Following the 1984 season, Australian racing legend, Dick Johnson, realizing he was in need of a car eligible to race in the new Group A class, purchased a pair of fox-bodied Ford Mustangs and prepared to compete in the 1985 Australian Touring Car Championship.
Originally raced in the 1984 DTM series by Zakspeed, the Mustangs, which the German racing outfit had told Johnson were 'in perfect race condition, with strong 302 engines,' were anything but. A few days after taking delivery, Johnson took the V8 powered Mustangs to Bathurst for a practice session. After his first run up the mountain Johnson commented that his Mustang "would not pull a sailor off your sister." Severely underpowered, Johnson took the Mustangs back to his Queensland workshop where he rebuilt the motors and properly prepared the Fords for ATCC competition... [read more]
For additional information on Dick Johnson and his ATCC prepared Ford Mustangs, click here
Image, Info and VIdeo: Motorsport Retro
Editorial: Justin W. Coffey
2.26.2010
DOMESTIC INDULGENCE // DICK JOHNSON'S FORD MUSTANG
TAGS //
CULTURE,
Domestic Indulgence,
Group A,
Mustang,
VIDEO
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Badass does not adequately describe this. A true gem. Truly spectacular.
ReplyDeleteVery very cool car! Excellent blog BTW.
ReplyDeleteDaveK
Fabulous video, the telecasts back there were just awesome. I have watched video's of Bathurst so many times i've lost count. When i was young, i would wake up early on weekends and put one of the races on that had been taped on VHS tapes. The commentary was so entertaining, quick wit and off-the-cuff remarks were just brilliant. Obviously helped by great characters like Dick Johnson!
ReplyDeleteIt really is missed in today's sport, everything is so polished and rehearsed that it becomes boring. In these days (i sound far older than 27! lol) the commentary was just as entertaining as the on-track action. Murray Walker had a similar flair but had been doing it for even longer than our local guys!
Love the footage of Lakeside. We've just lost Oran Park here, so it is great to see that Lakeside has been resurrected. I must get up there and drive it one day, i remember watching it with the Group A's would race around there! Sure a great flowing piece of tarmac! And how good are the power slides :-)