Aussie Muscle car History part 1 and 2

[Reslotted]

With the interest in the Upcoming Falcon hardtop from Scalextric, and the previously released Torana.
I have realised that although we Aussies may be well acquainted with American Muscle cars and racecars in general.
Our mates on the forum from other countries such as the US may not be as familiar with Aussie muscle.

After exchanging a few PMs with Harry, we thought it might be an idea to shed some light on these mystery cars from Down Under.
Over the coming weeks I'll attempt to give you guys an abbreviated series of stories relating to these cars that so closely mirrored what was happening in the US.

As well as that I might throw in a few snippets about some favorite US Muscle that came to race in Australia.

Although We could go way back I thought I'd limit these insights from about 1967 when the real Aussie Muscle car war started until about 1984 when a change in racing regulations (the introduction of international group A) changed the face of Australian car car racing until the mid 90's when the V8 supercars series started.

It is probably important to realise that up until and including 1972, Australian Touring car racing was run as two distinct categories.
Firstly there was the Australian touring car championship, run to an improved production formula that featured such cars as the Moffat Mustang and Jane Camaro, with a mixture of "improved" Aussie cars and BDA Escorts and the like.
Secondly there were the Production cars, which was a series that was for virtually bog standard locally available cars off the showroom floor. This was what the Bathurst 1000 (earlier 500). Was run for and was the jewel in the crown for the manufacturers, a real life win on Sunday sell on Monday approach. Some teams even drove the registered cars to Bathurst raced them and drove them home again.

The Improved exotics did race at Bathurst, but not at the 1000 in October. They had their own series of sprint races at Bathurst at Easter.

So with that in mind we start.
The 500 mile and later 1000k race at Bathurst had been running for a few years, having moved from Philip Island. The races up until this time had been won by a variety of cars including minis, cortinas and the like.
But Ford Australia really wanted to win with the locally produced Falcon, which was the big seller in the Ford range.
In 1967 Ford produced the new Falcon XR, with which they were providing various Police Forces with a 289 ci version. This became the basis of the XR GT Falcon available in just enough numbers to allow them to race at Bathurst and in any colour you wanted, as long as it was gold.
The big Fords won and the public went wild for the falcon and Australia fell in love with V8 Muscle. Holden responded with the 327 and 350 Monaros and Ford came back with a series of GT Falcons culminating in the GTHO phase 1,2 and 3 series. Chrysler got in the act with their pacers and chargers although took a slightly different engine route. They did have some very nice US sourced V8s but the really quick Charger was the triple webbered 265 ci Hemi 6cyl.

So it went with GM Holden, Ford and Chrysler Valiant. Building faster and faster cars that were freely available to anyone. It was a real trap for the carmakers at the time, you had to sell a number of cars in order to race them at Bathurst, in order to sell more of them when you won. It was actually true at the time, that when you won Bathurst in, let’s say a GTHO, sales of the falcons right the way through the range went up.

In 1972 the bubble burst. A story hit the papers that the big 3 manufacturers were about to release new "160 MPH Supercars" onto the public. Reports spread that these "public slaughtering deathtraps would fall into the hands of an unsuspecting public causing mayhem and Death". The road safety people got in on the act and the government got nervous. The cars themselves weren't actually banned, but the governments of the day threatened boycots of the manufacturer’s products.
Thus the GTHO phase 4 Falcon, was canned (although 3 or 4 did escape) the LJ V8 torana died without ever seeing the light of day and the New Charger E55 although actually getting to the market was detuned via a soft cam etc and then died a quiet death.

The Confederation of Australian Motorsport then changed the Bathurst rules to that of Improved Production for local cars which became group C and ended the Production car power wars.

The existing Improved production imports such as the Camaros and Mustangs were relegated to the Sports sedan ranks, which was a relatively minor series in that there was no big marquis events like Bathurst.

The Falcon Gt (without the HO option) struggled on until 76 but each subsequent model became less powerful. The Torana V8 was eventually built but in the heavier and larger LH and LX series of cars not the nimble lightweight LJ and the R/T series of chargers just stopped being made..

Theres obviously a lot more to it all, but that’s a rough idea.

