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will receive an exclusive track-day experience, where McLaughlin will teach them how to give it some jandal.
The 10 examples of each went quickly. In the case of the 3.0-litre S60, that’s 0-100km/h in 4.9 seconds!
Scott has taken over from Greg Murphy as New Zealand’s active racing hero. The four-time Bathurst winner and long-time HSV ambassador is no stranger to seeing his name – and famous racing number – connected to roadgoing models. For instance, in 2008, Holden Special Vehicles introduced its new 6.2-litre LS3 V8 engine to New Zealand with a limited run of cars and utes named in his honour.
Christened the Murph Special Edition, the limited run comprised, fittingly, just 51 vehicles – 41 cars and 10 utes. They were based respectively on the E-Series Clubsport R8 and E-Series Maloo R8, but finished in black with distinctive ‘Murph’ orange styling accents and badging inside and out.
Next, we head back over the Tasman to Canberra and back in time almost 50 years. Here we recall Greg Cusack, the former openwheeler ace – the 1964 and 1965 Australian Formula 2 Champion – and tin-top regular. AMC reader John McLeay picks up the story.
“Greg is the former owner of Gregorys Motors Ford in Canberra. He had a highly successful career in motor racing dating from the 1950s up until 1968 in many varied cars.
“He turned his attention to sedan racing with a Mustang and turned that into a formidable racecar with the expert mechanical work of Bruce Burr. Greg also raced a Morris Cooper S at Bathurst in 1965, as well as a Ford Falcon XR GT in ‘67.
“In 1967, Gregorys Motors – the Gregorys Performance Centre – produced an in-house special called the GC Sprint. It was a twodoor MkI Cortina in British Racing Green, 1500cc and quicker than the GT Cortina from Broadmeadows. As the spare parts manager of Gregorys Motors, I was tasked with the job of sourcing various parts for the GC Sprint and they were fitted at the Performance Centre by Bruce Burr and Jim Daniels.
“All were two-door with four on the floor, but I do remember one car with four on the column and a bench front seat – must have been a family man with kids!
John sent us Sports Car World clippings from 1967 featuring the road tests for the Mustang and the Cortina by Rob Luck.
Luck’s test results show the GC shaving almost a second off the GT’s standing quartermile time and over a second on the 0-60mph.
“Not sure how many cars were produced, but they are rare,” he writes. “Are there any GC Sprints left in existence?”
We’d love to know, John. Fill us in, folks. AMC
reader George Koopman, who doubles as our informal European correspondent, has reported in from Germany on the mania there following Mad Max: Fury Road’s release.
He writes, “One would expect those downunder, maybe in the US as well, but Germany? Well, here I have some copies of an article of a genuine-looking Mad Max replica Falcon and subsequent Kawasaki, created and running in Germany. The article was published in Autobild Klassik, a magazine dedicated to (mostly) Mercs, Beamers and Porsches from the 1960s and ’70s.”
None of that comes as a surprise. But we’re not sure what to make of his next spot.
“They also published a manual to convert a Mercedes coupe – due to the lack of Falcons in Germany – into a real Mad Max car. This is done with the help of a sewing machine, a shovel and some spray paint... “Very tongue in cheek, of course. I bet you didn’t know Germans do have a sense of humour!”