The forgotten XC : The Allan Moffat Special

[Graeme]

I found myself looking for further information on the XA GTHO and stumbled across a brief magazine article regarding the Allan Moffat Special released in November/December 1977.

This was obviously a marketing ploy, following upon the heels of the famous Bathurst 1-2 result.

Only five hundred of these four door sedan specials were made, and I have to admit I don't remember ever seeing one. Please respond on the Forum if you can add further past/current information.

The article doesn't mention colour options but illustrates a B&W publicity photo showing blackouts over the centre bonnet area and along the sills and wheelarches.

Each AMS was apparently fitted with the 4.9 V8 with dual exhaust system and the choice of manual or automatic transmission. Other inclusions were an LSD and four wheel disc brakes, sports handling suspension, and GS type sports steel wheel rims and driving lights. The wheel rims appear colour coded to the body colour.

The manual sedan's price was stated as $7450.00, being a saving of approximately $400.00 over a similarly equiped Falcon 500 sedan.

[SWRT]

Ever heard of a Dick Johncon SVO XE or XF or a Brock Falcon from the time Brock drove a Sierra.

[Nick Short]

Graeme, I posted a reply, but it seems to have vanished in the system, so here goes again! I have a photo of a Moffat XC, from a past issue of Unique Cars, and it is as you describe - white with black sills and arches, and an XB GT style bonnet blackout. It also has twin headlights, and the ad mentions the 4 wheel discs, 302 and 4 speed. Nice looking car, for $4800. Another issue had an ad for a "Moffat EB GTHO", which was described as "one of 15 built" and was a supercharged 5 litre, with "big brakes". Otherwise it looked fairly standard EB GT - blue with the aero kit. Any info on that one?

[Graeme]

Dick Johnson played loosely with the "special vehicles" game, and the two road cars I remember were both 4.1 six cylinder cars with a turbocharging option. The cars are the XE Grand Prix in a TruBlu type body colour, and the XF SVO in white.

I'll get around to digging out storeies on these limited build cars.

And, yes, the Brock organisation did rework EA Falcons and NA Fairlanes and a few 4WD Mavericks. As far as I remember, these were the last cars that the Brock organisation played with following the forgotten Lada Samara cars. MOTOR magazine articles covered most of Brock's post-Holden work; WHEELS magazine was pretty much in the cold as it contributed to the bad hype surrounding the Director/Polarizer issues in 1987 and went on to criticise other matters relating to Brock's 1987/88 range of VL Commodore road cars.

[Graeme]

I recall Allan Moffat acted as a consultant on a range of EB Falcon specials including a model labelled "HO" and featuring A.M.'s signature on the bodywork. For the moment I can't remember who built the cars but it may have been Phase Autos or A.M.'s old mate Mick Webb.

I'll look into it further, but a whole lot of Ford specials appeared in the early 90's when Ford put out tenders for it's "special vehicles" operation, which as you know was ultimately given to Tickford.

Hate to throw you, but traditionally I'm a Holden man, though I do definitely appreciate some of the Ford product ....in the early 90's I had a 1979 XD wagon; it wasn't just a plain GL as it featured the original factory 5.8 V8 option with FMX auto trans and mandatory LSD, etc ....but strangely no "S" pack option. All that grunt and no tacho needle to watch !!!

[Nick Short]

Graeme, Australia certainly seems to have offered far more variety in its model line-ups than the UK! Way back, when you could tick as many or as few options boxes, there were dozens of different specs for even normal production cars! I guess that must have been a pain for the guys on the production line actually building them - "Where's that build sheet again? So is this one having the full works, or do we delete the blackouts and fit the wood grain console?" etc....But later on you had all those short-run "specials" like the Moffat cars or the Goss XB, plus all the wonderful Brock offerings etc. It's the rare and unusual that I'm into, either the homologation specials or "name" cars, even though the latter generally were only to shift slow sellers or end-of-line cars! After all, wasn't that the idea of the 370-off "Option 96" XC Cobras?
Here in the UK we had many fabulous homologation cars (for Ford alone; GT40, GT70, RS Turbo, RS1700T, RS500 etc) but fewer really exciting options packages that I can recall, other than Ford again. They offered all sorts of things, up to the X-Pack, which involved major body revisions to the Escort and Capri, with big Zakspeed-style arches and sills, and all sorts of engine, trim and wheel options. Those were the days!

[Graeme]

Yeah Nick, Ozland started embracing pommie cars after WW2 but after Holden grabbed a foothold in the fifties the tide moved toward locally produced cars which were American inspired.

These days, Australia builds better V8 muscle cars than does the good ol' USA, and soon we'll be proving that via the re-badged Monaro.

