Favourite Australian muscle car (lots of pics Dial Uppers..)

Favourite Australian muscle car (lots of pics Dial Uppers..)

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R988

Original Poster:

7,495 posts

230 months

Sunday 13th November 2005
quotequote all
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.

R988

Original Poster:

7,495 posts

230 months

Sunday 13th November 2005
quotequote all
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/

r988

Original Poster:

7,495 posts

230 months

Monday 14th November 2005
quotequote all
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:
One of the coolest vehicles on the planet i have ever seen are the Aussie panel vans commonly known as panos,the times ive been out in Oz i always look out for them and they are a combination of a Statesman up market car and a van...sounds odd at first but when you see them they are COOL.
Some of them come with 5 litre V8's cool mettalic paint,chrome wheels and the rear has a split opening..you often see the beach addicts and surfers cruising along the ocean roads with the top of the rear opening up and the added murals,paintwork and chrome glistening in the sun accompanied by the throbbing cruising noise of the V8
There was one featured in "Mad Max"....ohhhh i want one



And another,



>> Edited by ZR1cliff on Monday 14th November 12:38


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

r988

Original Poster:

7,495 posts

230 months

Wednesday 16th November 2005
quotequote all
Hasbeen said:
Great post, & great memories. Its a pity, from my point of view, that you didn't have a 327 Monaro to put in there. I did 121 laps of Bathurst in one in 68, & have loved them ever since.


Well there was one in there, Not sure what happened to the photo though

Heres another anyway

r988

Original Poster:

7,495 posts

230 months

Tuesday 22nd November 2005
quotequote all
speedy_thrills said:
Jungles said:
I was under the impression that the V8 engine was imported, like the HSV ones, but apparently that is wrong.
Yeah, DOHC’s as well and not pushrod. Isn’t this based on the same engine as the Rover 75 V8?

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.