- 714
- elschrodelodo
This started out as an introduction to some classic Australian cars that we would like in GT5. There has been some interest about Australian cars here lately, particularly from JohnBM01 and I started this as a guide to some of those cars but I was having so much fun and got a bit carried away. I hope those who read it like it and do get to the end.
Classic Australian cars, where do we start?
A good place to start would be with the first wholly Australian built car, the Holden 48-215 later to become known as the FX. It was released in November 1948. It came with a 2.1 litre (132ci) straight six and came in three styles, Sedan, Business Sedan and Ute.
After the FX came the FJ. The FJ was released in October 1953 but it also didn’t get its name until later. The FX was known as the old model and the FJ as the new model. It came with the same engine but had more body styles, Standard Sedan, Business Sedan, Special Sedan, Panel Van and Ute.
Holden’s model line up through the ‘50s and ‘60s included the FE, FC, FB, EK, EJ and EH.
The EH is an important car in Australia’s motoring history as it’s model line up included the S4 which is the first ‘Sports Special’ for Australia. The EH came with a 2.45 litre (149ci) or a 2.95 litre (179ci) six cylinder. The EH model line up included the Standard Sedan, Special Sedan, Premier Sedan, Standard Station Wagon, Special Station Wagon, Premier Station Wagon, Panel Van, Utility and the S4 Special Sedan. The S4 was the only model to come with the 179ci engine and the three speed manual transmission and was produced in small numbers for use in motorsport. It also featured upgraded brakes, a bigger fuel tank, a wider track and a toughened clutch and tailshaft.
After the EH model was the HD, HR and HK. Let’s have a look at the models available for the HK. Belmont Sedan, Belmont Station Wagon, Belmont Panel Van, Belmont Utility, Kingswood Sedan, Kingswood Station Sedan, Kingswood Utility, Premier Sedan, Premier Station Wagon, Brougham Sedan, Monaro Coupe, Monaro GTS Coupe, Monaro GTS 327 Coupe. The HK saw the introduction of the Monaro and Holden’s famous 5 litre (307ci) V8 although the biggest engine available for the Monaro was Chevrolet’s 5.3 litre (327ci) V8. It was the 327 Chev V8 that powered the HK Monaro of Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland to Holden’s first victory at the famous Bathurst endurance race. It was Ford’s victory the previous year with their V8 Falcon GT, the first victory for a V8 at Bathurst, that spurred Holden to enter the Monaro in the Great Race.
The following year the HT had been released. It had a similar line up as the HK but the Monaro was now equipped with the bigger 5.7 litre (350ci) Chev V8. The HT kept the 5 litre engine but dumped the 5.3 litre. A 5.7 litre powered Monaro went on to win the Bathurst race in 1969 with Colin Bond and Tony Roberts at the wheel.
The HG followed the HT model. The model line up was similar and the engines were the same as what was offered with the HT. The HG Monaro was never popular as a racing car as the factory had started to develop the Torana. The Torana was seen as the next step for Holden. It was light and had great handling, great brakes and could get plenty of power from the six cylinder.
The model after the HG was the HQ. The HQ saw the introduction of the four door Monaro and Holden’s 4.2 litre (253ci) V8 but the HQ is probably more famous for its Kingswood model. It was and still is Holden’s biggest selling model. Apart from that, HQ racing is very popular among people who are looking for a cheap motorsport hobby and those that are looking to progress through the ranks in Australian motorsport. The HQ remains popular to enthusiasts and Street Machiners as they require little modification to fit big 454 or a late model fuel injected 350 V8 under the bonnet and there are always plenty of parts available.
After the HQ came the HJ, HX and the HZ (last of the Monaros).
This brings us back to the Torana.
The first Torana was the HB. It was released in March 1968 and was actually a Vauxhall. There was nothing exciting about the HB. It was available as a two or four door with a four cylinder engine. The choice of the lot was the Brabham Torana which came as a two door with twin carbies.
The LC Torana was released in October 1969 and the sports version, the GTR, was released early in 1970. It came with sports suspension, stabilizer bar, power front disc brakes and full instrumentation. It looked very sporty with flutes behind the front guards, rally stripes, sporty wheels and a choice of bright colours. Just in time for the annual Bathurst race was the GTR XU-1. This was the car built by the Holden Dealer Team (HDT) to take over from the successful Monaro as its Series Production racer. While the GTR came with a 2.6 litre (161ci) engine, the GTR XU-1 came with a 3 litre (186ci) which made 160hp. The entry level models were available with a four cylinder engine or a lower spec six. The LC was not overly successful despite being nimble and easy on brakes and fuel. The Bathurst Classic was won by Allan Moffat in a Ford Falcon during the years the HDT was using the LC Torana. Ford’s 5.8 litre (351ci) Cleveland V8 was just too powerful and Bathurst is a real power track.
The HDT had two other LC Torana projects. One was a rally-cross car which used a supercharged version of the six cylinder. The other car was a Sports Sedan racer. It used a Repco 5 litre engine which was mounted mostly in the cockpit beside the driver. This car was known as “The Beast”.
During 1972, the HDT began development on a V8 powered Torana for the new LJ model run. The engine used would have been the Holden 5 litre V8. This car would not have been much heavier than the six cylinder so it too would have had excellent economy, handling and brake wear. The V8 Torana was never given a name but some names that were thrown around were XU-2 and XU-1 V8. 1972 was set to be the biggest and quickest race in Bathurst’s Series Production history. Holden was building a V8 Torana, Ford was building a new more powerful version of it’s Falcon GTHO and Chrysler was building a higher power six cylinder and a high output V8 was rumoured for it’s Charger. Under Series Production rules, at least 200 examples of the car that was raced must have been produced for public sale. When the media got wind of these high powered street cars the three manufacturers were put under pressure to cancel production of these cars. While not banning these cars, the Australian Government threatened to look elsewhere for their fleet cars should these performance cars be put into production. In just a week, Holden, Ford and Chrysler had canned what would have been the greatest cars produced in Australia. Ford had got as far as building three (or four. Depends who you talk to) of its Phase IV GTHOs, two of which still exist, Holden had only built one of its V8 XU-1s which was a test car and had actually been driven on the streets and ended up being destroyed as a crash test car and Chrysler denied any knowledge of the V8 project and immediately withdrew from motorsport leaving the Charger runners to find dealership backing. The amusing part of this is that Ford had all the parts to build a run of Phase IVs and when the Phase IV was cancelled they had all these parts to get rid of. Some Ford customers got more than they paid for in 1972 and 1973 when they purchased a base model GT V8 or a Fairmont V8 as this is where the Phase IV parts went.
