This genuine XW Falcon GTHO Phase II has been winning shows recently, but go back 30 years and it was winning races

Although the full effect of the Australian muscle car war really hit its peak in mid 1972, it began getting into its stride back in 1963, when Holden released its S4 EH. The annual 1000-kilometre race held at Bathurst each year actually started out as a 500-mile race at Philip Island in 1960. There was no direct manufacturer involvement in that race, which was won by John Roxburgh and Frank Coad in a Vauxhall Velox.

That first race was fairly nondescript but it grew in popularity and, in 1963, was moved to the sleepy NSW town of Bathurst, where it was held on public roads. That ’63 event saw the introduction of Holden’s S4, the first Australian car built specifically to win that race. Although it failed to achieve its goal, it spawned a local performance car industry that quickly snowballed, but which was then all but snuffed out in 1972.

That little S4 Holden prompted Ford to retaliate, and in 1965 it hit Bathurst with its Cortina GT500. The rules at that time required either 100 locally built cars to be manufactured or 250 imported. Ford’s competition adviser, Harry Firth, set about building a small run, thought to be of around 120, of special Bathurst Cortinas, that went on to win that year’s event. However, the following season minimum production numbers for locally assembled cars was raised to 250, deeming the Cortina GT500 ineligible.

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If you’re a Mopar fan and Adrian Betterton’s ’71 Valiant doesn’t get your hair standing on end, you’d better check you’ve got a pulse

Goosebumps rise across your skin and the hair on the back of your neck stands to attention. A shiver runs down your spine as you experience that throwback from caveman days known as the fight or flight reaction. It was a natural defence mechanism employed if we experienced something threatening or dangerous, like a dog and its hackles. The body automatically puffed up your lustrous coat of hair to make your caveman self appear larger than he actually was, thereby hopefully intimidating any potential threat.

Of course, we are no longer quite so hirsute, nor do the same things pose a threat, but that original, basic defence mechanism is still there, showing itself when it deems appropriate. For any true enthusiast, one of those moments is the firing of an all-American big block V8 like the 512ci Mopar in Adrian Betterton’s 1971 Chrysler Valiant. The starter motor whines as the crank inside the engine begins to turn. After a few chugs, coughs and splutters, 512 cubic inches of American iron roars into life, the ground vibrating underfoot as it finds idle. The motor begins to warm, and the deep, guttural Mopar roar begins to surge and ebb under the spell of an aggressive camshaft spinning in the bowels of the beast.

Although it can’t quite be pinpointed, there is definitely something primal, something quintessentially masculine about the roar of a big block V8. Adrian’s particular 440-based engine is a perfect example, wrapped up in a clean, aggressive Valiant shell.

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