History Project

[YeahNah17]

Hi I’m doing a history project on how Australian Automotive in the 60s and 70s affected Aussie Culture a couple sources I’m focusing on is the HO down the Hume Photo and the Supercar Scare Article
I was just wondering if any of you were around in this period and how these events affected you
Thanks

[Yellow_Festiva]

Perhaps prepare a set of specific questions that you can email to interested parties?

Your request for information is very open ended:

"I was just wondering if any of you were around in this period and how these events affected you?"

It will also allow you to represent your findings in a more succinct manner seeing as they will be based on uniform questions.

Good luck

[Dr Terry]

The 'Supercar Scare" all happened 2 years after I left school, so performance cars, including Series Production race cars were of huge interest. We thought at the time that the Govt. were being quite draconian in banning the V8 LJ & Phase 4 etc.

In hindsight cars of those days were really pretty dangerous, big on power but average brakes & handling along with in many cases, cross-ply tyres & almost no safety devices.

This was also a period of time when the road toll (deaths) were at an all time high & insurance companies were coming down hard on young drivers with high performance cars. Anything with a GT/GTS/GTR badge had insurance premiums out of reach of those under 25.

Looking back it made sense to go to Group C racing rules. Under the old rules the car companies were effectively building race cars to drive on the street. In the US it was arguably worse, look at some of those Big Block Chevs, Fords & Chryslers with 400+ HP on the street, just so they were eligible for NASCAR.

Dr Terry

[YeahNah17]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

The 'Supercar Scare" all happened 2 years after I left school, so performance cars, including Series Production race cars were of huge interest. We thought at the time that the Govt. were being quite draconian in banning the V8 LJ & Phase 4 etc.

In hindsight cars of those days were really pretty dangerous, big on power but average brakes & handling along with in many cases, cross-ply tyres & almost no safety devices.

This was also a period of time when the road toll (deaths) were at an all time high & insurance companies were coming down hard on young drivers with high performance cars. Anything with a GT/GTS/GTR badge had insurance premiums out of reach of those under 25.

Looking back it made sense to go to Group C racing rules. Under the old rules the car companies were effectively building race cars to drive on the street. In the US it was arguably worse, look at some of those Big Block Chevs, Fords & Chryslers with 400+ HP on the street, just so they were eligible for NASCAR.

Dr Terry

Thanks for that
Do you know what modifications Group C allowed teams?

[jaydee]

Hey mate, my car was featured in this ABC production a few years back.
It will answer all your questions, sounds like a great project.
For most of us Boomers and some others, everything car related revolved around Bathurst.
You were either Holden or Ford, Brock or Moffat and a small group went for the MOPAR product, Chargers and the like.

https://www.abc.net.au/tv/wideopenroad/

[ford71V8]

And if you were too young to drive Ford or Holden, you wore a Ford or Holden jacket.


https://www.grailed.com/listings/177...et-made-in-usa

[slowsnake]

Fuel price rise scare stopped every car company in their tracks, they had to really rethink in the early 70's!
In fact I believe the Arab Nations purposely cut back oil production for some reason which I forget, but lining up for fuel was de riguer in Sydney, for a short time, but that's why the companies stopped, high fuel use, or high power cars.
But some other member/s will either disagree with my statement or have their own opinion, but also I believe homologation rules applied, but I know Sydney racing changed in the 70's and that's where I lived and I don't know about other states or Territories


Cheers Billy

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by ford71V8

And if you were too young to drive Ford or Holden, you wore a Ford or Holden jacket.


https://www.grailed.com/listings/177...et-made-in-usa


image

image

There's hardly any good merch anymore - I used to rock the blue SBR jacket with the Ford all over it and the sponsors.

Then the Ford stuff went down hill and didn't look good anymore, so I switched to Nissan jackets when they had a Supercars team.

Then Nissan left and no more Nissan jackets available.

Then my last Nissan jacket flogged out on Friday....

So now I've got a Caterpillar jacket because all the current Supercars jackets looks crap

[PG2]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

....

So now I've got a Caterpillar jacket because all the current Supercars jackets looks crap

I was reading this post thinking, "Please don't tell us you've bought a ****hub jacket."

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by PG2

I was reading this post thinking, "Please don't tell us you've bought a ****hub jacket."

Well he wore the T shirt and hat to Heathcote one year.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

Well he wore the T shirt and hat to Heathcote one year.