These events later became known as “The 1972 Supercar Scare”.
Holden used its new LJ Torana at Bathurst in 1972. The LJ GTR XU-1 came with a bigger 3.3 litre (202ci) six with Triple Webber carburetors which offered a small horsepower advantage over the Triple Stromberg carburetors used in the LC. The start of the 1972 Bathurst race was wet and this was the perfect opportunity for the HDT to show how good the GTR XU-1 was. Allan Moffat was driving a Phase III XY GTHO Falcon with a big 351 Cleveland V8. The big Falcon could stretch it’s legs down the long straights but the nimble Torana would catch up over the top of the mountain through the twisty sections. This great battle went on lap after lap until Moffat made a mistake and slid off the wet track. The Falcon was undamaged but it was stuck on an embankment. The Torana bolted and made a good lead that Moffat could not close. The Torana went on to win the race. This was the first Bathurst win for a young upcoming star by the name of Peter Brock and was the last time a driver was permitted to drive the race solo.
I don’t believe we can talk about Series Production without mentioning Improved Production. Series Production cars were for Bathurst and some minor championships while Improved Production cars were the ones that fought for the rest of the year for the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC). Series Production rules allowed teams to blueprint their engines and add safety modifications to their cars but that was basically it. As the name implies, Improved Production rules allowed teams to modify their cars. While they had to use the same shell and engine type as the standard cars they were allowed to make many improvements such as suspension upgrades and fuel injection changes but no supercharging.
I might take this opportunity to tell you about some of the cars that were used in the ATCC. These four cars are possibly the four most popular cars in Australian Motorsport history.
Bob Jane (owner of Bob Jane T-Marts tyre service and Calder Park Raceway) is a multiple Australian Touring Car Champion. He won two of his titles in a ZL-1 Camaro. Bob was a Mustang campaigner until 1971 when he went to the US to find something to beat the horde of Mustangs. He chose the ZL-1 for the big 427 V8. Jane bought two ZL-1s back with him. One Hugger Orange one with an M21 gearbox (VIN 610732) he used in the Australian Touring Car Championship and the other was Le Mans Blue with a Turbo 400 (VIN 620934) and was used for drag racing. They were originally for sale at Fred Gibb’s Chevrolet dealership and were sent back to Chev for distribution around the US to try and sell. They ended up at a Florida dealership where Jane found them. The Le Mans Blue car was written off in a traffic accident when an F100 crashed into the back of it sometime in the ‘80s. John Sawyer, the team manager for Jane claimed that the 427 made at least 600hp with a single carby so they never bothered with the fuel injection kit they had. Bob was good mates with Bruce McLaren who used a 427 in his Can-Am cars and they claimed they were getting 700hp with injection. Sawyer also said that the M21's aluminium housing couldn't handle the power so they made their own steel housing and sandblasted and anodized it so it looked standard. In 1972 they were forced to run the car with a 350ci V8 as there were no Camaros sold in Australia with a 427 at that time. He won the title again but in 1973 the rules changed to Group C and the ZL-1 was no longer eligible and Jane sold it to a Sports Sedan racer. Bob Jane owns the car again and it has been fully restored and is used for demo runs at Historic Touring Car meetings and the like.
The next car is a 1969 Boss 302 Trans-Am Mustang (VIN 9F02M148624) which was raced by Allan Moffat. The car was one of seven cars ordered by Ford USA in December 1968 and sent to Kar Kraft for chassis work then to Bud Moore Engineering to become a Trans-Am racer. Moffat was a favourite of Ford and he was basically given the car for his ATCC assault. Moffat started racing the car with a Tunnel Port 302 because the Boss 302 program was running late. The cars first race was at Sandown on May 4 1969. The car won all three races that weekend (the first ever victory for a '69 Trans-Am Mustang) and Moffat informed Kar Kraft of the victory but that Ian 'Pete' Geoghegan’s older Mustang had the legs on the straight. Jacque Passino (Ford US racing boss) instantly built a prototype Boss 302 and sent it to Moffat. Moffat won 101 of 151 races entered with this car but he never managed to win the title. After the introduction of Group C rules Moffat continued to race the Trans-Am Mustang in the Sports Sedan class. It was then sold off for funds but found it's way into the hands of Muscle Car collector David Bowden many years later. While they are not Australian cars, Jane’s Camaro and Moffat’s Mustang are as much a part of Australian Motor racing history and legend as a Falcon or a Commodore.
The other two cars were Australian cars. One was the Holden Monaro of Norm Beechey. Beechey, like Jane, also raced Mustangs. In fact, Beechey scored the first ever victory for a Mustang on a road racing circuit. The Monaro was the first Australian car to win the ATCC. In it's victory year of 1970 the 350 V8 was good for about 500hp but the engine program continued through 1971 and 1972 and it was developed more like a Repco V8. The other car was the big 'Super Falcon' of Ian 'Pete' Geoghegan. In 1970, Ford Australia, under the supervision of Al Turner built two GT-HO Falcons at an estimated cost of AU$1million. One was for Pete and the other was for Moffat. However the cars were plagued by engine failures and Moffat decided to stick with his Trans-Am Mustang. Geoghegan pushed on with development and once the reliability issues were solved they estimated that the 351 Cleveland V8 was giving in excess of 600hp. While Pete never won the ATCC with this car he was still very successful but was more popular for his tail out power sliding style. One of the most famous races in the ATCC was between Geoghegan and Moffat at Mount Panorama, Bathurst on April 3 1972. The race was 13 laps in duration and the two drivers exchanged the lead several times. After 13 laps they crossed the line nose to tail with Geoghegan ahead of Moffat. Beechey's Monaro and Geoghegan's Super Falcon are now also owned by collector David Bowden.
The Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) changed the rules for the Bathurst race for 1973 and for the first time the cars that competed for the ATCC were also eligible for the Bathurst 1000. Gone were Series Production and Improved Production and in their place was Group C. While Group C rules said the manufacturers needed to build a certain number of production cars for homologation, the cars that were raced were permitted certain freedoms for racing ensuring a ‘Supercar Scare’ could not happen again.
