Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 110 i Australian Muscle Car

The 40th anniversary Repco Reliability Retrial begins in Melbourne on Monday August 5, 2019, returning to the Melbourne Showgrounds on Sunday September 1 after a 28-day clockwise circuit of the nation retracing much of the original route. The route covers over 14,000km, with a daily average of 623km. The shortest day (Day 28: Lakes Entrance to Melbourne) is 328km, while the longest is 1044km (Broome to Fitzroy Crossing). There are rest days in Perth, Darwin (two) and Cairns. Over 40 vehicles are entered including several original cars and/or crews from the 1979 event. This includes Barry Ferguson and his #17 HDT Commodore that finished second in 1979. Holdens dominate the entry. The oldest car will be a 1929 Chrysler Tourer, while one adventurous crew has nominated a Jaguar XJS. Four…

Green and gold Thank you so much for the story on the green and gold GTS 253 Monaro, now owned by Tony Connarty, which graced the cover of your magazine (AMC #109). It was a great read and your publication did our family proud. My father, Howard Frankenberg, was the first owner of this special car. The Monaro was purchased new by him through Watsons Holden after he traded in his EH Holden 179, in Neptune Blue. He had purchased that new also before the Monaro. Dad won the Victorian middle weight boxing championship in 1969 and he was a regular fighter on TV Ringside on Channel 7 back in the 1960s and early 1970s. The Monaro was purchased just after he purchased our newly-built family home in Diamond Creek…

AMC: Building a Mazda RX7 with a rotary engine must have been quite different for you. MW: I’d built the Stillwell Escort from whoa to go, but this was a totally different thing to me. I was a Ford V8 boy and knew nothing about Mazdas or rotaries. I’d grown up with internal combustion engines and I thought I was a bit of a smartarse and could build anything, but all of a sudden this little rotary – holy shit! In 1982 Mazda sent out a Japanese engineer from America to show us how to rebuild the engines. The first one we pulled apart together I was in absolute amazement because there were no camshafts and no pistons and no rods. It just blew me away. AMC: What did…

Andrew Cannon first purchased the Hodgson Hatchback that had been restored in the early 2000s by Tony Collins-Haskins for the Hinton family. This car (which at the time was referred to by the Hodgson team as the ‘new’ car) was built in mid 1978 prior to that year’s endurance races. The other Hodgson Hatchback (the ‘old’ car) dates back to 1977, and was shared at Bathurst that year by visiting American stars Johnny Rutherford and Janet Guthrie. While it’s unclear which car was driven by the respective Morris/John Fitzpatrick and Dieter Quester/Derek Bell Hodgson team driver combos at Bathurst in 1978, there’s no doubt as to the historical origins of both cars. Likewise, Bob Morris did race both cars en route to victory in the ’79 ATCC. The ‘old’ car…

Geoff Brabham’s Great Race record is not much more than a footnote in his overall career history, but in nine starts he did claim six top finishes, including one victory. But the Bathurst event was never really on Brabham’s radar: growing up in England for most of the 1960s (while Sir Jack was racing in F1) meant Geoff had little personal connection with the Bathurst race. Prior to his Great Race debut in 1974 he had only been to Mount Panorama once, for an Easter bike meeting – and his first experience of the track was seeing a sidecar rider crashing and being killed… 1974: Mazda RX3 with Bernie Haehnle – 3rd in class (8th outright) “It was a fun deal because I’d never driven anything with a roof over…

Something a bit different this month, as I’m not going to look at cars, but some trackside accessories. In the time I’ve been writing this column you’ve no doubt noticed some of the home tracks and the amount of work that has gone into making them, including details like scaled-down buildings and scenery. There is literally no limit to the ways in which these can be put together if you have the right skills. One option is to go with what is readily available from slot manufacturers. Scalextric and Carrera in particular have been producing a range of plastic trackside buildings almost as long as they have been selling track sets. Marshal huts, overpass bridges and pit buildings have all been available over the years, usually in the style of…

Holden FE Special in Ascot Grey By the mid-1950s, Holden was truly established as the market leader, but its designs were starting to appear dated. The new FE was a much more modern looking machine than the original ‘Humpy’ shape, and it featured a new 12 volt electrical system (replacing the six-volt system of the FJ) and an improved version of the ‘Grey’ six engine, with power increasing from 45kW to 53kW. This Classics Carlectables model features accurate door trim details: the two-tone vinyl accent, chrome trim, handle and window winder, the full ring steering wheel horn and dash horizontal air vent. The engine and surrounding bay is superbly detailed with all the original stickers and markings adding to the realistic appearance. The chassis bears an individually numbered etched metal…

Brauwahhhhh, bup, brauwahhhhh. As the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 goes up in tyre smoke on Sandown’s front straight, exhaust bellow reverberating through the empty grandstand, somewhere up there in racer’s paradise Bob Jane is surely smiling. Jane, an all-time racing legend, died last year and is sadly missed. But there’s no doubt he’d have cheered on this rubber-melting display. Jane raced the original first-gen ZL1 Camaro to victory in the 1971 and 1972 Australian Touring Car Championships. It was the 1969 model with a 427 cubic inch big block V8 engine and he won the Sandown round in ’71 and finished second in ’72 – but that year with the small block 350, which Jane had been forced to fit as part of CAMS’ (futile) attempt to handicap the Camaro. So…

