Canadian born Allan Moffat is one of Australia's most successful racing drivers, and in particular he has scored 4 overall wins in the annual Bathurst touring car race, Australia's premier race with the possible exception of the Australian GP Formula 1 event. His first win was in the 1970 event, driving a Ford Falcon XW GTHO Phase II, and he followed up his first win with a further win in 1971 driving the car shown here, a Ford Falcon XY GTHO Phase III.
Prior to 1973, CAMS (the Confederation of Australian Motorsport) rules dictated that cars eligible for the ATCC (Australian Touring Car Championship) and Bathurst had to be near to showroom standard with very few racing modifications. For homologation purposes, at least 200 cars proposed for racing had to have been sold to the public in Australia. The Ford Falcon XY GTHO Phase III used by Moffat to win at Bathurst in 1971 was therefore almost identical to the version of the car that could be bought by the public for use on the road. This is most obvious when looking at the interior of the racing version. It has all the regular trim of the road car and has standard road car seats. The full roll cage and a racing harness for the driver are the only visible modifications. All GTHO Phase IIIs had a large capacity fuel tank, uprated brakes and a powerful 351 Cleveland V8 engine that was fed air through a scoop protruding through an opening in the hood/bonnet (which was therefore known as a "shaker hood").
In 1971, the new Phase III Falcon was the class of the field and Moffat led from flag to flag, having started from pole position. Race distance was 130 laps or 500 miles, (from 1973 the race distance was changed to 1000km or 163 laps) and the top four finishers were XY Falcons. The 1971 race was the last one where the classes were divided according to the showroom price of the car in Australia. The classes were as follows: Class A - Up to $2150; Class B - $2151 to $2500; Class C - $2501 to $3150; Class D - $3151 to $4350; Class E - Over $4350. As can be seen from his race number of 65 E, Moffat's Falcon raced in Class E.
For 1972 Ford had intended to field a Phase IV version of it's new Falcon XA range, but unfortunately the Australian press mounted a scare campaign against "160mph supercars" such as the Phase III Falcon and the proposed V8 versions of the Holden Torana and the Chrysler Valiant Charger. The press claimed cars such as these were unsafe to be sold to the general public and public opinion turned against them. Consequently the Phase IV Falcon was cancelled as Ford would have had to produce 200 of them for the road, which at the time was deemed to be politically incorrect.
The first 1:18th model of the 1971 Bathurst winner was made by UT Models for Biante back in 1998. Sold out a long time ago, this model sells for up to and over 4 times it's original retail price. However, Classic Carlectables have now released the 1971 winning Falcon XY in 1:18th as the first in their range of XW/XY generation Ford Falcons. This is very good news on two counts. Firstly the new Classic Carlectables version is a lot cheaper to buy than a second hand version of the older Biante model, (although I'm sure the availability of the CC version will lower the asking price for the Biante version) and secondly it is a far superior model. It would be easy to be cynical and state that of course it is better, with the Biante model being over 8 years old at the time of writing (March 2007), but Classic Carlectables have really pulled out the stops and produced an excellent 1:18th of this car.
The exterior is superb with realistic lights, excellent paintwork and racing graphics (which are tampo printed onto the model), realistic wheels and tires and superb chromework. The interior features soft touch seats, a fabric racing harness for the driver and a realistic dashboard. The 351 Cleveland V8 is accurately recreated and the engine bay has realistic hood/bonnet hinges and even features the tubing for the windscreen washer system which I thought was a nice touch! In the boot under a removable soft rubber mat is the large capacity fuel tank ideal for racing.
Overall a very high quality model from Classic Carlectables, probably their best 1:18th to date (and in general they tend to produce excellent 1:18ths!). In addition to the 1:18th, I also received the 1:43rd version of the same car which appears to be a great model too. I'm not an expert on 1:43rds, but I believe it is unusual to have an opening bonnet with engine detail in this scale. Classic Carlectables have given their 1:43rd model of this car great engine detail and front wheels which can be turned. I have to say it looks great displayed alongside the 1:18th although I have to be careful about getting 1:43rd models as it would be another slippery slope of collecting I can't afford to slide down!
With an overall rating of 90%, this superb model of Allan Moffat's 1971 Bathurst winner comes very highly recommended by myself!
90%