The next model of the Torana was the LH. All models had four doors and the top of the range was the SL/R 5000. This car used Holden’s classic 5 litre engine which made around 240hp. The freedoms allowed in Group C got the power output to around 350hp for the racing cars. The SL/R 5000 was however a flawed race car. Drivers had to be gentle with the car as they were very fragile. They suffered from oil surge and the axle was easily snapped if the power was applied while a rear wheel was in the air as is the case at The Dipper. Despite this the SL/R 5000 won Bathurst in 1975 and 1976. 1975 was the second victory for Peter Brock (this time as a privateer without the might of the HDT) and 1976 was a nailbiter with another privateer Bob Morris and international star John Fitzpatrick taking victory in an ailing car. The last four laps were painful with Fitzpatrick at the wheel. The problem with the car was that it had a blown oil seal at the front of the gearbox and this was allowing oil into the clutch causing severe clutch slippage.
The problems Holden encountered with the SL/R 5000 were fixed for the next model, the LX. The pick of the LX range and the car that Holden used as their race car was the A9X. The A9X also used the 5 litre engine but the oil surge was fixed as was the axle problems. The A9X was used up to the introduction of the Commodore in 1980. The Commodore was put into production in 1978 but the Torana was used as the racing car until 1980. The A9X was the most dominant car in Australian Touring Car racing until the VT Commodore of 1998. The last Bathurst 1000 for the A9X was 1979. Peter Brock and Jim Richards won the race by an enormous six laps and Brock set a new lap record on the last lap of the race to show what a strong car the A9X had been.
As previously mentioned the Commodore was built in 1978. The first model was the VB (My car). In 1979 the HDT entered three VB Commodores in the Repco Reliability Trial, a grueling 18,885 kilometer 14 day torture test around Australia. Peter Brock was one of the drivers in the team but he was written off by the media as a publicity stunt. As far as they were concerned he was there to raise the profile of the event and wasn’t a chance against expert rally and safari drivers. An expert service backup team helped the HDT to a 1-2-3 result with Peter Brock’s car finishing first only thirteen minutes ahead of the second place Commodore. Brock still rates this as his greatest victory.
After the domination of the A9X, Ford pulled the funding from their teams. Holden followed Ford shortly after as there was no value in funding Holden teams to beat other Holden teams. Peter Brock now owned the HDT and despite no manufacturer funding, the ATCC remained strong through to the end of the Group C era in 1984. Peter Brock offered special Brock Commodores to Holden dealers who supported the team and this was a major source of funding for the team. These Brock Commodores are now some of the most potent and sought after Australian muscle cars. The Brock Commodore models cover the VC, VH, VK and VL models of the Commodore. The end of the Group C era had some of the most interesting cars in the history of the ATCC. Commodores and Falcons with huge boot lid spoilers and wide flares housing huge tyres. The slogan for the end of the Group C era was ‘The Last of the Big Bangers’ and that’s what they were. My all time favourite racing car raced at the end of the Group C era in 1984. It was Peter Brock’s VK Commodore. It had Marlboro sponsorship and was a brilliant day-glo colour.
In 1985 Australian touring car racing changed to the more universal Group A regulations. This bought mixed fortunes for the Holden Commodore. Brock was finishing fast at Bathurst in 1985 when he had to stop to get the damaged front windscreen kicked out. They then had to stop again as the rules say if the front windscreen is removed the rear windscreen also must be removed. The team believes it is because of these two late stops that the timing chain was damaged and the car was retired while in second position and catching the first placed Jaguar.
In 1986 the HDT took two VK Commodores to Europe and Allan Grice took his VK to Europe. They led several races but dropped off the pace for different reasons. Their best result as a team was at the Spa 24 hour race where they won the prestigious Kings Cup and the Challenge of Makes.
The VK Commodore won Bathurst in 1986, Peter Brock won his ninth Bathurst in a VL in ’87 after the Eggenberger Ford Sierras were disqualified and a Walkinshaw VL won in ’90. In 1993 the V8 rules were introduced and have generally stayed the same until now. They bear no resemblance to the Commodores that are built for the public and I believe they have far less character.
Some of the more classic cars to come from Holden since the end of the Group A era are the HSV VN SV5000, HSV VS GTS-R and the HSV VT GTS which was the first of the HSVs to use the Callaway built V8. Obviously the new generation Monaro is a classic and the HRT427 concept Monaro and HSV GTS-R which is based on a Monaro have popped up into some GT5 wish lists. The 2002 and 2003 Bathurst 24hr winning Monaros would also slot very nicely into GT5.
The Ford Motor Company of Australia was established in 1925 and local production of the Model T began. In June 1968, the first Falcon came off the production line. It was called the XK. The following models were the XL, XM, XP and XR Falcons. The XR was released in 1966 and was the first of the Falcons to include the legendary GT. Ford won Bathurst three years in a row in 1963, ‘64 and ’65 with the Cortina GT. The Ford Escort was also popular but the XR GT was the first Falcon to hit the track. It used a 4.7 litre (289ci) Windsor V8 which was good for around 225hp. The XR GT was the first V8 to win the Bathurst endurance race and it did so with Fred Gibson and Harry Firth sharing the driving.
The following model was the XT. The XT GT used the 4.9 litre (302ci) Windsor V8. XT GTs finished third, sixth and eighth in the London to Sydney Marathon in 1968 and finished first in the Surfers Paradise 12hr with Jim Bertram and Bill Gates (!) driving.
The next model was the XW. The XW had a GT model and the XW saw the introduction of the GTHO. HO initially meant ‘High Output’ but Ford decided this would scare the insurance companies to death so they decided it would mean ‘Handling Option’. It was in fact called the GTHO Phase II and used the 5.8 litre (351ci) Cleveland V8 producing 300hp. The XW GTHO Phase II was driven to victory at Bathurst by Allan Moffat in 1970.
