Favourite Australian muscle car (lots of pics Dial Uppers..)
Discussion
Well we have done the Yanks, time for something else
No mega power oval racer specials here, most of these had to earn there way via 'the mountain' (ok ok, so only some of the following did it that way)
enjoy.
Falcon XR GT, the first of the GT's any colour you like as long it's gold
The infamous XY GTHO, fastest four door in the world for a brief period I believe
Torana A9X, V8 RWD hatchback, take note BMW...
Torana GTR XU-1, david to GTHOs goliath
XC Falcon Cobra, you'd never mistake it for anything else
HK327 Monaro and the new one
VK Commodore SS Group A 'Brock'
VS Commodore GTS-R, AKA 'that yellow thing'
HSV VT GTS, one of the best lookinh HSVs ever
Falcon BA XR8 GT Ute, diabolical
Falcon BA XR8 GT-P, finally the falcon gets the V8 it needs
F6 Typhoon, embarasses the V8s with ease, dont mention the clutch though...
HSV VY GTS
HSV VY Maloo, Holden does better utes IMHO
AU XR8, outgunned but still a nicer drive than the commodore.
Better throw in a 1 tonner so my dad isn't disappointed
WB Statesman
Fairlane, another pimp mobile
Falcon XE ESP, last gasp of the V8 falcons before that dark period when no V8 was available
Torana SLR5000, small saloon, V8 power
VL SS Group A 'Walkinshaw', very distinctive with it's aero package
HSV Coupe 300kw, enough said
The humble VL Turbo (included since it's such a popular tuner car)
The HQ GTS Monaro, the mighty 'Q an old fav
Valiant VG Pacer, ah the old valiants....
VN SS Group A, everycar thief's wet dream in the early '90s
Barely worth including, (FWD, heresy!) but at least they made an effort I suppose
E49 Charger R/T probably the best Australian muscle car of its era, the XY GTHO and XU-1 are very close runners up though
Oh well that will do for now, someone else can do the rest.
No mega power oval racer specials here, most of these had to earn there way via 'the mountain' (ok ok, so only some of the following did it that way)
enjoy.
Falcon XR GT, the first of the GT's any colour you like as long it's gold
The infamous XY GTHO, fastest four door in the world for a brief period I believe
Torana A9X, V8 RWD hatchback, take note BMW...
Torana GTR XU-1, david to GTHOs goliath
XC Falcon Cobra, you'd never mistake it for anything else
HK327 Monaro and the new one
VK Commodore SS Group A 'Brock'
VS Commodore GTS-R, AKA 'that yellow thing'
HSV VT GTS, one of the best lookinh HSVs ever
Falcon BA XR8 GT Ute, diabolical
Falcon BA XR8 GT-P, finally the falcon gets the V8 it needs
F6 Typhoon, embarasses the V8s with ease, dont mention the clutch though...
HSV VY GTS
HSV VY Maloo, Holden does better utes IMHO
AU XR8, outgunned but still a nicer drive than the commodore.
Better throw in a 1 tonner so my dad isn't disappointed
WB Statesman
Fairlane, another pimp mobile
Falcon XE ESP, last gasp of the V8 falcons before that dark period when no V8 was available
Torana SLR5000, small saloon, V8 power
VL SS Group A 'Walkinshaw', very distinctive with it's aero package
HSV Coupe 300kw, enough said
The humble VL Turbo (included since it's such a popular tuner car)
The HQ GTS Monaro, the mighty 'Q an old fav
Valiant VG Pacer, ah the old valiants....
VN SS Group A, everycar thief's wet dream in the early '90s
Barely worth including, (FWD, heresy!) but at least they made an effort I suppose
E49 Charger R/T probably the best Australian muscle car of its era, the XY GTHO and XU-1 are very close runners up though
Oh well that will do for now, someone else can do the rest.
johnjr said:
Don't know much about Aussie muscle (would like to learn) but some of the look really nice!!
seems they're mainly Holden and Ford though
johnjr
Some are Chryslers
I could mention the Leyland P76 I suppose, something little more British than American, was something of a disaster though.