To a large extent, the XC Cobra was to Ford in 1978 as the HX Monaro LE was to Holden in 1976, both being marketing specials to sell off the final batch of full size coupes. The real difference between the two is that the thirty "Bathurst" Cobras did serve a racing homologation purpose, much of which was to address body/suspension rigidity notably mentioned by Jackie Ickx at Bathurst in 1977.

[XR6WGN]

Originally posted by Graeme
Dick Johnson played loosely with the "special vehicles" game, and the two road cars I remember were both 4.1 six cylinder cars with a turbocharging option. The cars are the XE Grand Prix in a TruBlu type body colour, and the XF SVO in white.

I'll get around to digging out storeies on these limited build cars.



And when you do you'll find that Dick Johnson did not build the Grand Prix XEs. They were actually built in Melbourne by a company called the Country Dealer Team (CDT) remember the ZZ/Z Gemini and the CDT Commodore (around VH I think, but they all look the same to me anyway)
Well anyway they did a run of XEs which included Flares/body kit, 15" Enkie 2 peice wheels, Scheel interiors (similar to the ESPs). All were painted in a colour similar to the TrueBlu with Grand Prix stickers and yes some of them were turbos.

After the V8 was discontinued at the end of the XE, Dick commisioned HKS turbos in Japan to develop a turbo conversion for the 4.1 EFI but then turned to the mustang for racing.

The XF SVO was not turbo'd and did didn't make it and he also tried an EA SVO (red with gold wheels like his Sierra's and also had Recaro/Momo interior like the XF) that didn't eventuate either.

It was Bob McWilliam's Phase Autos who built the HO EB. It only got Alan's Signature if the "whole Hog" including supercharger was specified. Bob McWilliam actually designed and made the spoilers/reverse scoop on the Cobra and went on to build the spoiler kits on the racing XD/XEs.

Any other questions just ask.

cheers

Paul B
XR6WGN

[Esses]

The good old days weren't so long ago. We have an EA Falcon now, but perusing my XF workshop manual, you could order 5 different diff. ratios ( 2.77,2.78,2.92,3.20,3.50 ) , 3 transmissions ( 4 if it was a ute or van ) & at least 3 different engine specs. Then there were the leaded XF, the unleaded, & the final Series 2 that had 4-wheel discs & power steering standard. Ours was a Series 2 S-Pack with EFI, BIG injectors & extractors/straight-through exhaust that caught out many a 302 & scared the odd 351.

[XR6WGN]

Originally posted by Steve
The good old days weren't so long ago. We have an EA Falcon now, but perusing my XF workshop manual, you could order 5 different diff. ratios ( 2.77,2.78,2.92,3.20,3.50 ) , 3 transmissions ( 4 if it was a ute or van ) & at least 3 different engine specs. Then there were the leaded XF, the unleaded, & the final Series 2 that had 4-wheel discs & power steering standard. Ours was a Series 2 S-Pack with EFI, BIG injectors & extractors/straight-through exhaust that caught out many a 302 & scared the odd 351.

Hmmmm I think the good old days that's being spoken here is something like:

200, 250 250-2V six cyl
302, 351 (2 barrel) and 351 GT
Close ratio / wide ratio manuals
C4, C6 and FMX autos
performance rear end ratios

and seriously an Spac Xf scaring 302s and 351s - I guess it's ok if you never took the motor over 3000 rpm LoL

Cheers

Paul B
XR6WGN

[Esses]

Hey, I said "caught out" & "scared", especially 302's with tiny little 2-barrel carbies & heaps of pollution gear, which the EFI largely did away with. 351's I've always found to be quite arrogant, assuming that nothing will come close, so the sight of a mere XF giving them curry "scares" them into flattening it, usually at the expense of traction. The 4.1 EFI revs to 4500 rpm, if you can stand the noise.

[drof]

Nick, if you use the search function for moffat gtho you will find your thread about this car and my reply to it and the specs of this car. I couldn't at the time post pictures of the car but now I have the technology so I will post the pictures in the next couple of days.

Regards

Dave from Kiwiland!!

[mustang1966]

Steve your right about the 302 2V cars. many years ago when looking for a V8 XD-XE I came across an XE 302. What a doggie car. I know the XF S pack I had in latter years would have kick it's butt.

I ended up find a worked XD 351 Fairmont Ghia with an FMX and someone put a 9 inch in it. Now That was a tough car with a 650 Holley, Cam, mild head work and a 3 inch single system, pity the Police and RTA did not approve.