The rarest Falcon of all belonged to the man who was managing director of Ford Australia and then moved on to become chairman of Ford Europe and then executive vice president of Ford North America. His name was William ‘Bill’ Bourke. He is known as the father of the GT and along with Al Turner created the famous GTHO cars. In 1968 Semon ‘Bunkie’ Knudsen, then president of the Ford Motor Company visited Australia and offered to build a hot GT Falcon in the USA for Bourke. Bourke declined the offer but in 1969 he sent a car to Detroit where they spent three months building the car. When Bourke got the car back it had a 428 Cobra Jet engine with a shaker, bigger brakes, American Racer alloy wheels, black vinyl interior, Mustang Mach 1 bucket seats, sunroof, Shelby steering wheel and a special paint job. The paint was a blend of black with metallic particles. These particles are reportedly made of real gold. The car looks black in the shade but transforms into a golden sheen when exposed to the sunlight. When Bill Bourke left Australia he gave the car away as an award to the Ford Australia Apprentice of the Year. The car still exists and is in pristine condition.
In 1971, the XY GTHO Phase III was released. It still used the 5.8 litre Cleveland but had a few more ‘trick’ bits than the XW and was good for 380hp, Moffat drove an XY GTHO Phase III to victory at Bathurst in 1971. Only 300 were made and these days the XY GTHO Phase III is the most valuable and sought after Australian muscle car. An original un-restored car can sell for AU$150,000. There have been cases reported where people have taken the ID plated off a written off or scrapped Phase III and put them on a normal GT and tried to sell it as a Phase III. Luckily the people who would try to buy a Phase III are knowledgeable about these cars and know how to spot a genuine GTHO.
As previously mentioned, the XA GTHO Phase IV was scrapped due to the ‘Supercar Scare’ but Ford continued with the GT name. The introduction of the XA saw the introduction of the first Falcon Coupe. Different models of the Coupe carried GT badges and the Coupe and the GT continued through the XB and XC models and was Fords choice of touring car through the ‘70s. The most famous Coupe of all (apart from Mad Max’s car) is the XC Cobra. It was a white coupe with blue racing stripes and cobra decals. The Cobra was basically the end of the production run of the Falcon Coupe before the introduction of the all new XD model. There were 400 Cobras built and 30 of them were Bathurst Specials.
This is when Ford pulled out of motorsport. The XD and XE models came with a V8 but Fort dropped the GT name. The most famous cars from this era are the touring cars that were used in Group C. Dick Johnsons ‘Tru Blu’ XD which won Bathurst in 1981 and his ‘Greens Tuf’ XE which is the car that launched into the trees on it’s shootout lap are the most famous of the Group C Falcons.
The GT badge didn’t find it’s way back onto a Falcon until the EB MKII in 1992. Ford basically lost a generation of supporters through pulling out of motorsport and dropping a performance model from it’s line up. After 1984, a Falcon didn’t race again in Australian touring cars until the introduction of the V8 formula in 1992.
In 1985, the start of the Group A era for touring cars, Dick Johnson and others who remained loyal to the blue oval chose to run Mustangs as the Falcon would not have been competitive. The Mustang didn’t perform too well either but they were playing a waiting game until they could get their hands on the Sierra. The Sierra was never sold in Australia to the public but came to Australia as a race car in 1987 and was totally dominant at Bathurst and the ATCC until Nissan introduced the R32 Skyline in 1990.
Some of the more interesting cars from Ford in recent years are the FPV BA GTs and Typhoons, AU TE50 built by Tickford and the EB and EL GTs.
By far the most popular and well known Valiant in Australia is the Charger. The VH Charger was introduced in 1971 and came with several different engines. A 215, 245 or a 265. The Charger 770 was the luxury version and came with a 265 or 318 V8. The most potent Charger was the R/T E38 with the higher compression 265 Hemi which created 280hp.
The R/T E49 was released in 1972 and came with a power increase for the 265 engine. It went from 280hp to 302hp. Doug Chivas drove an E49 to third place at Bathurst in 1972, the highest finish for a Charger at Bathurst. The R/T E49 is arguably still Australias quickest production car.
The VH Charger came with a 340 V8 late in 1972 but it was mainly a status feature and was only available with the luxury version, the 770 E55.
The later model VJ and VK Chargers came with a 318 or 360 V8 but never performed as well as the lighter E49.
The last Charger was the CL of 1978.
One of the most famous Chargers to race was the Charger Sports Sedan of John McCormack. McCormack has been credited with bringing open-wheeler design principals to sports car racing. His Charger used a Repco-Holden V8 taken straight from a Formula 5000 car. The engine was mid-mounted and finished just 50mm in front of the centre of the car, as far back as the rules allowed. The entire engine was behind the firewall. The car used Elfin F5000 wishbone suspension with coil-over shock absorbers and used F5000 grade brakes. The Charger first raced in 1974 and in it’s first few races won against Allan Moffat’s Trans-Am Mustang (now in sports sedan spec), Jim McKeown’s Porsche 911 and John Goss’s lightweight XA Falcon Coupe. The Charger was always competitive but McCormack always preferred open-wheelers. In 1974 for example, McCormack missed a round of Calder Park’s (Melbourne) sports sedan series which was offering $100,000 to race at a one off Formula 5000 race at Amaroo Park (Sydney). He did race the Charger at Amaroo that weekend but only in match races against John Goss. McCormack received $2500 for that weekend and ultimately lost the $100,000 Calder Park series because he missed that round. Eventually the Charger became uncompetitive due to a lack of development and it was sold off. The Charger now belongs to a collector in Western Australia but is in need of restoration.
This roughly covers the big three for Australian Muscle Cars and Motorsport but there is a myriad of smaller manufacturers such as Matich, Elfin and Brabham who have built both sports cars and open-wheelers. There are also plenty of one off projects such as the Joss who have disappeared and never heard of again but have built some very interesting creations. I also didn’t mention utes or panel vans which have been a huge part of Australian culture over the years.
Want more info or just want to see pictures of some of the cars discussed here?
http://members.tripod.com/motorsportarchive/photo_page.htm
http://holden.itgo.com/holden_history.html
http://www.holdenhistory.com/
http://www.earlyholdens.com/main/48-215.html
http://www.gulfgt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7637
http://www.bowdensown.com.au/cars/cars.html
http://groups.msn.com/falconGT/falcongtxr.msnw
http://marks.4t.com/gt.htm
http://www.ravenentertainment.com.au/rtchargerpics.html
http://www.valiant.org/ausval.html
http://www.valiant.org/charger.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8_Supercars
http://scs.une.edu.au/StudentFiles/HomePages/174_96/Bathurst/History.html
http://www.v8supercar.com.au/content/history/record_book/series_champions/default.asp?ind=M
http://www.v8supercar.com.au/content/history/bathurst_facts/overview/?ind=M
http://www.brock05.com/gallery1.php
Classic Australian cars, where do we start?
