Australian Muscle Car – July 01, 2019

With new regulations coming for 1980, when
the new Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon
XD would enter the fray, Edsel Ford took over
negotiations with the governing body, but simply
hit a brick wall in the form of CAMS president
John Roxburgh. In fact, the talks went so badly
that Edsel despairingly walked away from the
table in early 1979 and announced that Ford was
pulling out of racing. They had enough on their
plate with launching the XD and couldn’t afford the
embarrassment of engine failures on national TV.
Ironically, as the new touring car formula
approached and CAMS introduced private
homologation because Ford refused to do so,
XD racers like Dick Johnson were given more

andmoreincentives.

“I wasinformedthatno

companysupportwouldbe

forthcoming,”a reectiveMoffattold

mein 1985,“thenoverthenext 12

monthsCAMSbitbybitallowed

everythingthatwasincludedin

thepackagethatEdselFordhad

askedfor,andDickJohnsonwon

histwotouringcarchampionships

withthatpackage!”

All was not well in Broadmeadows.

Despite their success, the hierarchy

at Ford Australia was not particularly

enamoured of motorsport and barely

even acknowledged the Moffat team’s

historic achievement at Mount Panorama

Ford’s lack of support in 1979 left Moffat

high and dry. Barely 18 months after

the stunning Bathurst one-two, Moffat’s

relationship with Ford was over.

Project Pictorials