XR6, you forgot to mention the Mighty 289 W in you list of ford engines. Plus how can we forget the GREAT/MIGHTY Top Loader boxes. Ohhhhhhhhh baby

[Nick Short]

What did the police and RTA not approve of? Clearly SA is a more relaxed place for cars, as when I first got the Cobra (in Adelaide) it was running an unsilenced twin system, and as it was high compression with a huge Holley it sounded like a drag car! It had no handbrake and was missing a gear knob, but the authorities had no problems with it rumbling and crackling deafeningly down the road, spitting unburned (and sometimes burning!) fuel out the pipes. For the UK I had a lot of work just to get it legal-ish, but my local MOT test station made a "few" allowances over emissions (carbon canister long removed...) as long as it had a working handbrake and a silencer welded into each side of the exhaust system. Not quite legal, but I'm still running it on Aussie plates and no cops have ever pulled me over! Touch wood...

[mustang1966]

Yeah nick SA sounds a little more relaxed. Ford starters the Holley did not meet emissions. The noise factor of the cars was another thing. The sat a little low so I am sure the ride height was of interest to them. I guess the list could go on.

I drove the car so I took the risks. :)

[loste_treasures]

Originally posted by Nick Short
What did the police and RTA not approve of? Clearly SA is a more relaxed place for cars, as when I first got the Cobra (in Adelaide) it was running an unsilenced twin system, and as it was high compression with a huge Holley it sounded like a drag car! It had no handbrake and was missing a gear knob, but the authorities had no problems with it rumbling and crackling deafeningly down the road, spitting unburned (and sometimes burning!) fuel out the pipes. For the UK I had a lot of work just to get it legal-ish, but my local MOT test station made a "few" allowances over emissions (carbon canister long removed...) as long as it had a working handbrake and a silencer welded into each side of the exhaust system. Not quite legal, but I'm still running it on Aussie plates and no cops have ever pulled me over! Touch wood...

Hi Nick,

I've read in a few of your posts that you have a cobra in the U.K??

How long have you had it over there? What do the locals think about it??

Im very interested to see (and read) of your day to day life with an australian classic overseas........

Regards,

George

[drof]

This might shed some light on the subject.

Dave from Kiwiland!!

[SWRT]

Ever heard of a "Ford Rally team" Ford Escort 2L RS2000 special or a Toyota Celica "Amaroo" coupe?
I found these in my "Top cars of 79" magazine even though I was born 8 years later.

[SWRT]

Also Nick,
How did you get your Cobra over to the UK from Adelaide?

[Nick Short]

OK, a briefish account of how a Cobra got to the UK......I'd wanted one since first seeing one in the '80s in rural SA (my 1st visit to Oz), but did the house-buying and marriage thing first, and it wasn't until '99 that I started to look for one. I'd really expected to buy a V8 hardtop rather than a Cobra, as I hadn't seen too many for sale, but although I found good 250s and good autos and junk V8s I couldn't find what I was after. Then out of the blue Cobra 257 came along and I snapped it up. I had it for a while in Adelaide, and it was interesting to see people's reactions to it - driving alongside and winding down the window to hear the engine was one that surprised me! I shipped it from Port Adelaide in a container via Singapore, and it took 7 weeks to Felixstowe on the east coast of the UK. I then had to register it with a UK plate (still not fitted!) and road tax disc, and of course get insurance. In the early '90s insurance for an under-25 year old for a Ford Sierra RS was AUD$65,000 per year! No, I'm not exaggerating.... I'm older than that, but I had no idea how much I was going to get stung for, but on a classic policy I get unlimited mileage and fully-comprehensive for AUD$300 a year. I pay more to insure my 1 litre Suzuki Swift....
Driving it over here provokes quite extreme reactions, as much because the sound of a loud V8 is very rare (TVRs apart), but the physical size of the car, coupled with its garish stripes certainly catches the eye. Young lads usually jump up and down, waving and cheering even though they haven't a clue what it is, and other motorists let me out at busy junctions, hoot their horns and flash their lights! Petrol is the thing - very expensive over here (128 litre tank and over AUD$2 per litre), and needing bottles of chemicals added to every tankful, but I only drive it on dry weekends so it isn't too bad. I'm currently trying to raise the profile of Aussie cars over here, as everyone knows of US muscle cars but nobody has heard of Aussie cars or is even aware there is such a thing. I've tracked down some modern Aussie V8s in the UK, but more exciting for me are the Chargers and Falcon GTs that are beginning to come out of the woodwork, some imported from new! Cobra 257 is going off the road for the winter (salt will rust it in no time, and even damp roads cause wheelspin) when I'll fettle the engine and finish off any bits and pieces that a 24 year-old car needs doing - it's not concours condition, but it's pretty good now.