A good place to start would be with the first wholly Australian built car, the Holden 48-215 later to become known as the FX. It was released in November 1948. It came with a 2.1 litre (132ci) straight six and came in three styles, Sedan, Business Sedan and Ute.
After the FX came the FJ. The FJ was released in October 1953 but it also didn’t get its name until later. The FX was known as the old model and the FJ as the new model. It came with the same engine but had more body styles, Standard Sedan, Business Sedan, Special Sedan, Panel Van and Ute.
Holden’s model line up through the ‘50s and ‘60s included the FE, FC, FB, EK, EJ and EH.
The EH is an important car in Australia’s motoring history as it’s model line up included the S4 which is the first ‘Sports Special’ for Australia. The EH came with a 2.45 litre (149ci) or a 2.95 litre (179ci) six cylinder. The EH model line up included the Standard Sedan, Special Sedan, Premier Sedan, Standard Station Wagon, Special Station Wagon, Premier Station Wagon, Panel Van, Utility and the S4 Special Sedan. The S4 was the only model to come with the 179ci engine and the three speed manual transmission and was produced in small numbers for use in motorsport. It also featured upgraded brakes, a bigger fuel tank, a wider track and a toughened clutch and tailshaft.
After the EH model was the HD, HR and HK. Let’s have a look at the models available for the HK. Belmont Sedan, Belmont Station Wagon, Belmont Panel Van, Belmont Utility, Kingswood Sedan, Kingswood Station Sedan, Kingswood Utility, Premier Sedan, Premier Station Wagon, Brougham Sedan, Monaro Coupe, Monaro GTS Coupe, Monaro GTS 327 Coupe. The HK saw the introduction of the Monaro and Holden’s famous 5 litre (307ci) V8 although the biggest engine available for the Monaro was Chevrolet’s 5.3 litre (327ci) V8. It was the 327 Chev V8 that powered the HK Monaro of Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland to Holden’s first victory at the famous Bathurst endurance race. It was Ford’s victory the previous year with their V8 Falcon GT, the first victory for a V8 at Bathurst, that spurred Holden to enter the Monaro in the Great Race.
The following year the HT had been released. It had a similar line up as the HK but the Monaro was now equipped with the bigger 5.7 litre (350ci) Chev V8. The HT kept the 5 litre engine but dumped the 5.3 litre. A 5.7 litre powered Monaro went on to win the Bathurst race in 1969 with Colin Bond and Tony Roberts at the wheel.
The HG followed the HT model. The model line up was similar and the engines were the same as what was offered with the HT. The HG Monaro was never popular as a racing car as the factory had started to develop the Torana. The Torana was seen as the next step for Holden. It was light and had great handling, great brakes and could get plenty of power from the six cylinder.
The model after the HG was the HQ. The HQ saw the introduction of the four door Monaro and Holden’s 4.2 litre (253ci) V8 but the HQ is probably more famous for its Kingswood model. It was and still is Holden’s biggest selling model. Apart from that, HQ racing is very popular among people who are looking for a cheap motorsport hobby and those that are looking to progress through the ranks in Australian motorsport. The HQ remains popular to enthusiasts and Street Machiners as they require little modification to fit big 454 or a late model fuel injected 350 V8 under the bonnet and there are always plenty of parts available.
After the HQ came the HJ, HX and the HZ (last of the Monaros).
This brings us back to the Torana.
The first Torana was the HB. It was released in March 1968 and was actually a Vauxhall. There was nothing exciting about the HB. It was available as a two or four door with a four cylinder engine. The choice of the lot was the Brabham Torana which came as a two door with twin carbies.
The LC Torana was released in October 1969 and the sports version, the GTR, was released early in 1970. It came with sports suspension, stabilizer bar, power front disc brakes and full instrumentation. It looked very sporty with flutes behind the front guards, rally stripes, sporty wheels and a choice of bright colours. Just in time for the annual Bathurst race was the GTR XU-1. This was the car built by the Holden Dealer Team (HDT) to take over from the successful Monaro as its Series Production racer. While the GTR came with a 2.6 litre (161ci) engine, the GTR XU-1 came with a 3 litre (186ci) which made 160hp. The entry level models were available with a four cylinder engine or a lower spec six. The LC was not overly successful despite being nimble and easy on brakes and fuel. The Bathurst Classic was won by Allan Moffat in a Ford Falcon during the years the HDT was using the LC Torana. Ford’s 5.8 litre (351ci) Cleveland V8 was just too powerful and Bathurst is a real power track.
The HDT had two other LC Torana projects. One was a rally-cross car which used a supercharged version of the six cylinder. The other car was a Sports Sedan racer. It used a Repco 5 litre engine which was mounted mostly in the cockpit beside the driver. This car was known as “The Beast”.
During 1972, the HDT began development on a V8 powered Torana for the new LJ model run. The engine used would have been the Holden 5 litre V8. This car would not have been much heavier than the six cylinder so it too would have had excellent economy, handling and brake wear. The V8 Torana was never given a name but some names that were thrown around were XU-2 and XU-1 V8. 1972 was set to be the biggest and quickest race in Bathurst’s Series Production history. Holden was building a V8 Torana, Ford was building a new more powerful version of it’s Falcon GTHO and Chrysler was building a higher power six cylinder and a high output V8 was rumoured for it’s Charger. Under Series Production rules, at least 200 examples of the car that was raced must have been produced for public sale. When the media got wind of these high powered street cars the three manufacturers were put under pressure to cancel production of these cars. While not banning these cars, the Australian Government threatened to look elsewhere for their fleet cars should these performance cars be put into production. In just a week, Holden, Ford and Chrysler had canned what would have been the greatest cars produced in Australia. Ford had got as far as building three (or four. Depends who you talk to) of its Phase IV GTHOs, two of which still exist, Holden had only built one of its V8 XU-1s which was a test car and had actually been driven on the streets and ended up being destroyed as a crash test car and Chrysler denied any knowledge of the V8 project and immediately withdrew from motorsport leaving the Charger runners to find dealership backing. The amusing part of this is that Ford had all the parts to build a run of Phase IVs and when the Phase IV was cancelled they had all these parts to get rid of. Some Ford customers got more than they paid for in 1972 and 1973 when they purchased a base model GT V8 or a Fairmont V8 as this is where the Phase IV parts went.
