Australian Muscle Car

Australian Muscle Car is a fresh, proudly Australian publication dedicated to preserving the legend of the unique ‘Australian made’ Ford vs Holden muscle car heritage. From 1960s classic Bathurst muscle to the super sophisticated Falcon and Commodore performance cars of the new millennium and everything in between.

Steve Normoyle

Australian Muscle Car

Adelaide Motorsport Festival returns

Boweing out of TCM

John Bowe retires!

Auction update

Vale James Laing-Peach

Tribute XU-1 V8

Torana Nationals is back

AMC BEST LETTER • amceditorial@chevron.com.au | Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards NSW 1590

Paul Newby

Rory’s story • The first A9X hatchback road car Holden ever built has attained fame in muscle car circles as much for its starring role in a couple of evocative period photographs as its status as numero uno.

Rebirth of the GT-HO and Superoo: why it didn’t happen • In the mid 2000s FPV was considering bringing back the iconic Super Roo branding AND developing a new-age GT-HO. In the end neither came to fruition but, as a senior FPV insider revealed to Mark Oastler, it would have been much more than just a GT-HO in name only – what was proposed was an FG Falcon GT-HO with enough grunt to blow HSV out of the water.

XA Falcon Hardtop Golden Jubilee Hard to top • Without the Monaro it might have existed, but Ford’s belated answer to Holden’s big muscle coupe certainly hit the mark. The XA model range consolidated Ford’s growing market share, and on the race track the Hardtop delivered with consecutive Bathurst wins.

Yes, the Kingswood! • Jane’s Camaro, Moffat’s Trans-Am Boss Mustang, Beechey’s HT Monaro GTS 350, Geoghegan’s Super Falcon… and a Holden Kingswood. But this HQ model was not the type of garden-variety Kingswood that might have graced Ted Bullpitt’s carport – resplendent with freshly polished tow bar and Mr Sheened number plate, of course. Rather, this Kingswood was purpose-built for the 1972 Australian Touring Car Championship, where it held its own against some very heavyweight opposition. Mark Oastler tells the story of this unique machine, possibly the most unusual Holden touring car racer in the marque’s entire history.

The long goodbye • It’s been the longest goodbye. With the announcement of the closure of Holden virtually coinciding with the outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic, race fans did not get to properly farewell the famous Lion for almost another three years. But the final end came at the end of last season. From this year on, there will never be another Holden on the grid in an Australian Touring Car Championship race or in the Bathurst 1000.

A man named Smith • He’s has dubious distinction of having finished runner up in both the Australian Grand Prix and the Bathurst 1000. That aside, however, there’s been no shortage of victories over the years for the hard-charging yet eminently likeable John Smith - whether it’s in touring cars or openwheelers.

Slot car addiction

Godzilla downunder: the Australian R32 GT-Rs • To many Australian touring car racing fans, the R32 Nissan GT-R felt almost like a kind of invader, an unwanted foreign intruder in the domestic racing scene. Yet unlike the Ford Sierra, or indeed the previous Skyline HR31 and DR30 coupes, and the Bluebird Turbo, the R32 GT-R could be purchased as a new road car at a Nissan dealer. Nissan Australia went to a lot of trouble and expense to bring to the Australian market a car that was originally meant only as a domestic Japanese seller – and it made a considerable loss on the deal. But those 100 ‘Australian’ GT-R road cars today are sought-after collectibles, and represent the high point of Nissan’s involvement in Australian motorsport.

Mini Muscle

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