Fellow BCOAA member Ashley Steers has taken a very different approach to Phil Walmsley for the 2019 Repco Round Australia Retrial, with the build of a tribute to the ‘Silver Mule’ which was the first car built by the HDT in preparation for the 1979 event. The theory was to build it, test it to see what broke, then build the three Marlboro cars applying the lessons learnt. It was also used for reconnaissance on the event by the HDT. The name ‘Steers’ may sound familiar, and it was his uncle Grant ‘Spear’ Steers who was a close friend to Brock and an integral part of the HDT and the Repco preparations. With the assistance of his father, Phil, the tribute car is being built to as closely as possible…

Allan Moffat and controversy were always familiar bedfellows. But the Mazda RX7 ramped it up to another level, confirming Moffat as Australia’s ultimate motor racing anti-hero in the early 1980s. Not since his meteoric arrival with the Trans-Am Mustang in 1969 had the expatriate Canadian worn the metaphorical black hat so comfortably from the moment he declared his intention to race the Japanese sports, er, touring car. There followed two years of off-track battles with the ruling body, then three more years of political manoeuvring, interspersed with race wins, black flags, exclusions and annual disappointments at Bathurst. All the while, the Peter Stuyvesant cars were constantly cloaked in secrecy, which made them the subject of suspicion by rivals, who fought him in the corridors of power as much as on…

Three of the four Allan Moffat Racing/Peter Stuyvesant Mazda RX7s built at Moffat’s Toorak headquarters survive today in some form. Two are owned by Paul Stubber: the second car (AMR-002) and the left-hand drive 004 ‘Daytona’ chassis. Chassis 002 is in fact a reshell of the #42 car which finished third at Bathurst in 1984 (the ‘Hansford/ Moffat’ car in which Hansford took the start as a back-up entry/insurance policy against the #43 car striking trouble early – which it duly did, its engine failing after just 15 laps). Moffat sold 002 in the late ‘80s to Matt Wacker, who used it in Sports Sedan competition (below) before later selling it to West Aussie Chris Reindler (father of V8 Supercar driver Karl). Reindler subsequently crashed the car; it was later…

There was plenty of aggro around touring car racing in 1979. And with Allan Moffat and his Falcon losing their competitiveness, most of that aggro centred on the two main Holden teams – the factory-backed Marlboro Holden Dealer Team and leading privateer Ron Hodgson Racing. MHDT team chief John Sheppard had briefly worked for Hodgson in the late-1960s and had no time for the man, who took his own life in 1990 at the age of 60. In an interview for this article, Sheppo described the Sydney car dealer and team owner as ‘an evil bastard’ who would be more than capable of underhand tactics. He even suspected Hodgson was behind the disappearance during that bitter 1979 campaign of some very specific MHDT components – a radiator, crankshaft, cylinder heads…

“Whatever you have, you must either use or lose.” These were the words of Henry Ford. We think it’s safe to assume that the carmaker would have approved of the way in which Ford enthusiasts Leo Khouri and David Frake used their Fords early in 2019. As the Melbourne-based pair prepared for the trip to Adelaide to attend the Falcon GT Nationals event (held over the Easter weekend), an idea to turn it into giant road trip evolved. Rather than simply drive their cars from Melbourne to Adelaide, why not arrive in the City of Churches after completing a full lap of the entire mainland? A 40-day trek nearly 17,000km around the country is certainly a daunting undertaking and a fair test for any vehicle, let alone a pair of…

Holden showed no interest in helping me with a car for the [Bathurst] 1969 race... so I thought, bugger it, I’ll go and get a Ford instead. That’s why I switched to Ford and ran a GT-HO in the 1969 race. We finished second that year and should have won.” That’s what Bruce McPhee, winner of the 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500, told AMC founding editor Mark Oastler back in 2004 for issue #17’s forensic examination of that success, Holden’s first Great Race victory, in an interview five years before the New South Welshman’s passing. McPhee’s ’68 win got the ball rolling on the marque’s long history of success on the Mountain. He was the highly-respected yet low-profile battler that outwitted, outplayed and outlasted the works and works-supported teams of Ford 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…

The 1979 Repco Round Australia Trial is regarded as the last great Australian motoring adventure, capturing the attention of the general public like nothing since. I was in my first year in the workforce, and remember the radio’s hourly news including event updates. Holden famously proved the durability of the recently-released Commodore with the HDT’s 1-2-3 result, with Peter Brock considering it as his finest win. When it was announced that there was to be a ‘Retrial’ to commemorate the 40th anniversary event, I thought it would be the adventure of lifetime. I just had to do it! I was fortunate to have good mate Jason Ashcroft jump onboard to share the fun and that left the question of what car to use. We threw around a number of ideas,…