More info on this essential piece of Australian Automotive history
www.webtrade.com.au/p76/
308mate said:
..and there's really no excuse for the Magna getting a show here at all. Only thing that has to do with muscle is the ones you need to combat the torque-steer.
Yeah I know, but it's the only vaguely performance related home grown car they do, the AWD version is much better, but not all that fast. I just thought I'd put it in since most wouldn't be aware of it.
308mate said:
Great line up of pictures there. Hard to include them all but Id say the old RX7 might get hounarable mention for battles it had with more conventional muscle.
The WB there looks to actually be a 1-tonner/ute with a Statesman front end - popular conversion. No rear windows or C pillars in the picture see.
PB
There are two forms of 'ute'. The one Tonner, which is arguably more practical as it has a separate cab and chassis with a flat tray (or like most people, get a custom built one) so they can carry all sorts of loads. The 'Ute' has fixed sides which are integral to the body and so is not as versatile in some ways, but has other uses such as carrying sand and equipment.
Ute
One tonner
I did consider the RX7 and other old rotaries like the R100, RX2, RX3, RX4, RX5 etc are all quite popular on the street machine circuit as well, outside of Japan and the US, Australia (and NZ) is probably the next largest market/following of mazda rotaries. I also considered some other cars that were somewhat unique to Australia even if they were foreign cars, The Cortina had a falcon 3.3 and 4.1 Straight six instead of the V6 in other markets (dog of a car, but great for burnouts and acceleration), the Escort had the 2.0L as a standard engine, and the 1.6L and under versions were always kent engines not pintos (only the 2.0L was a pinto). We also had a 4 door RS2000, our RS2000 wasn't as hot as the Euro version though (we did get 25 in 1975 but they are almost all racecars).
Pulsar (aka Sunny) ET
Cordia GSR Turbo, the WRX of it's day
The Nissan Pulsar ET was apparently slightly unique to Australia, Mitsubishi Cordia's are another one that although not unique are something most people in Europe are unaware of (you did get the Lancer EX turbo though, much better car IMHO). Also the Datsun 1600 is another very popular car here for modifiers and rallyers, though less so as they become rarer. Also got the R32 Skyline GTR officially (only other country to do so I think) and also the S15 silvia/200SX.
The Holden Gemini is another popular machine, I don't know what it's called over here though.
Datsun 1600, most run FJ20DETs, CA18DET or SR20DETs these days
Korean cars are also much more popular here, Hyundai Excels (Accent) have a huge range of tuning kits, twin throttle bodies, turbo and super charger kits, six speed gearboxes etc.
We also got this, a Lancer GSR, not an Evo, but a 1.8L Turbo AWD car that looks incredibly anonymous, they dumped it just as the WRX became a hit They also dumped the Galant VR4 at the same time.
ZR1cliff said:
Ah the Panel van, my dad had a few, holdens like the above plus some earlier models, part of the whole 70s thing, car as freedom etc etc, my dad being a carpenter fitted it out with bed and cupboards and shelves as a home away from home on his various surfing trips.
I think his was a HT like the one in this link, but it had a worked 202 with a datsun 240K gearbox and was loud enough to get several tickets from the police for noise pollution These days he is more into One Tonners.
www.powerhousemuseum.com/previous/cars_panelvan.asp
speedy_thrills said:
Jungles said:Yeah, DOHC’s as well and not pushrod. Isn’t this based on the same engine as the Rover 75 V8?
I was under the impression that the V8 engine was imported, like the HSV ones, but apparently that is wrong.
www.rsportscars.com/foto/10/fpvgtp05_engine2.jpg
>> Edited by speedy_thrills on Tuesday 22 November 08:52
It's the Ford modular V8 as seen in the mustang and some trucks and SUVs, and the Koenigsegg, Rover 75 V8 and loads of other cars, all slightly different of course, but the same basic engine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Modular_engine
It is imported, at least in the base 220kW version from Canada. The Performance 260kw+ version uses the imported 5.4L block with the imported DOHC heads from the 4.6L Mustang, most of the other parts like the inlet manifold, air intakes, cams etc are made locally.
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