GTHO, another hypothetical

[Paull]

Wouldn't matter, 'Motor' would find that the ashtray is too small and the holden bogans would have temporary loss of consciousness every time it is mentioned and be permanently unaware of it being in existance.

[chevypower]

I think it should have a 5.0 EcoBoost (Bobcat) engine.

[Yellow_Festiva]

I chose the first reply.

Ok... I don't think huge engine numbers are needed.

I think the GTHO should be an extension of the regular GT, but with these additions / modifications:

351kw output, free flowing exhaust, uprated brakes as standard, unique wheels with wider 275 rubber on the back, some lighter materials used in the suspension or hanging panels like aluminium / carbon fibre (to try and get it around 50-70kg lighter than standard GT), a bonnet scoop, adjustable suspension, dedicated body kit, etc.

It needs to be sold at a price premium of around 20 grand above the GT, yet be around .5 to .7 seconds faster over the 0-100 as well as the 1/4 mile.

Finally, a limited addition of hmmmm don't know? 351 seems too many? But then again, if our allocation of 300 Focus RS for 60K will be snapped up pretty quickly by many accounts, perhaps 351 is not too many.

Just my opinion of course ;)

[SteveJH]

I'd say work on weight and handling the most. Then put it around the neurburgring and try get it around in something close to the time put up by the Porsche Panamera or Cadillac CTS-V.

If it can get close to, or beat them, in full road trim, it would be a worthy successor to the GTHO. Afterall, one of the two is the current fastest four door production car around a race track. It would also justify the presumably quite high cost such a car would have.

And some of the advances made can flow on down to the next generation of FPV's and Fords.

Its expensive the first time you do anything, after that it gets much cheaper.

[DJR-351]

Without the racing pedigree the GT-HO is meaningless, it owed its existence to the "Great Race", without that it is nothing but a marketing gambit and a hollow purchase riding on the back of past greatness for those that would buy one....

Purely a personal feeling....

RIP GTHO

[mik]

it would be nice to have 2010 GTHO, i think they lost money on ph3 if memory serves? so they`re probably not in a hurry to do that at this point in time, it would have HUGE shoes to fill though, it would have to compete with a legend thats had 39 years to cement itself as the greatest in most aussie enthusiasts minds, every now and then i watch this tube clip,ah the memories, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toLPTjE1GZk
screw it, c`mon ford Australia build us a another ball tearer gtho..... YES !

[Rastas]

let all these old boys keep their memories of their GTHO, if FPV or ford want to build a true fast falcon, call it "peregrine" , after all the peregrine falcon is the fastest animal in the world......

[mik]

hmmm i dunno Rastas, i get the connection but it sounds a bit.......dare i say poofy...

[GTP owner]

I would buy a gtho up to around the same price as a w427. I did not buy one of the w427s in the end because the interior was rubbish and confirmed it to me as the ultimate bogan mobile that it was aimed at.
For all of the speculation, how many would actually buy one of these hos. Much as the w427, you can generate heaps of good intentions, but very few will actually pay for a car that is in the same league as the nissan gtr, the audi rs4, the bmw m3. Therefore it has to match these cars in all areas.
I don't give a stuff about the hallowed name of the gtho - i am too young to have seen it in action. It's racing pedigree means nothing to me. So i don't think that the badge should be kept in history. Reuse it by all means. It is just a name. What its should stand for or not is irrelevant if i am going to buy one.

[ELGT4me]

Originally Posted by DJR-351

Without the racing pedigree the GT-HO is meaningless, it owed its existence to the "Great Race", without that it is nothing but a marketing gambit and a hollow purchase riding on the back of past greatness for those that would buy one....

Purely a personal feeling....

RIP GTHO

Agreed 100%

[302 XC]

So holden built a limited number build W427
How much did they cost to build and how much did they sell for ???
Were they a money making excersize for holden ???
So after 30 odd years and countless $$$$ holden made something to try and take the "LEGEND" status of the GTHO ford
Well if you talk to the general public most say "W427" what

The GTHO has been the car to build to,compare to,and aspire to since its was build
They even compared them to the best brockadores of the 80s (yep comparing a 1971 ford to an 1980s holden)
And it still held em back
It wasnt just king in 1971
It was still king for years after if not decades after
It wasnt called the big stick for nothin
We will never see the likes of it (rebadged whatever)again
Yes it would be great if ford build something that would hold the name well into this century
BUT what if it didnt work
Wasnt there an EL GT of sorts
How well was that regarded as a newer style GT ???

[GTP owner]

Originally Posted by 302 XC

Wasnt there an EL GT of sorts
How well was that regarded as a newer style GT ???

It failed abysmally because it was thumped by the Holden product of the day (and the el xr8 185kw), looked ugly, and was more a grand tourer rather than an outright performance car. In one way they are the unrecognised GT, sort of like the ts50 series 3, which was a gt in all but name.
BUT, they sold all of their allocation - so in that respect they were a winner. Ford makes cars to sell. End of story

[ELGT4me]

The EL GT was despised by the "old school" GT Brigade, I too was one of them, however, after having a good hard drive of one they are in deed a "Grand Tourer". They will never be, nor intended to be a "HO". However they can be driven in the city & are quite comfortable on a long cruise, for 1997 suspension & shock engineering they ride & handle fantasticly. I rode around the streets of Bankstown, Homebush, Camden, & Castlereagh in various 'HO's' They we never nice cars in the city, horrible things to drive in the wet, but give them an open road & watch out. Onto the EL GT, most EL GT Owners, who sold them when they were released, are now trying to buy them back. Many "x" series GT owners are now hunting the mighty T3 TE/S 50 down, after realising what great cars they are.The HO was built for Bathurst, nothing more, nothing less.

