FORD’S ATMO ARSENAL
WHILE the GT-HO set the bar with a
fl ourish, future Fords never shied away
from chasing the same crazy, naturally-
aspirated highs which culminated with
the 5.6-litre Tickfords from 2002.
The old Windsor V8 was fed an
angrier cam, stroked from 5.0 to 5.6
litres, and screamed out a potent, for
the era, 250kW and 500Nm. In 1700kg
TE50 guise, it was enough to knock
off the 5.7-litre HSV Clubsport in a
comparo in these very pages.
Ford then plonked the ‘Boss’ 5.4-litre
V8s in its BA XR8 and GT but, while
outgunning the old Windsor nail
for grunt and economy, couldn’t
match it for sheer noise, ferocity
and excitement. Which made the T3
T-Series’ stroker the best naturally-
aspirated Falcon donk of the modern
era in our books.
in and hobbled Australia’s most-loved
manufacturers, just as the great pace
race was stepping up a gear.
But enough wailing and gnashing
of teeth. The fact remains that 40
years ago, Australians were building
production cars with astonishing, world-
beating power.
Take the GT-HO Phase III, for
instance. In Ford Australia’s hands, the
5.8-litre Cleveland V8 was in a league
of its own. With the Phase
III rumoured to have
an easy 270kW in
reserve and a
derestricted
redline
exceeding
7000rpm,
it packed
more
poke than
Ferrari’s
V12-
powered
365 GTB4
Daytona. It was
a similar story with
the E49 R/T Valiant
Charger – its Australian-
made 4.3-litre Hemi straight-six
had more power and more torque than
Porsche’s infamous 930 Turbo.
Chrysler put the Charger out to
pasture, but Ford and Holden never
stopped duking it out with thundering,
naturally-aspirated V8s. That’s how the
Aussie car market kept on, really – if
you wanted a hot new muscle car, you
chose a side and got a big V8 up front,
a gearbox in the middle and huge diff
spinning the back axle.While the hangover from the supercar
scare, emissions regulations and general
malaise slowed the Australian muscle
car’s progress back to chart-topping
power, it was never going to stay down
for too long.
It took a rabid band of moral crusaders
to rob Australia of the prodigiously
quick GT-HO Phase IV, but in 2002
all it took to kill HSV’s world-beating
supersports coupe was an unbalanced
chequebook.
Designed as a road-
going racer, the HRT
427 was destined
to compete with
the very best
the world
had to offer.
Undeterred
by the
daunting
prospect,
Holden
Racing Team
engineers
promised a V8
capable of a tyre-
shredding 420kW and
650Nm.
They delivered, too: the
HRT 427’s 7.0-litre was the epitome
of insanity and desirability. Holden
plucked it from the Le Mans-dominating
Corvette C5R, had it hand-built in
Australia with a bespoke cylinder head
and shoehorned it into a production car.
Each bank of four cylinders scored its
own air intake feeding into individual
carbon-fibre velocity stacks and throttle
bodies which, coincidentally, is the
same system used on the window-The Monaro HRT
427 received 86 firm
orders. With 420kW
in proper trim, we’re
not surprisedHRT’s 427
was the
epitome of
insanity and
desirability
92 march 2015 motormag.com.au