I was recently talking with Richard Ferlazzo, the former Design Director, GM Holden Design, who had worked in the design studios of GMH for 35 years and was instrumental in creating many great concept cars like the Holden EFIJY in 2005, and we were lamenting over the ‘good old’ muscle car days in Australia.
Having grown up in similar times, like myself Richard has a great love for the muscle cars of the 70’s, an era that was dominated by big motors, high performance 2 and 4 door cars that were manufacturer modifications of standard street cars primarily built for racing. The likes of the Ford GT’s and GTHO Phase 1,2 and 3; the Holden Torana XU-1’s and SLR 5000; and the Valiant R/T Chargers. All amazing cars and still incredibly popular today.
I think we sometimes forget how unique our muscle car era from the early 1970’s really was, particularly on the racetrack with great names like Allan Moffit, Peter Brock, Colin Bond, Jim Richards, the Geoghegan brother, Leo and Pete and so the list goes on, so I figured you may be interested in the following video, which looks at ten of our classic Australian Muscle Cars.
Even though there are a few mistakes in it, it certainly brings back some great memories.
Aussie Muscle Cars That Left Americans in the Dust! – American Patriots
Next month I’ll be talking with Richard Ferlazzo in our Famous Last Words podcast where he gives an insight into how a car manufacturers design studio works, a designer’s relationship with accountants and salespeople, whilst also looking at some of his favourite creations including the ‘Billion Dollar Baby – the VE Commodore’ and the amazing one-off Holden EFIJY and