My youthful appearance is wearing off at a rate of knots so I have to be careful pulling those stunts these days lest I end up all over the news

Might rock the socks, sandals and Hawaiian shirt next AFF Heathcote, oh and of course cargo shorts.

[ford71V8]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

There's hardly any good merch anymore - I used to rock the blue SBR jacket with the Ford all over it and the sponsors.

Then the Ford stuff went down hill and didn't look good anymore, so I switched to Nissan jackets when they had a Supercars team.

Then Nissan left and no more Nissan jackets available.

Then my last Nissan jacket flogged out on Friday....

So now I've got a Caterpillar jacket because all the current Supercars jackets looks crap

Those jackets were around well before anyone called our touring cars, Supercars, but yes some of the merch today is not so great with great big pricetags.

I bought a V8Supercar / Repco singlet at last Darwin race. Wore it twice and the colour has gone from the back, and now has 2 permanent sweat circles. Never happened before. I should have known it would be dodge, cost me $40 for a tanktop to find out .... missus reckons i should send them a nastygram

[YeahNah17]

To expand in my History Project I have to explain how it affected Australia’s Culture
Does anyone remember the original wheels HO Down the Hume article and the controversy surrounding the photo
Ive read that the photo was a popular poster for the youth of the day
Thanks everyone for the responses so far

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by YeahNah17

To expand in my History Project I have to explain how it affected Australia’s Culture
Does anyone remember the original wheels HO Down the Hume article and the controversy surrounding the photo
Ive read that the photo was a popular poster for the youth of the day
Thanks everyone for the responses so far

Most old school Ford fans have that picture somewhere.
As I side note, that particular car was stolen a few days later never to be seen again.
That is until just recently, bits and pieces found on a farm, it had been cut up.

[Burnout]

Originally Posted by YeahNah17

To expand in my History Project I have to explain how it affected Australia’s Culture
Does anyone remember the original wheels HO Down the Hume article and the controversy surrounding the photo
Ive read that the photo was a popular poster for the youth of the day
Thanks everyone for the responses so far

How it affected people varied;
Some parents wanted these cars off the road, some parents wanted to buy one. Some young people wanted one, but couldn't afford one. Some people didn't care either way, because the roads they lived on would have ruined such vehicles in a matter of weeks, so they drove Landrovers, Land Cruisers, and other 4X4s. Some, I knew never owned a car & just drove a Truck. Most others out bush drove Utes, Holden, Falcon, Valiant.
Lots of people in town/cities drove the uncool basic locally produced sedans. They may have wanted one, but the desire only lasted till their next run down the local, so mostly it was for most people, just conversation.
The other thing you must remember, not everyone read Wheels Magazine.

[Dr Terry]

True but that wasn't until a year or 2 later. Even then, like now, the increased price of petrol didn't deter those with real money from buying L34s, GTs etc. etc.

Dr Terry

[slowsnake]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

True but that wasn't until a year or 2 later. Even then, like now, the increased price of petrol didn't deter those with real money from buying L34s, GTs etc. etc.

Dr Terry

I agree, but the gov of the day blamed high power road cars on youth deaths nationwide, I don't remember anyone I knew owning a XW or XY GT or HO,
We youth were into hotting up older cars, we cut our teeth on porting and polishing, twin or triple carbies, lumpy cams, that's what youth was all about, not driving Fast GT cars, they were designed to race not for the public but 300 units had to be produced minimum for homologation, the spares that went to dealers were "missiles on wheels" and idiots bought them, that's why so many were written off, idiots on the road, not professionals on race tracks



Cheers Billy.

[Burnout]

Even Green, a writer for vehicle magazines started the Super Car Scare in an article he wrote where he took Holden/Ford/Crysler to task over the hot homoligated production Cars, claiming they would increase the road toll and he imagined, the young getting their hands on these cars causing mayhem & death on Australian roads.
He used as examples a couple of serious vehicle collisions over a couple of recent years to press his point. Not least of which was the death of 7 young people in a Valiant Pacer in the NSW Town of Warren. It was a single vehicle accident where all the occupants were killed outright.
His article gained the support of the Minister for Transport in NSW, Milton MORRIS, who incidentally drove as his personal transport, a death trap, commonly known as the Morris Marina.
Morris began a campaign, wildly supported by Even Green to rid the roads of these vehicles, which gained the support of a lot of voters.
And that was that.
The so called fuel crisis came later.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Burnout

