Whom is into muscle cars?

I love them too, Carl. I’ve always loved that era of Australian motorsport that gave birth to the Aussie muscle car - particularly 1967 until 1973. To think you could buy a homologation special Falcon, Monaro or Charger from your local dealer. And those cars look and sound the business. It must have been an epic time to be a car nut.

 

I too love the Aussie/US V8s. I spent all my money when I was 19 on this! It still graces my shed to this day…


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Beautiful!! Good on you for holding on to it.

Yes, I love the 64.5 - 70 Mustangs and C1-C3 Corvettes.

 

My father really liked his Rambler Javelin.

I think it was a ‘69, and he bought it around ‘73.

I remember being in it as a kid driving along Coronation Drive in the mud just after the ‘74 Brisbane floods. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login


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I loved my 69 C3 Corvette Stingray - it was in burgundy with just a regular 350 with 4 speed. I adored the fingers rests on the shifter and the plaque that indicated the engine and horsepower rating.
The few downsides with the C3 Corvette were the drug dealer image at the time, it squeaked and rattled a lot over bumps and felt big at the time.
C2s and pre 73 C3 we’re pretty special cars and the C2 packed quite a bit of innovation in its day. I think they are still very underrated in Australia and much of the world,
In fact, a C3 was THE car that started my automotive love and was pipped a few years later as my favourite car when I saw a pino verde Vetroressina 308.
I will post pics when I finally get back to Adelaide along with pics of Ferraris at the Grand Prix Rally in 88, 89, 90, some of which were probably WH Lowe cars.

 

Chrome bumper C3's are going up in value and will be future collectibles. Unmolested cars with the right options combinations are getting harder to find.

btw they didn't have squeaks and rattles when new. It's taken me a lot of time to track down and eliminate them from my C2, most were the result of worn door glass channels, missing trim screws or lazy mechanics who hadn't bothered to reassemble properly. e.g. the guy who did my chassis restoration forgot to re-attach the clips for the rear wiring harness, which made an annoying rattle that had no visible cause.

I love my C2 and it's a remarkable car by the standards of 1966. I've also had a 66 notchback Mustang which was my daily for a few years until I made the mistake of over-modifying the engine, making it cranky and too fast for the limited brakes and handling.

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You and your two coloured cars.

Red and Green eh?

Makes a change from the Red and Silver 911 cab Tip WO you sold me.

 

It had brakes and handling?

 

I went on my usual 5km walk this morning and reflected a bit on this thread.

Growing up as a teenager in the early to mid eighties, I have to admit I didn't find our home grown muscle cars very appealing, the exception being A9X Toranas, HK Monaros and the early VC-VL Brock Commodores. I liked those a lot. Nonetheless, at the time, I couldn't really understand all the reverence for Ford GTHOs,Charger E38 & E49's, Monaros and XU1 Torana's. Oh, 55 -57 Chevs were really popular amongst friends but I didn't like much of them either. A lot of my friends loved the movie "Running on Empty" too.

I personally found American muscle cars at that phase in my life much more appealling - although I also had a thing for Alfetta GTV-6s, which I called an Italian Torana when pressed why I wasn't into Aussie muscle cars.

I'm not sure if it was a terrible Adelaide fashion thing, but many kids between 1982 -1984 at high school wore Fox Holden (red with blue and white stripes on the sleeves) and Ford jackets (dark blue with white and pale blue stripes on the sleeves). It really was the height of high school fashion at the time. I had to be different and wore a pale blue Chevrolet jacket with Corvette and Camaro patches.

Of course, now I reflect how my own silly version of brand snobbery made me fail to appreciate just how good some of our best muscle cars were by world standards.

I think we produed some well styled and well engineered (albeit poor built) cars.

I even think something as well styled as the still born Torana GTR-X (thing about it, it debut in 1970 and looks similar to Maserati Khamsin but pre-dates it by 3 years) says alot about how we sometimes sell short our automotoive capabilities as a nation.

Anyway, thats my morning musings for the day.
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It was red and he had it sprayed to metallic blue.

 

Yep. I had NFI why they didn't make the GTR-X. I liked the Holden Hurricane, too, but understood why that was only a design exercise.

 

You know, C2 brakes were probably the best production brakes in the world and generally, Corvettes handled and braked very well - the downside is that Corvettes rode very harshly when compared to contemporaries and i guess this was reflection of American roads at the time - big, open and smooth roads.

I kinda lament that modern globalisation has meant that cars reflect less and less the brand values and road conditions of their country of origin.

 

I think he was talking about the Mustang. Brakes and handling definitely marginal.

C2 Vette 427 has 4 wheel ventilated disks with 4 pot calipers all round. I don't believe there was another production car with that specification at the time.

 

Opps. My bad . Sorry Wes. I stand corrected.

 

No worries.

Thanks Ian for the clarification.

My first car was an LE Monaro.

I wouldn't call it a muscle car though. Didn't have much grunt at all. Just looked good IMO.

At the same time, my Father had a Ford Landau, which really was a very good thing. Was an interesting garage.

Weeks prior to finally getting the Monaro which I really had my heart set on, I was extremely tempted by a 1968/9 Mustang with a 351W. I think it was a manual but so long ago can't be sure. Was RHD. Was at a dealership across the road from Blair Shepherd's SuperPeformance at Windsor.

I should have bought the Mustang in hindsight I suppose but anyway ........

 

I duuno Wes.

I think had you bought the Mustang instead, you may have regretted not buying the Monaro whilst they were still very affordable.

 

Poor Wes.

 

Boomerang tail lights on the GTR-X - seems like that Aussie car inspired more than just one Italian stylist.

 

Mercedes for a time had an Aussie designer working for them - I recall reading that the c-pillar of the CLK from the late 90's came from the HK-HG Monaro.

 

I paid $6,015 for the LE Monaro in 1983.

The Mustang was listed at $ 9,500 before any discussion.

 

KIAC