So enough background, next up we’ll start on some Aussie cars. But feel free to comment, ask questions or make any corrections that you see fit. It's all up for discussion, if I've made a mistake let us know.

[Reslotted]

In the interests of me being lazy, i have simply reproduced a post I made in the 1/32 Forum
for those who haven't seen it.


FORD FALCON HARDTOP
The Ford Falcon Hardtop or (Coupe)
Was built in Australia between late 1972 and 1978, through 3 model changes - XA, XB and XC
the changes throughout that time were mainly front fender and grills.
They came in a variety of "trim" from the base model Falcon 500 to the Luxury Ford Landau.
Engines varied from the base 250 ci - six, to the 302 and 351 ci Cleveland.

XA and XB were available as the Falcon GT 351, however due to emmision laws in 1974 and further tightened in '76, they were a long way from the power outputs of the Earlier cars such as the XY GTHO phase 3.

The pick of the XA GT were those with RPO 83 (RPO - regular production option) which were sneaked quietly onto the market using a load of bits that were originally destined for the stillborn GTHO phase 4. (Another story).

The XB was the last Falcon GT until the 90's.
There was also the XB John Goss special 302 built as a nod to Goss's 74 Bathurst win.
But more show than go by this stage.

In 1976 with the XC model you could still buy a 351 but only in GS Form. Until 1978 when Ford released the Cobra ( this was actually a clever ploy by Edsel Ford 2, to get rid of the remaining Hardtop shells lying around Broadmeadows.
Many of these were in 302 Cubic inch form either Auto or Manual.
Of the 351 versions (also available as auto or Manual) approxiamately 50 were released with the Hood Scoop and various other little niceties which make them infinately more desirable than the rest of the Cobras. All these 50 were Manuals.

Apart from being the car that the Black Mad Max Incerceptor was built around, the Hardtop won a couple of Australian Touring Car championships and 3 Bathursts in 73,74 and the big 1,2 in 77 when Alan Moffat with Jacky Ickx and Colin Bond with Alan Hamilton destroyed the GM competition.

The Scalex car is supposedly the 1976 Alan Moffat / Vern Schuppan car that failed to finish ,an unusual choice considering the possible alternatives, but one gratefully accepted.

I hope this gives our US mates a bit of insight into this amazing car, forgive me if I Missed anything.

[Cosmic Bilby]

Ted,

This is awesome stuff mate, seriously great work!

Prime the pumps, Aussies (and the world this time) are going to get another scale of Australian class of models to race :banana-rock:

[bkrownd]

So, which model and year of the Falcon, Holden (torana/monaro?) and Valiant/Charger (each) do you think should be produced first? What would have been the ideal trio?

[Cosmic Bilby]

...Personally I think Scalextric are spot on with the XB GT hardtop, that would be my choice for Fords (second choice XW GT).

For Holden I would have preferred the 2 door LX A9X, they were sweet looking, just a nice thing, but I'm just grateful they made a Torana :)

For Valiant, the E49 VH Charger would be it for me and wouldn't it be magic if Scalextric could give us one of these in 1/32 scale.

[Reslotted]

[Cosmic Bilby]

....Hey this sounds great!!!!

Billy's thrive on controversy :)

[Ember]

I'm inclined to agree with Ted. The Phase III would've been the ultimate best release first. Apart from being an awe inspiring racing machine (you really need to see one of these brutes body roll their way around Bathurst or Sandown to truly appreciate them) they have world history as well. At the time they were released they were the fastest four door on the market. The Black Onyx Phase III is still the ultimate. Only one rolled off the production line in factory black. When last it changed hands in 2007 the price it achieved at auction was a record for an Australian production car at AUD 0.75 million. The Shannons Auction house has recently approached the owner with an in hand offer of AUD 1.3 million and the suggestion that it would achieve considerably more than this at auction.


While the Torana has a massive following, there is some argument that the wrong model was chosen. I know more than a few folks that were hoping for the legendary XU1.


I'm still hopeful that the reason Scaley chose the XB (by far the prettiest of the closely related A, B & C) was that there is serious collector value to be had in buying licencing rights to the Mad Max film cars.

[Cosmic Bilby]

G'day Ember,

I know the LC/LJ had a great following back then, the "giant killer" (Holdens had a promo magazine even with this sentiment).

