Ford

[rustyengines]

Who would like this
and it is being kept in a air bag
Ian

[cobbadog]

You wont hear me say this too often but that is one Ferd I would like.

[steeleye]

Being pressurised keeps all the dust out yet can still be displayed. Clever idea.

[Kim S]

Valiant Charger with a straight 6 E49 was faster than the Falcon, the Ford was a family car with a shopping trolley of bolt on's ....... 

[wee-allis]

Yes Kim, maybe in a straight line, but at the end of the day, which one was further in front?  Don't get me wrong, I've always been a Mopar man, but the Charger didn't have the handling of the Henry. It had to do with the wheelbase, apparently.

Years ago, I came across a Valiant ute with a shortened wheelbase, (about 4 inches from memory), and was told by the owner that it was originally set up by Chrysler to the dimensions of the Charger, for secret testing in Australia. Who knows? Facts get clouded and embellished over time.

Cheers, Steve.

[cobbadog]

A neighbour around the corner still uses his Charger E49 as his Company car and daily driver. All it needs is a bloody good detail and polish. He isn't afraid to push it along the highway either.

[Scott]

Hello all
And what beat the big phase 3 and the E49 at bathurst in 1972? Poor little Torana with an itty bitty 186 6 cylinder red motor. 

Stupidest thing I ever did was knock back an original LJ GTR XU-1. White it was.

Cheers Scott

[Kim S]

but the Charger didn't have the handling of the Henry. It had to do with the wheelbase,

The Fords were more a less developed with Bathurst in mind and on many other tracks were done by the Chryslers, in NZ the Chargers dominated for years, Allan Moffat  was sent to NZ with the Fords to sort out the Chryslers, Moffat had no success against them on the tighter NZ track, all the 6 cylinder cars handled better than the bent eights with too much weight in the wrong places!

[sunshine man]

Hi scott
  1972  bathurst wet, big power is hard to put to ground , that gave the torana a big advantage against the muscle cars.
I stand corrected didn't the lj toranas have a 202.they were available in the road cars.
I can recall a mate with a 4 door lj 202 engine , opal gearbox.fancy putting that bit of junk behind a 6 cylinder engine, every time you gave the car a bit of gas you guessed it gearbox failure.problem solved aussie 4 speed
Regards sunshineman

[wee-allis]

Funny how memories fail us at times. My 1972 LJ was 202 powered with the Ausie 4 speed. The LC's from memory were the last of the Opals. The LJ XU1's became known as the "Giant Killers" because of their consistant podium finishes.

[Scott]

Hello all
Quite right and I'd glad to be corrected. Instead of the LJ I brought a HR Premier wagon with all the X2 gear. I thought the wagon would be more practical. It had the 186 with triple SU's and all the go better stuff.

Cheers and ta
Scott 

[sunshine man]

Hi all
 Gearboxes were still sourced from europe (opal) for use in lj toranas .holden used sometimes what ever they could find to make or finish a car .example we had from brand new ht holden premier 186 unboosted drum brakes all round,2 speed auto, metalic gold paint, premier interior this is how it came from factory.
What about the hb toranas with the horrible vauxhall 1200 cc engine .
Starfire is another engine holden should have left out of their cars yuk!, a 202 with 2 cylinders removed and a cam to try and smooth out the rough running .
All the big names here did use some small engines sourced fom over seas .chrysler centura french for example.
Regards sunshineman

[wee-allis]

How things change. There was a time once when Wheels Magazine gave the mighty Vauxhall Viva the Car of the Year award. It must have been a slow year for ALL of the competition.
Cheers, Steve.

[sunshine man]

Hi
 Yes the vauxhall viva , my datsun 1600 was always getting those cars stuck in the carbys .what a pain.
Vauxhall engines - crankshaft looked like a coat hanger bent into shape , 3 main bearing block. Tiny little big end bearings -short lived. Cylinder head more suited to a staionary engine.
The list goes on. They were good on fuel probably because the owner had to push them  always breaking down.
Sorry vaxuhall owners I saw a lot of these engines in my time to know they were far from the quality of other makes at the time.regards sunshineman

[Kim S]

Have a friend with a Scrapyard in Riverstone who had a huge Koehring cable crane that would pick up a large steel plate box filled with concrete and this was dropped from full height on unsuspecting Viva's, they were about one inch high after this and made for easy loading on the scrap truck.........