These events later became known as “The 1972 Supercar Scare”.
Holden used its new LJ Torana at Bathurst in 1972. The LJ GTR XU-1 came with a bigger 3.3 litre (202ci) six with Triple Webber carburetors which offered a small horsepower advantage over the Triple Stromberg carburetors used in the LC. The start of the 1972 Bathurst race was wet and this was the perfect opportunity for the HDT to show how good the GTR XU-1 was. Allan Moffat was driving a Phase III XY GTHO Falcon with a big 351 Cleveland V8. The big Falcon could stretch it’s legs down the long straights but the nimble Torana would catch up over the top of the mountain through the twisty sections. This great battle went on lap after lap until Moffat made a mistake and slid off the wet track. The Falcon was undamaged but it was stuck on an embankment. The Torana bolted and made a good lead that Moffat could not close. The Torana went on to win the race. This was the first Bathurst win for a young upcoming star by the name of Peter Brock and was the last time a driver was permitted to drive the race solo.
I don’t believe we can talk about Series Production without mentioning Improved Production. Series Production cars were for Bathurst and some minor championships while Improved Production cars were the ones that fought for the rest of the year for the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC). Series Production rules allowed teams to blueprint their engines and add safety modifications to their cars but that was basically it. As the name implies, Improved Production rules allowed teams to modify their cars. While they had to use the same shell and engine type as the standard cars they were allowed to make many improvements such as suspension upgrades and fuel injection changes but no supercharging.
I might take this opportunity to tell you about some of the cars that were used in the ATCC. These four cars are possibly the four most popular cars in Australian Motorsport history.
Bob Jane (owner of Bob Jane T-Marts tyre service and Calder Park Raceway) is a multiple Australian Touring Car Champion. He won two of his titles in a ZL-1 Camaro. Bob was a Mustang campaigner until 1971 when he went to the US to find something to beat the horde of Mustangs. He chose the ZL-1 for the big 427 V8. Jane bought two ZL-1s back with him. One Hugger Orange one with an M21 gearbox (VIN 610732) he used in the Australian Touring Car Championship and the other was Le Mans Blue with a Turbo 400 (VIN 620934) and was used for drag racing. They were originally for sale at Fred Gibb’s Chevrolet dealership and were sent back to Chev for distribution around the US to try and sell. They ended up at a Florida dealership where Jane found them. The Le Mans Blue car was written off in a traffic accident when an F100 crashed into the back of it sometime in the ‘80s. John Sawyer, the team manager for Jane claimed that the 427 made at least 600hp with a single carby so they never bothered with the fuel injection kit they had. Bob was good mates with Bruce McLaren who used a 427 in his Can-Am cars and they claimed they were getting 700hp with injection. Sawyer also said that the M21's aluminium housing couldn't handle the power so they made their own steel housing and sandblasted and anodized it so it looked standard. In 1972 they were forced to run the car with a 350ci V8 as there were no Camaros sold in Australia with a 427 at that time. He won the title again but in 1973 the rules changed to Group C and the ZL-1 was no longer eligible and Jane sold it to a Sports Sedan racer. Bob Jane owns the car again and it has been fully restored and is used for demo runs at Historic Touring Car meetings and the like.
The next car is a 1969 Boss 302 Trans-Am Mustang (VIN 9F02M148624) which was raced by Allan Moffat. The car was one of seven cars ordered by Ford USA in December 1968 and sent to Kar Kraft for chassis work then to Bud Moore Engineering to become a Trans-Am racer. Moffat was a favourite of Ford and he was basically given the car for his ATCC assault. Moffat started racing the car with a Tunnel Port 302 because the Boss 302 program was running late. The cars first race was at Sandown on May 4 1969. The car won all three races that weekend (the first ever victory for a '69 Trans-Am Mustang) and Moffat informed Kar Kraft of the victory but that Ian 'Pete' Geoghegan’s older Mustang had the legs on the straight. Jacque Passino (Ford US racing boss) instantly built a prototype Boss 302 and sent it to Moffat. Moffat won 101 of 151 races entered with this car but he never managed to win the title. After the introduction of Group C rules Moffat continued to race the Trans-Am Mustang in the Sports Sedan class. It was then sold off for funds but found it's way into the hands of Muscle Car collector David Bowden many years later. While they are not Australian cars, Jane’s Camaro and Moffat’s Mustang are as much a part of Australian Motor racing history and legend as a Falcon or a Commodore.
The other two cars were Australian cars. One was the Holden Monaro of Norm Beechey. Beechey, like Jane, also raced Mustangs. In fact, Beechey scored the first ever victory for a Mustang on a road racing circuit. The Monaro was the first Australian car to win the ATCC. In it's victory year of 1970 the 350 V8 was good for about 500hp but the engine program continued through 1971 and 1972 and it was developed more like a Repco V8. The other car was the big 'Super Falcon' of Ian 'Pete' Geoghegan. In 1970, Ford Australia, under the supervision of Al Turner built two GT-HO Falcons at an estimated cost of AU$1million. One was for Pete and the other was for Moffat. However the cars were plagued by engine failures and Moffat decided to stick with his Trans-Am Mustang. Geoghegan pushed on with development and once the reliability issues were solved they estimated that the 351 Cleveland V8 was giving in excess of 600hp. While Pete never won the ATCC with this car he was still very successful but was more popular for his tail out power sliding style. One of the most famous races in the ATCC was between Geoghegan and Moffat at Mount Panorama, Bathurst on April 3 1972. The race was 13 laps in duration and the two drivers exchanged the lead several times. After 13 laps they crossed the line nose to tail with Geoghegan ahead of Moffat. Beechey's Monaro and Geoghegan's Super Falcon are now also owned by collector David Bowden.
The Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS) changed the rules for the Bathurst race for 1973 and for the first time the cars that competed for the ATCC were also eligible for the Bathurst 1000. Gone were Series Production and Improved Production and in their place was Group C. While Group C rules said the manufacturers needed to build a certain number of production cars for homologation, the cars that were raced were permitted certain freedoms for racing ensuring a ‘Supercar Scare’ could not happen again.