Having seen heaps of LC/LJ GTR/GTR XU1 (and clones) as a kid and later on the street (early 80's), they never did really appeal to me. Yes they probably handled very nicely (never had the chance to give one a really good fang).

To me they were a bit on the flimsy side build wise, the 186/202 was hampered by its size to make power and torque, they were a very, very basic motor. The quickest red motor LC/LJ I saw in our area only used to run somewhere in the mid-high 13's, it sure wasn't anything to write home about....

The LC/LJ were the ultimate underdog, the LH/LX Torana models took it to the Blue Oval on equal footing (once they got rid of that crappy six cylinder diff and those stupid looking 13" rims!!!!).

What would be great is if Scalextric COULD release the LC/LJ Toranas in the future so everyones tastes could be met :)

[Ember]

Ahhh... A boyfriend had an LJ with a ridiculously over worked 202 in it in the mid 80s. So ridiculous that it would overheat sitting through a cycle of the traffic lights at Springvale Rd Junction. It was an absolute horror of a car to drive unless rear end was kept on the ground by a boot (trunk) full of newspapers.

The biggest problem with most of the Aussie muscle is that it has limited appeal outside Australasia. A swathe of models were released in South Africa, but that's about the only other place many of them are known.

There are so many Aussie cars I would love to see in slot form, but I think there is very little hope.

Muscle Cars: Americans created them. Australians perfected them. ;)

[Cosmic Bilby]

:)

I love them all in my own way, heaps of really good cars here in Oz over the years, would be good to see them all produced, but I think being thankful for what comes our way, as you say, the Aussie market is so very small on the global scene....

....I really hope Scaley does the VH RT Chargers though, and yes the XY GTHO, they were king, it would round out things a bit I think for many of us.

The LC/LJ....

....For me, no (and your description was very familiar to me :) ).

I never had the desire for one, we had GTR's in the family (the XU1 was dear for insurance back then), I never took to them, on the street they never impressed, we had Victor Bray living in our part of the Northern Suburbs in Brisbane, his old 57 210 Chev was the car, he used to run 11's and low 12's with it using "boat anchor" 307's and big hits of gas. He would blow one up, get another one off the heap, strip it down, cam it up and go again, he was an economical man back then :)

I had mates with 350 Chev LX SS Toranas, 318 VH Chargers with nine inchers and 904's that ran in the 12's, those six cylinder Toranas just didn't do it for us much back then (and I know its from a drag racing focus, but that was what most car enthusiasts were into back then).

RIP XU1, may your rusty floorboards be at peace :)

[Ember]

I have to admit. I still dearly love and adore the Valiant Charger. To own, my choice would be the Six Pack, easier to live with and they're getting so hard to come by these days. But, the Charger is the only 1:1 car I would ever own in pink.


Of course, slot-wise I would also consider owning a pink Pioneer MGB Donna Mae Mims tribute car. ;) Remember, Jules?

[Cosmic Bilby]

I love them too!

Alas, I was never "brave" enough to own one.... (preferring the GMH "Doctrine" that was plied upon me by my family)....

The E38/E49 was "the" performance six cylinder in Oz from my point of view, a real motor by any yardstick.

Even the "joe average" hemi sixes were miles ahead of anything GMH could cobble up.....

They were very economical as well.

They actually liked being revved (unlike the Holden Red motor that sounded like it was going to hand grenade at any moment).

My mates had them (not the six packs though, they were a bit rare even then). A 265 with a four barrel manifold and Holley with cam/headers etc was made a really neat day to day car.

My mate bought a crappy old Centura (Torana size) with a high mileage 245 low compression motor and four speed, was a heap, ran it at Willowbank with a slipping clutch and got 16.2 seconds on the 1/4. For some reason he painted it matt black and fluro green with spray packs, put a proper motor in it and used it for ages.....

...He was a bit weird....

[Ember]

Nothing quite like the downhill run on the Black Spur in a Charger with dead brakes. Definite freckle pucker time. Even after surviving that I still love them.

Ahhh.... If only we could time travel and bring back the cars of our childhood. No wonder so many gents of a certain age turn to classic cars.