AMC Immortals Vol 1

This special edition of Australian Muscle Car magazine features just five cars. Not just any cars, though, because this is the ‘famous five’ from the halcyon era of late 1960s/early 1970s Australian touring car racing: Ian Geoghegan’s ’67 model Ford Mustang GTA, Norm Beechey’s Holden Monaro GTS 350, Allan Moffat’s Trans-Am Boss Mustang, Bob Jane’s Camaro ZL1 and the Geoghegan/Moffat ‘Super Falcon’. These were the machines at the forefront of the old Improved Production formula – a period which for many remains the high point of touring car racing in Australia. They are in every way the ultimate in heavy metal touring car muscle: big horsepower V8-powered, fat-tyred sedans and coupes with the visual presence to match their thunder and fury: even standing still they looked fast and menacing. Ian…

AN AUSTRALIAN RACING LEGEND To generations of fans, Allan Moffat’s Trans-Am Mustang is simply the greatest touring car Australia has ever seen. Even those too young to have personally witnessed its on-track performances have grown to understand its unique status, from listening wide-eyed to countless stories told by their fathers of the excitement created every time it hit the track. Australian enthusiasts had never seen anything like it when it erupted onto the local scene in 1969. Sure, they’d already seen earlier model notchback Mustangs driven with great skill by the likes of Pete Geoghegan, Bob Jane, Norm Beechey and others, but Moffat’s ‘69 Trans-Am was like something from another planet. Here was a brand new, state-of-the-art Ford factory racer fresh from the US where it had been built to…

BOB JANE AND HIS BALLISTIC BOW TIE This is the toughest of the tough. A brutally powerful son of a bitch Chevrolet that redefined the term ‘muscle car’ when it erupted onto Australian race tracks in 1971. In those days, the local tin-top scene was dominated by Ford Mustangs powered by small-block V8s, but no one had seen anything like this. The ZL-1 was the pinnacle of Chevy high performance. More than three decades later, it still is. Behind the wheel was Jane, who had already claimed two Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) titles driving Jaguars in the early 1960s. After five seasons campaigning Mustangs with moderate success in the mid to late 1960s, the former champ was clearly hungry for more crowns. Under the menacing raised bonnet of his…

If you’re into muscle cars we’ve got you covered with Australia’s finest and most authoritative publication. Australian Muscle Car magazine brings to life the rich heritage of our unique home grown high performance car industry. Also available is The Ultimate Australian Muscle Car DVD collection – Issue ONE to FIFTY. Presented in an easy-to-use digital format on two DVDs, Issue ONE to FIFTY is a must-have for collectors and new readers of the definitive magazine dedicated to the Aussie muscle car. A subscription & the ultimate collection? Now that’s a great gift idea! Subscribe for 2 years and save over 25% off the cover price Yes! I would like to subscribe to Australian Muscle Car for: 2 Years/14 issues ONLY $109 - SAVE OVER 25%! 1 Year/7 issues ONLY $59 -…

MUSTANG THE GREAT Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan was one of the mega stars of Australian tin-top racing in the 1960s and ‘70s. During that time, he drove Jaguars, Ford Cortinas, Falcon GTs and GT-HOs, Valiant Pacers and Chargers, Porsches, Monaros and Toranas. However, more fans remember his incredible achievements in V8 Ford Mustangs than any other model. How could anyone forget those spectacular white Ford coupes, with the big fella’s right foot flat to the floor and the tail stepped out, beautifully balanced on a knife’s edge of adhesion. There were lots of other great drivers who faced Geoghegan in similar notchback coupe Mustangs during this era, including Bob Jane, Greg Cusack, Rod Coppins, Paul Fahey and Neil Allen. However, it was big Pete’s sublime talent; that mercurial, mesmerising, flowing style…

FOREIGN OWNERSHIP Since its inception in 1960, the ATCC title had been dominated by imported makes - firstly by Jaguar, before the mid-’60s onslaught of imported V8 Mustangs. For 1970, the challenge of building an Aussie car to the standards of the latest US Trans-Am factory racers intrigued Norm Beechey. With the enthusiastic support of Holden and Shell, Beechey and his small local team broke new ground which typified the ‘can do’ Aussie approach. They designed and constructed an HT GTS 350 Monaro Improved Production car which not only proved a match for the megadollar US imports but was built with a fraction of the development budgets that the Ford and GM Trans-Am factory teams enjoyed. The amount of local content in the Monaro went much further than the ‘Made…