Now that is art: Australian muscle car prices remain in top gear

[D J C]

 

Australians are paying record prices for iconic Australian muscle cars, with several breaking the $1 million barrier so far this year, setting new records in the process.

 

When Ford motorsport legend and Bathurst winner Allan Moffat first saw the Falcon GT sedan that would take him to victory in the early 1970s, he scoffed at the price.

 

“No-one’s going to pay $5000 for a Ford Falcon,” Moffat would later say, recalling one of the biggest regrets of his motorsport career: not buying one of the iconic cars.

 

Today, immaculate examples of the Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III fetch close to or in excess of $1 million.

 

 

Indeed, a perfectly restored model was recently purchased for $1.15 million (plus a 7.5 per cent auction fee) by Sydney-based philanthropist Judith Nailson who included it in her art gallery.

 

It is the highest price paid to date for an Australian-made road car.

 

 

This week another icon, a 1985 Holden Commodore VK HDT Group A – as with the Ford, a special edition developed to win Bathurst – went under the hammer for $1.057 million.

 

It fell just short of the outright record but is to date the highest price paid for a road-going Holden.

The Holden Commodore V8 had been driven by the late motor racing hero Peter Brock as his company car. It was number 05 of 500 built, a reference to the champion driver’s racing number.

 

 

For enthusiasts and financial speculators who can’t afford to spend $1 million, there are slightly more affordable options.

 

A 1982 Ford Falcon ESP with just 60km on the clock – which was the last Ford V8 car manufactured in Australia until the company reintroduced the V8 option in 1991 – sold at the same Grays Online auction this week for $355,000, a record for that model.

 

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