The next model of the Torana was the LH. All models had four doors and the top of the range was the SL/R 5000. This car used Holden’s classic 5 litre engine which made around 240hp. The freedoms allowed in Group C got the power output to around 350hp for the racing cars. The SL/R 5000 was however a flawed race car. Drivers had to be gentle with the car as they were very fragile. They suffered from oil surge and the axle was easily snapped if the power was applied while a rear wheel was in the air as is the case at The Dipper. Despite this the SL/R 5000 won Bathurst in 1975 and 1976. 1975 was the second victory for Peter Brock (this time as a privateer without the might of the HDT) and 1976 was a nailbiter with another privateer Bob Morris and international star John Fitzpatrick taking victory in an ailing car. The last four laps were painful with Fitzpatrick at the wheel. The problem with the car was that it had a blown oil seal at the front of the gearbox and this was allowing oil into the clutch causing severe clutch slippage.
The problems Holden encountered with the SL/R 5000 were fixed for the next model, the LX. The pick of the LX range and the car that Holden used as their race car was the A9X. The A9X also used the 5 litre engine but the oil surge was fixed as was the axle problems. The A9X was used up to the introduction of the Commodore in 1980. The Commodore was put into production in 1978 but the Torana was used as the racing car until 1980. The A9X was the most dominant car in Australian Touring Car racing until the VT Commodore of 1998. The last Bathurst 1000 for the A9X was 1979. Peter Brock and Jim Richards won the race by an enormous six laps and Brock set a new lap record on the last lap of the race to show what a strong car the A9X had been.
As previously mentioned the Commodore was built in 1978. The first model was the VB (My car). In 1979 the HDT entered three VB Commodores in the Repco Reliability Trial, a grueling 18,885 kilometer 14 day torture test around Australia. Peter Brock was one of the drivers in the team but he was written off by the media as a publicity stunt. As far as they were concerned he was there to raise the profile of the event and wasn’t a chance against expert rally and safari drivers. An expert service backup team helped the HDT to a 1-2-3 result with Peter Brock’s car finishing first only thirteen minutes ahead of the second place Commodore. Brock still rates this as his greatest victory.
After the domination of the A9X, Ford pulled the funding from their teams. Holden followed Ford shortly after as there was no value in funding Holden teams to beat other Holden teams. Peter Brock now owned the HDT and despite no manufacturer funding, the ATCC remained strong through to the end of the Group C era in 1984. Peter Brock offered special Brock Commodores to Holden dealers who supported the team and this was a major source of funding for the team. These Brock Commodores are now some of the most potent and sought after Australian muscle cars. The Brock Commodore models cover the VC, VH, VK and VL models of the Commodore. The end of the Group C era had some of the most interesting cars in the history of the ATCC. Commodores and Falcons with huge boot lid spoilers and wide flares housing huge tyres. The slogan for the end of the Group C era was ‘The Last of the Big Bangers’ and that’s what they were. My all time favourite racing car raced at the end of the Group C era in 1984. It was Peter Brock’s VK Commodore. It had Marlboro sponsorship and was a brilliant day-glo colour.
In 1985 Australian touring car racing changed to the more universal Group A regulations. This bought mixed fortunes for the Holden Commodore. Brock was finishing fast at Bathurst in 1985 when he had to stop to get the damaged front windscreen kicked out. They then had to stop again as the rules say if the front windscreen is removed the rear windscreen also must be removed. The team believes it is because of these two late stops that the timing chain was damaged and the car was retired while in second position and catching the first placed Jaguar.
In 1986 the HDT took two VK Commodores to Europe and Allan Grice took his VK to Europe. They led several races but dropped off the pace for different reasons. Their best result as a team was at the Spa 24 hour race where they won the prestigious Kings Cup and the Challenge of Makes.
The VK Commodore won Bathurst in 1986, Peter Brock won his ninth Bathurst in a VL in ’87 after the Eggenberger Ford Sierras were disqualified and a Walkinshaw VL won in ’90. In 1993 the V8 rules were introduced and have generally stayed the same until now. They bear no resemblance to the Commodores that are built for the public and I believe they have far less character.
Some of the more classic cars to come from Holden since the end of the Group A era are the HSV VN SV5000, HSV VS GTS-R and the HSV VT GTS which was the first of the HSVs to use the Callaway built V8. Obviously the new generation Monaro is a classic and the HRT427 concept Monaro and HSV GTS-R which is based on a Monaro have popped up into some GT5 wish lists. The 2002 and 2003 Bathurst 24hr winning Monaros would also slot very nicely into GT5.
The Ford Motor Company of Australia was established in 1925 and local production of the Model T began. In June 1968, the first Falcon came off the production line. It was called the XK. The following models were the XL, XM, XP and XR Falcons. The XR was released in 1966 and was the first of the Falcons to include the legendary GT. Ford won Bathurst three years in a row in 1963, ‘64 and ’65 with the Cortina GT. The Ford Escort was also popular but the XR GT was the first Falcon to hit the track. It used a 4.7 litre (289ci) Windsor V8 which was good for around 225hp. The XR GT was the first V8 to win the Bathurst endurance race and it did so with Fred Gibson and Harry Firth sharing the driving.
The following model was the XT. The XT GT used the 4.9 litre (302ci) Windsor V8. XT GTs finished third, sixth and eighth in the London to Sydney Marathon in 1968 and finished first in the Surfers Paradise 12hr with Jim Bertram and Bill Gates (!) driving.
The next model was the XW. The XW had a GT model and the XW saw the introduction of the GTHO. HO initially meant ‘High Output’ but Ford decided this would scare the insurance companies to death so they decided it would mean ‘Handling Option’. It was in fact called the GTHO Phase II and used the 5.8 litre (351ci) Cleveland V8 producing 300hp. The XW GTHO Phase II was driven to victory at Bathurst by Allan Moffat in 1970.
The rarest Falcon of all belonged to the man who was managing director of Ford Australia and then moved on to become chairman of Ford Europe and then executive vice president of Ford North America. His name was William ‘Bill’ Bourke. He is known as the father of the GT and along with Al Turner created the famous GTHO cars. In 1968 Semon ‘Bunkie’ Knudsen, then president of the Ford Motor Company visited Australia and offered to build a hot GT Falcon in the USA for Bourke. Bourke declined the offer but in 1969 he sent a car to Detroit where they spent three months building the car. When Bourke got the car back it had a 428 Cobra Jet engine with a shaker, bigger brakes, American Racer alloy wheels, black vinyl interior, Mustang Mach 1 bucket seats, sunroof, Shelby steering wheel and a special paint job. The paint was a blend of black with metallic particles. These particles are reportedly made of real gold. The car looks black in the shade but transforms into a golden sheen when exposed to the sunlight. When Bill Bourke left Australia he gave the car away as an award to the Ford Australia Apprentice of the Year. The car still exists and is in pristine condition.