Even Green, a writer for vehicle magazines started the Super Car Scare in an article he wrote where he took Holden/Ford/Crysler to task over the hot homoligated production Cars, claiming they would increase the road toll and he imagined, the young getting their hands on these cars causing mayhem & death on Australian roads.
He used as examples a couple of serious vehicle collisions over a couple of recent years to press his point. Not least of which was the death of 7 young people in a Valiant Pacer in the NSW Town of Warren. It was a single vehicle accident where all the occupants were killed outright.
His article gained the support of the Minister for Transport in NSW, Milton MORRIS, who incidentally drove as his personal transport, a death trap, commonly known as the Morris Marina.
Morris began a campaign, wildly supported by Even Green to rid the roads of these vehicles, which gained the support of a lot of voters.
And that was that.
The so called fuel crisis came later.

Evan Green was also a bit of a British Leyland fanboi

[Burnout]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

Evan Green was also a bit of a British Leyland fanboi

Evan Green also ran another idiot program about the lost views from over wide A Pillars ether side of the windscreen.
The result was the skinny little A Pillars on the XA,XB,XC etc which cracked, broke and collapsed in roll overs.
Bloke was just a scribbler.

Sent from my SM-A305YN using Tapatalk

[slowsnake]

The fuel crisis was the cause of all cars being designed to run more efficiently and effectively, I know the year was 1973, I know that because of the car I owned in 1973, a 1966 HD Holden, I remember lining up for fuel, there was a smaller one in Sydney in 1971, lasted 3 weeks, then there was another smaller one in 1977, dident last long, I know that because my second job was in a servo!

But the cars were getting ridiculously high powered and fuel guzzlers, and it was not high powered cars killing youth, but idiots in hotted up sh.t boxes, who thought they could "drive" when they couldent!


Cheers Billy

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by slowsnake

The fuel crisis was the cause of all cars being designed to run more efficiently and effectively,


Cheers Billy

ADR 27A in 76 was a beauty, engines looked great and ran well till that started to bog them down with this new fangled emissions crap.

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

Evan Green was also a bit of a British Leyland fanboi

Evan Green worked for British Leyland. He ran the competition dept. for the Bathurst Mini win (1966) & drove a P76 for the 2nd London to Sydney Marathon

Dr Terry

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

Evan Green worked for British Leyland. He ran the competition dept. for the Bathurst Mini win (1966) & drove a P76 for the 2nd London to Sydney Marathon

Dr Terry

Yep, they even named a P76 after one of the stages (Targa Florio) I believe.

And yes I'm old enough to have been around then

[mondeomatureguy]

Hi Every One,
Yes Evan Green did write an article in the newspaper that killed the High Powered V8s that were built for Bathurst built buy Chrysler, Ford and GMH.
It was Harry Firth and Allan Moffat who refused pit interview's if Evan Green was doing the interview's.

In the end the Govt said "if you build these car's the Govt will never buy another car from you" so Ford, Holden and Chrysler were stopped dead in there tracks.

The sad part was Ford had already built the new GTHOs and the V8 Torana had been tested on and off the race track.
That was in 1972 and we were ripped off and not having the pleasure of seeing theses car's racing.

Then you fast forward to 1977-1978-1979 and Holden released the Torana A9X which wasn't exactly a slow car.

[DRU842]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

Evan Green worked for British Leyland. He ran the competition dept. for the Bathurst Mini win (1966) & drove a P76 for the 2nd London to Sydney Marathon

Dr Terry

Despite his role in starting the Supercar scare, Green would subsequently become a director at GM-Holden.

As I recall he continued as a motoring 'journalist' while on the GMH Board.

[ford71V8]

You bet, plenty of those posters on walls.

I recall something about the photo originally being retouched up so the real speed / rpm was not visible.

Edit - just want to add that you ask how it affected culture, i say it created culture.
The Hey Charger marketing, the panel van scene, Red vs Blue in the schoolyard, etc

[slowsnake]

A little bit from Wiki!


Group C Improved Production Touring Car regulations were introduced by CAMS in 1965 to replace the Appendix J rules which had been in force since 1960. The Australian Touring Car Championship was run to these new rules from 1965 to 1972, initially as a single race championship and from 1969 as a multi round series. Group E regulations defining rules for Series Production Touring Car racing in Australia had previously been introduced with effect from 1 January 1964.[1]

The leading cars of the Improved Production era included the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Nova, Porsche 911S, Holden Monaro HK GTS327, Holden Monaro HT GTS350, Ford Mustang Boss 302, Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 and the Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III.



Cheers Billy.