[GTP owner]

Originally Posted by ELGT4me

The EL GT was despised by the "old school" GT Brigade, I too was one of them, however, after having a good hard drive of one they are in deed a "Grand Tourer". They will never be, nor intended to be a "HO". However they can be driven in the city & are quite comfortable on a long cruise, for 1997 suspension & shock engineering they ride & handle fantasticly. I rode around the streets of Bankstown, Homebush, Camden, & Castlereagh in various 'HO's' They we never nice cars in the city, horrible things to drive in the wet, but give them an open road & watch out. Onto the EL GT, most EL GT Owners, who sold them when they were released, are now trying to buy them back. Many "x" series GT owners are now hunting the mighty T3 TE/S 50 down, after realising what great cars they are.The HO was built for Bathurst, nothing more, nothing less.

Agree with you 100%. I did not look at one because the xr8 was quicker, cheaper, and far more subtle!

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by ELGT4me

The EL GT was despised by the "old school" GT Brigade, I too was one of them, however, after having a good hard drive of one they are in deed a "Grand Tourer". They will never be, nor intended to be a "HO". However they can be driven in the city & are quite comfortable on a long cruise, for 1997 suspension & shock engineering they ride & handle fantasticly. I rode around the streets of Bankstown, Homebush, Camden, & Castlereagh in various 'HO's' They we never nice cars in the city, horrible things to drive in the wet, but give them an open road & watch out. Onto the EL GT, most EL GT Owners, who sold them when they were released, are now trying to buy them back. Many "x" series GT owners are now hunting the mighty T3 TE/S 50 down, after realising what great cars they are.The HO was built for Bathurst, nothing more, nothing less.

Well said indeed times have changed time for the old school GT fans to walk into 2010

[ELGT4me]

Originally Posted by GTP owner

It failed abysmally because it was thumped by the Holden product of the day (and the el xr8 185kw), looked ugly, and was more a grand tourer rather than an outright performance car. In one way they are the unrecognised GT, sort of like the ts50 series 3, which was a gt in all but name.
BUT, they sold all of their allocation - so in that respect they were a winner. Ford makes cars to sell. End of story

So a stroker engine is faster quicker than a non stroker engine, gee that's news, are you serious in stating the GTS/R was a good looking car? Banana Yellow, with Black wheels & a ricer wing? With the instrumentation of a taxi? The EL GT was at least 200KW'S & has recorded 14.9 second quarters, now all we gotta do is work out under which criteria those times were recorded, one up, two up, full tank of fuel? The mighty HO varied between 14.6- 14.2, second quarters, we don't know about driver ability, wheel spin, tyre grip etc. So a 302 cubic inch engine, not designed for Bathurst, runs 14.9 sec quarters, a 351 cubic inch built for Bathurst, no pollution rules, runs between 14.6- 14.2 quarters. Yep, you are right, the old EL GT is a slug. Do yourself a favour a look up the performance times of the older GT's & Monaro's, you might get a shock. XT GT 302 16 SECOND QUARTERS!!! XW GTHO 351 Windsor 14.9 Quarters, Monaro GTS 350 15.8 Quarters, XY GT GT 351 15.5 Quarters. Yep the old EL GT is a slug!!! All times were from Modern Motor Magazine.

[GTP owner]

Originally Posted by ELGT4me

So a stroker engine is faster quicker than a non stroker engine, gee that's news, are you serious in stating the GTS/R was a good looking car? Banana Yellow, with Black wheels & a ricer wing? With the instrumentation of a taxi? The EL GT was at least 200KW'S & has recorded 14.9 second quarters, now all we gotta do is work out under which criteria those times were recorded, one up, two up, full tank of fuel? The mighty HO varied between 14.6- 14.2, second quarters, we don't know about driver ability, wheel spin, tyre grip etc. So a 302 cubic inch engine, not designed for Bathurst, runs 14.9 sec quarters, a 351 cubic inch built for Bathurst, no pollution rules, runs between 14.6- 14.2 quarters. Yep, you are right, the old EL GT is a slug. Do yourself a favour a look up the performance times of the older GT's & Monaro's, you might get a shock. XT GT 302 16 SECOND QUARTERS!!! XW GTHO 351 Windsor 14.9 Quarters, Monaro GTS 350 15.8 Quarters, XY GT GT 351 15.5 Quarters. Yep the old EL GT is a slug!!! All times were from Modern Motor Magazine.

We are getting off topic, but the argument is as relevant for a gtho discussion as it is for the el or indeed the ebgt. If the gt product fails to at least match the rival products, then it will be seen to be a failure. As i said before, the new w427 is in the same price range as the gtr, m3, and c63 amg. It failed against those benchmarks. The elgt was a direct competitor to the gts and gts-r (by price range and size). Holden knew their market and so was happy to stick huge wings on it and paint it yellow. Ford missed the target slightly with its offereing. In fact Ford was actively trying to distance itself from the hsv rival for many years - witness the many comments made that the early t series cars were not directed at competing with the clayton built cars. This was a huge and stupid mistake, allowing for the modern domination of the hot family car market to be held by hsv.
The ts50 series 3 was a worthy car to wear the gt badge, but I think based on the criticism from the fallout over the elgt, they were hesitant to use the gt name again.
So for the modern ho tag, it has to match or preferably beat competitors in the same bracket.