David Clement made five starts in the Bathurst 1000 between 1973 and 1988, along with countless other races over a 20-plus year career in touring cars and production cars. If his name isn’t ringing bells, you might know him as the bloke who had sponsorship from Aussie rock band INXS for many years. Sponsors don’t come much more glamorous, especially those that actually, erm, kicked the tin. Not only did Clements receive genuine sponsorship money from the band, he got to tag along with them on tour, receiving the same rockstar treatment. Incredibly, INXS’s backing grew out of the support he gave the unknown six-member outfit back in the late 1970s on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Clement provided the band with rehearsal space at his automotive business for a peppercorn amount.…

Australia’s favourite retro racing series will race under lights at a revamped Muscle Car Masters meeting, now known as the Sydney MasterBlast. Touring Car Masters will race on Saturday night of the Sydney Motorsport Park event, which has returned to its traditional Father’s Day weekend slot. TCM is one of several categories that will race under lights. The ‘after dark’ races will take place on SMP’s Druitt (North) Circuit, which bypasses the Corporate Hill section. The Muscle Car Masters now features as a component of the Sydney MasterBlast, with the August 31-September 1 weekend encompassing several new racing categories and event components. The other categories on the program are Heritage Touring Cars (Group C & A), Historic Touring Cars (Group Nb/Nc), NSW Production Touring Cars, National Sports Sedans, Historic Sports…

My favourite four-wheeled motorsport these days is undoubtedly IndyCar. The US open-wheel series is invariably unpredictable, action-packed and features a spread of winners. It remains true to its traditions, with names like Andretti, Penske, Foyt and Ganassi on the scene full-time. The cars, in my opinion, look cool and the series’ guiding principle for the future technical direction is ‘fast and loud. Sounds good to me! Most of the drivers are absolute guns who should probably be in Formula 1. They are tested by a variety of tracks: short ovals, superspeedways, street circuits and natural terrain road courses. Hopefully the Cleveland airport track – a fifth genre of track – returns one day. If it does, I’ll be jumping on a bomber and heading stateside. Last year I took my…

Later this year in the Supercars Championship, the 60th Australian Touring Car Champion will be crowned. While winning the ATCC is isn’t something that usually comes easily, in some years it’s been particularly hard-won. The most recent of those was James Courtney’s 2010 win. Courtney was lead driver for a Dick Johnson Racing outfit that was cash-strapped and literally fighting to survive. The opposition was Jamie Whincup and Triple Eight – at the time was the dominant force in V8 Supercars, and the factory Ford team which supplied DJR with its racecars. Only the very brave would have bet on Courtney and DJR that year. Jim Richards’ 1990 win was mostly achieved in the HR31 Nissan Skyline, a difficult-to-drive and generally unloved turbo straight-six which no one expected would be…

For Peter Molloy in 1979, the battle was personal. The noted engine whiz/race engineer was making a return to touring car racing after what had been an acrimonious split with Allan Moffat after their successful 1977 season together. And he had Moffat in his sights. “I wanted to knock those bastards off,” Molloy says, “I wanted to get back at Moffat, after the way he had treated me and my crew, and I wanted to knock off the HDT at the same time. Bob [Morris] didn’t know that at the time, but that was my motivation for getting involved.” In the meantime in 1978, Molloy had kept himself busy running Bruce Allison’s Formula 5000 Chevron. That year in the Molloy’s Sydney workshop, he and his crew put up a special…

AMC: You started racing quite late; were you reluctant to follow in your dad’s footsteps? GB: It was one of those things. Second-generation drivers were not a thing back then, and Dad had no interest in me going racing. I left school in 1970 and we moved back to Australia, so he’d sold all his interests with Brabham. I’d been away at boarding school so I didn’t really get involved in those years, but when I came back here he was sponsoring a Formula Ford. It took me several years to talk him into letting me have a go in that. AMC: So you were keen? GB: Yeah, I was. I’d grown up with racing my whole life, and I consider myself fairly competitive by nature so I…

Mohamad Mohamad Car: XE Dick Johnson Grand Prix Hometown: Hobart, Tasmania What is it? “A 1982 XE Ford Falcon Dick Johnson Grand Prix special edition, built by Country Dealer Team (the CDT) in Queensland and only sold by selected Ford dealerships throughout Australia.” When did you buy it? “I bought the Grand Prix over three years ago now from the original/first owners. I found it in primer and still needing more panel repairs and a ground-up restoration.” Why did you buy it? “I’ve always been a passionate Ford fan and car enthusiast thanks to my elder brother, Ali. When I was first told about the Grand Prix by my mate Brendon I knew I had to have it, especially when he mentioned it was the best possible build number to…

Elsewhere in this issue, p14, you’ll find a story highlighting David Clement’s entertaining self-published book Along For The Ride: Fast Cars & Rock Stars. It’s the story of his motor racing adventures and his relationship with rock band INXS. Clement made five Bathurst starts between 1973 and 1988, along with contesting countless other races over a 20-plus year career in touring cars and production cars. Clement should have made his Bathurst debut in 1972, co-driving a Charger E49, but that plan was abandoned after the car’s troubled debut at Oran Park two weeks before the Mountain classic. The scene was the Toby Lee 100 – a hundred laps of the original (south) circuit – where a big field of topline production cars and stars had gathered to race in front…