend commemorated the 30th anniversary of Peter Brock, David Parsons and Peter McLeod’s 1987 Bathurst victory, with McLeod the guest of honour. The tale of the 1987 James Hardie 1000 is the stuff of legends, with Brock, without Holden support, racing the seemingly outclassed VL Group A Commodore up…

Nowhere do they love their Torana A9Xs more than in Western Australia. The Perth Torana community gathered to celebrate the A9X’s 40th anniversary over the weekend of October 29-30 with two full days of Torana cruising and show’n’shines. One such moment was captured beautifully by Janelle Zandvliet (JZapix on Facebook), as shown here. The Combined Torana Car Club together with the A9X Club put on the shindigs, inviting specials guests Lewis Brock and former local A9X racer Graeme Hooley, a star of the Wanneroo scene.…

An interested outside observer of events at Tonsley Park could be forgiven for thinking there was some indecision at senior management level. Management desperately wanted to compete on the racetrack against its perennial rivals Ford and Holden and grab the kudos that came from success in racing but were afraid to take the first step. Chrysler’s local executives were very much aware of the new 340ci V8 engine that had been created in the US to challenge Ford and GM in competition. In their eagerness to become involved, in October 1969 chief engineer Walt McPherson, with CAL managing director David Brown’s permission, ordered 200 examples of a 275bhp version of the 340 engine used in the US Barracuda road car. McPherson specified that he wanted the dual-plane intake manifold, big…

AMC is at the crease, sitting on 99 not out and seeing them like they are as big as... the rears on the Greens-Tuf Falcon! We’ll notch up our century next issue and reminisce about the mag’s earliest days. As we creep up on triple figures, here’s the last of our ‘unplugged’ cover shoot images. It’s a studio shot first published in late 2003, when we hit double figures, taking a close-up look at Dicky Johnson’s 1984 ATCCwinning XE in issue #10. Copious amounts of black material helped frame the mighty beast, minimise reflections and black-out the windscreen and driver’s side windows for the desired effect. Greens-Tuf lives on today as part of the Bowden’s Own collection on the Sunshine Coast. Issue #100 goes on sale nationally on February 15,…

Rallying is a spectacle unlike anything else in world motorsport. But as impressive as today’s incredible turbo all-wheel-drive rally missiles are, the fact is they’re just not as exciting to watch as a good old fashioned rear-drive muscle car thundering and opposite-locking its way through the forests. It is a sad but true fact, however, that old-school muscle cars don’t win rallies these days: if you want to win, you must have the latest whiz-bang all-wheel-drive turbo. But if you just want to have a lot of fun in the forests, and impress the rally spectators, then get yourself something like one of these 25 rock-throwing dirt beasts. And before our inbox gets flooded by aggrieved speedway fans, we’d like to declare that for this top 25 we’ve drawn a…

At a time when all-wheel drive was taking over the rally world, the success of an old school rally car like the GTV6 went against the grain. As a former national rally champion, Colin Bond could see that the well balanced GTV6 with its transaxle and de dion rear-suspension had potential and the made for television Canberra Supersprint proved his point. Bond entered it in both 1985 and 1986 Canberra Supersprints. Mechanic John Gray describes how he fared on his excursions in the gravel. “In 1985 we put some hand grooved slicks and a sumpguard on the GTV6 and that was it and he won! Unfortunately in 1986 Colin did too many practice runs on the tyres and on the return leg the tyres were down to the canvas and…

Tim Cook “Here are two of my old pics taken on the grid at Bathurst in 1978. I had a free pass because I was working for James Hardie at the time. First is a pic of Jack Brabham driving a Kubota tractor. I also like the one of the Holden crew checking out Pete Geoghegan,” Tim explains. “By 1983 I had left James Hardie and went to work at Mazda, but I still loved those racing Holdens!” Jim Semper “I took photos for the Newcastle Sun and I think that these photos were taken in 1972,” writes Jim of his extraordinary B/W images. “Allan Grice wanted to race at Bathurst that year but was on the reserve’s list, he practiced but didn’t get a run in the race. In…

1973 XB Falcon GT Biante Model Cars is very pleased to present the long awaited 1:18 scale Ford XB Falcon GT sedan in Yellow Blaze. It looks amazing and will set you back $260. An original car was hand 3D scanned to get the shape as close to original as possible. It also has been replicated in the new composite material which Autoart has been perfecting over the last few years. Being the first edition of a new GT range, Biante expects demand to be strong so get your order in to avoid disappointment. It will be produced in a strictly limited edition run complete with a numbered Certificate of Authenticity. Check it out at www.biante.com.au 1966 Holden HR Premier in Pyrenees Blue Metallic The HR Holden followed the HD,…

Flight of the Saracino Falcon Elsewhere in this Coulda, Woulda, Shouldathemed issue is the extraordinary story of the Bob Morris XD Falcon that was debuted and destroyed in the 1981 James Hardie 1000. The lime-green and white machine was one of a baker’s dozen XD Falcons to race in the Bathurst classic between 1980 and ’84. One way or another, these 13 chassis have graced the pages of AMC over the past 98 issues, likewise the Group C-era XDs that never made it to Bathurst, such as the Victorian-built boxy machines of Mike Imrie/Graeme Treasure and Ray Allford. Yet there is one XD with Group C-era period history that we’ve overlooked. Not so AMC reader Scott Mackay, who brought this car to our attention by supplying images he snapped at…