In 1971, the XY GTHO Phase III was released. It still used the 5.8 litre Cleveland but had a few more ‘trick’ bits than the XW and was good for 380hp, Moffat drove an XY GTHO Phase III to victory at Bathurst in 1971. Only 300 were made and these days the XY GTHO Phase III is the most valuable and sought after Australian muscle car. An original un-restored car can sell for AU$150,000. There have been cases reported where people have taken the ID plated off a written off or scrapped Phase III and put them on a normal GT and tried to sell it as a Phase III. Luckily the people who would try to buy a Phase III are knowledgeable about these cars and know how to spot a genuine GTHO.
As previously mentioned, the XA GTHO Phase IV was scrapped due to the ‘Supercar Scare’ but Ford continued with the GT name. The introduction of the XA saw the introduction of the first Falcon Coupe. Different models of the Coupe carried GT badges and the Coupe and the GT continued through the XB and XC models and was Fords choice of touring car through the ‘70s. The most famous Coupe of all (apart from Mad Max’s car) is the XC Cobra. It was a white coupe with blue racing stripes and cobra decals. The Cobra was basically the end of the production run of the Falcon Coupe before the introduction of the all new XD model. There were 400 Cobras built and 30 of them were Bathurst Specials.
This is when Ford pulled out of motorsport. The XD and XE models came with a V8 but Fort dropped the GT name. The most famous cars from this era are the touring cars that were used in Group C. Dick Johnsons ‘Tru Blu’ XD which won Bathurst in 1981 and his ‘Greens Tuf’ XE which is the car that launched into the trees on it’s shootout lap are the most famous of the Group C Falcons.
The GT badge didn’t find it’s way back onto a Falcon until the EB MKII in 1992. Ford basically lost a generation of supporters through pulling out of motorsport and dropping a performance model from it’s line up. After 1984, a Falcon didn’t race again in Australian touring cars until the introduction of the V8 formula in 1992.
In 1985, the start of the Group A era for touring cars, Dick Johnson and others who remained loyal to the blue oval chose to run Mustangs as the Falcon would not have been competitive. The Mustang didn’t perform too well either but they were playing a waiting game until they could get their hands on the Sierra. The Sierra was never sold in Australia to the public but came to Australia as a race car in 1987 and was totally dominant at Bathurst and the ATCC until Nissan introduced the R32 Skyline in 1990.
Some of the more interesting cars from Ford in recent years are the FPV BA GTs and Typhoons, AU TE50 built by Tickford and the EB and EL GTs.
By far the most popular and well known Valiant in Australia is the Charger. The VH Charger was introduced in 1971 and came with several different engines. A 215, 245 or a 265. The Charger 770 was the luxury version and came with a 265 or 318 V8. The most potent Charger was the R/T E38 with the higher compression 265 Hemi which created 280hp.
The R/T E49 was released in 1972 and came with a power increase for the 265 engine. It went from 280hp to 302hp. Doug Chivas drove an E49 to third place at Bathurst in 1972, the highest finish for a Charger at Bathurst. The R/T E49 is arguably still Australias quickest production car.
The VH Charger came with a 340 V8 late in 1972 but it was mainly a status feature and was only available with the luxury version, the 770 E55.
The later model VJ and VK Chargers came with a 318 or 360 V8 but never performed as well as the lighter E49.
The last Charger was the CL of 1978.
One of the most famous Chargers to race was the Charger Sports Sedan of John McCormack. McCormack has been credited with bringing open-wheeler design principals to sports car racing. His Charger used a Repco-Holden V8 taken straight from a Formula 5000 car. The engine was mid-mounted and finished just 50mm in front of the centre of the car, as far back as the rules allowed. The entire engine was behind the firewall. The car used Elfin F5000 wishbone suspension with coil-over shock absorbers and used F5000 grade brakes. The Charger first raced in 1974 and in it’s first few races won against Allan Moffat’s Trans-Am Mustang (now in sports sedan spec), Jim McKeown’s Porsche 911 and John Goss’s lightweight XA Falcon Coupe. The Charger was always competitive but McCormack always preferred open-wheelers. In 1974 for example, McCormack missed a round of Calder Park’s (Melbourne) sports sedan series which was offering $100,000 to race at a one off Formula 5000 race at Amaroo Park (Sydney). He did race the Charger at Amaroo that weekend but only in match races against John Goss. McCormack received $2500 for that weekend and ultimately lost the $100,000 Calder Park series because he missed that round. Eventually the Charger became uncompetitive due to a lack of development and it was sold off. The Charger now belongs to a collector in Western Australia but is in need of restoration.
This roughly covers the big three for Australian Muscle Cars and Motorsport but there is a myriad of smaller manufacturers such as Matich, Elfin and Brabham who have built both sports cars and open-wheelers. There are also plenty of one off projects such as the Joss who have disappeared and never heard of again but have built some very interesting creations. I also didn’t mention utes or panel vans which have been a huge part of Australian culture over the years.
Want more info or just want to see pictures of some of the cars discussed here?
http://members.tripod.com/motorsportarchive/photo_page.htm
http://holden.itgo.com/holden_history.html
http://www.holdenhistory.com/
http://www.earlyholdens.com/main/48-215.html
http://www.gulfgt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7637
http://www.bowdensown.com.au/cars/cars.html
http://groups.msn.com/falconGT/falcongtxr.msnw
http://marks.4t.com/gt.htm
http://www.ravenentertainment.com.au/rtchargerpics.html
http://www.valiant.org/ausval.html
http://www.valiant.org/charger.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V8_Supercars
http://scs.une.edu.au/StudentFiles/HomePages/174_96/Bathurst/History.html
http://www.v8supercar.com.au/content/history/record_book/series_champions/default.asp?ind=M
http://www.v8supercar.com.au/content/history/bathurst_facts/overview/?ind=M
http://www.brock05.com/gallery1.php
