Mopar Muscle Association UK

At least we have no racing pretensions.

Sandy wrote:It is also the car that gave Peter Brock his first Bathurst win, so it has that mystical 'pull' about it too.

Beat the E49 Charger as well... grrr.

latil wrote:You could build something very similar using an Viva with Ventora running gear for a lot less.

Only if you were to use a Ventora engine you would actually go slower!!!! The Aussie development straight 6's were faster than all but the fastest V8's of the time.

Kinda like the Jag and Aston straight 6's had been in the 50's in UK, only carried over into the 70's.

wasn't that due to not being able to change the wheels when the tires went bald. (wheel studs expanded due to extreme heat))

or was that on the E38 the previous year.

anyway it beat the charger at bathurst

but the charger beat everyone in new zealand

even Alan Moffitt stropped back off to Oz with his special acid dipped Ford GT, because he couldn't go round corners.

massive racing succeses in the B&H 500 and half of them were in 770s! an automatic...

charger won it 8 or 9 years in a row

both country ran race series where a local prodcucer had to build and sell 400+ to homologate a production car for racing

this meant you could watch em race on sunday and buy a identical car on the monday morning.

this production car series was the biggest thing in aussie motorsport paid well and attracted racing drivers from all over the world as well as Oz
just like le mans does today.

the big race was the bathurst 24 hour each year in november it was precceded by a season of smaller 200 300 and 500 mile races across the country open to anyone who passed scrutineering

this race series through the 60s and 70s evoked the same kind of passion we see for football in the UK

Ford and GM developed their cars throughout the 60s and into the 70s and won a lot

chrysler had two goes at it with less the 2 years development and got a 3rd

in the show room to podium stakes the chrysler charger was the only one to get it just about exactly right first time. for a company who until 1970 had never entered the series (privateers had previously) and had very limited race experience to produce a car in less than a year and go out an get a thrid was unheard of.
combo of wide car short wheel base sleek fastback look and a light modern 6 was the winning combination and ford and holden took note

hence we have the torana the 6 cylinder in a small car idea picked up by holden combined with their years of experience and Peter Brock produced a major winner
and the XA XB XC falcon . short fat 2 door coupe with a big motor was going to take the series by storm but was canned in GTHO IV form due to knee jerk press reaction

chrysler pulled out after 72 and sponsored golf tournaments due to the outcry in the press about ford chrysler and holden selling race cars that could do 160mph to the public

the whole story is littered with unfair rulings by governing bodys blatant cheating under rating of the motors true output. last minute changes to rules that disqualified cars hours before races crashes deaths and chaos

a true motor racing soap opera.......damn sight better than corrie

hence the aussies love a torana they love a ford GT and they love a Valiant charger. you could own or at least look like you owned a racing car

Dave

It was Doug Chivas, I think, Dave in 1972 in an E49. They came in to change the tyres and wheels and for some reason, tried to put new (cold) wheelnuts on studs that were pretty hot. As a result they jammed and they lost time getting it sorted. Brock won in the LJ Torana and John French was second in his (in)famous Wild Violet GTHO (which was the fastest old style car ever down Conrod, faster even than the factory Falcons).

1972 was the year of the rain, so it really was the year that the sixes could have gunned down the eights (and they did with Brock winning). After that, until the Jags in 85 it was a V8 show. In fact, from 75 it was Formula Torana Apart from 1977.

Chivas drove with Brock in 1973, but, if you remember, they ran out of fuel and he had to push the Torana up the pit road unassisted. Brock is quite brutal when the car gets within the zone where the mechanics can help, and he elbows an exhausted Chivas out of the way.

Even the factory teams were pretty amateurish in those days. True, Ford brought in Turner (an American) and Marsden (a Brit) to run their teams, and Holden had the wily Harry Firth, but mostly it was an amateur show.

I think that is what makes it really interesting for me. Ford versus Holden versus Chrysler; Moffat (the 'foreign' professional baddie) versus Brock (the local boy made good/God); V8 versus six; 'factory' (yes, I know they were dealer teams ) versus the little guys (who occasionally bit back); colour, drama, simpler times.

When Group C became Group A in 1985, it all changed, and the V8Supercars are a yawn now.