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27/12/2008 12:30 am
Australian Muscle
Australian manufacturers took a little longer to catch onto Muscle car/ Pony car phenomenons in the US. Despite at times heavy handed control from the parent companies Ford, Holden and Chrysler set about creating a distinctively Australian take on the Muscle car theme. Much of the incentive for this was the annual 500 mile race at Bathurst for nominally Production cars. In their endeavours to win this race each year the manufacturers created ever less streetable Homologation specials. Unfortunately for high performance fans this all came to a crashing halt in 1972 with the Supercar Scare when a development model was revealed in the press as capable of doing 160mph on a public road.
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Representing the ultimate expression of these cars to actually make it to market we have the Valiant Charger E49 R/T, Holden HK Monaro 350, and the ultimate Aussie Muscle car the 1971 Ford Falcon GT-HO Phase 3.
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Shown here are a Wild Violet GTHO Phase 3 by Trax and the last great performance Falcon of the 70,s the 1978 Falcon XC Cobra. The model is by Autoart for Biante. The Phase 3 was touted at the time of release as the fastest 4 door production car in the world. I don't know about the truth of that but it was certainly THE car to have in Australia. Powered by a 351 Cleveland 4V V8 with a four speed manual box examples of these now reach AUS$750,000 at auction.
The Cobra was an exercise to homologate some racing parts and clear the last 600 hardtop bodyshells from the factory. Despite this cynical start the Cobra has gone on to be the 2nd most revered Falcon in Australia.
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The GM Holden answer to the Bathurst question was the Monaro. Australia's first volume produced Domestically designed coupe. The example of the left is a Trax HG 350 in Vedoro Green. Next to it is the HQ GTS 350 from collectible classics. Finally the red car is the 1974 Torana S/LR 5000 which was pretty much Holdens last gasp at the Muscle market. The engine was Holdens trusty 308 V8 initially a bit of a dog with a propensity for breaking down the L34 racing version was developed into the A/9X in Sedan and Hatchback which went on to clean up Australian racing.The pictured model is from Trax and is part of their twin set with its hatchback SLX version.
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27/12/2008 5:04 pm
Was just hunting Aussie diecasts today, Lee...
...maybe you can tell me--what has happened to the diecast section of ebay Australia? It has dwindled to a mere shadow of its former self within the last two months. I have a small portion of my 1/43 collection dedicated to Australian cars. I prefer the Biante Chargers & Falcons XYs to their Trax counterparts, but love my Trax Falcon Squire and yellow '69 Valiant Pacer.
28/12/2008 6:25 pm
Can't help on the ebay situation
Maybe just the time of year? Also Biante have been appallingly slow with releases in all scales this last year, though the 43rds have picked up a little over the last 2-3 months.
Another company you might wish to check out John is Classic Carlectables. The bright green HQ Monaro is one of theirs. As you can see the detail is exceptional and the price is about the same as a Biante.