Ford Capri V8 ?

[yelwoci]

Y'all (Especially Pete!)

A mate of mine (Jon Owen) was watching TV coverage of the London-Sydney rally which was for pre-75 cars (or there about).
Jon says that the Capri's had V8s and he thought they may have been refered to as Toranas.
I'm surte he's got that mixed up...but does anyone know the score?

IanC

[Peter Mallett]

It was called a Piranha and was limited to South Africa.

Don't know which engine they had though.

Jon is obviously not feeeling well if he's watching programmes about Fords.

[Sparky]

Hi Guys!

I saw the London to Sydney footage too, and the Pirana (No 'H') was driven by Stig Blomquist to great effect.

Pete, the Pirana was based on the 3.0 GT XLR Mk1, and ws fitted with the small-block 302ci V8. This 5-litre unit, originally fitted to Mustangs, Falcons and the like, put out 250bhp as standard. The battery was relocated in the boot, and all cars were 4-speed manual.

There used to be one down my street: Reg no. "23 HOT".
I wonder where it is now!?

By the way, were they all Daytona yellow with a black bonnet?!

[Peter Mallett]

Originally posted by Sparky

Pete, the Pirana was based on the 3.0 GT XLR Mk1,

Knew that.

and ws fitted with the small-block 302ci V8. This 5-litre unit, originally fitted to Mustangs, Falcons and the like, put out 250bhp as standard.

Didn't know that.

The battery was relocated in the boot, and all cars were 4-speed manual.

There used to be one down my street: Reg no. "23 HOT".
I wonder where it is now!?

By the way, were they all Daytona yellow with a black bonnet?!

[Sparky]

I knew that you knew that...

[yelwoci]

Now then!
How many were made?
Were they homolgated? London Sydney suggests yes!

Pete, are they elligible for Pre-74 and Group1

<FVBG>

IanC

[Sparky]

Ian, I've discovered there were 500 made, only in South Africa, by a Mr. Basil Green, a revered local tuner.




But for classic saloon racing in the UK, try these...

http://members.aol.com/scampwal/Main...M/steve_m.html

It would seem that they are homologated for pre-'74 racing. Need I ask why?

[Sparky]

Sorry Ian, that last link should have read...

..."But for classic saloon racing in the SA, try these"...

Sorry!

[Crash Test]

A TORANA is an Australian car built by General Motors Holden in the 1970s. I'm not sure if there were any in the race (although i wouldn't be surpirsed if there were) but they had varying engine configurations, pretty sure they had V8s..

[DAVID PATERSON]

I test drove an improved production Perana at Lakeside, boy did it go! It had been a 3.0 V6, but the owner got sick of replacing blown v6s, so he got radical and decided to re log the car as a Perana. They were Group 1 homologated, so this was no problem.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally posted by DAVID PATERSON
They were Group 1 homologated, so this was no problem.

Where were they homologated? Was it under FIA appendix J or the local Austrailian regs.

[DAVID PATERSON]

It was homologated as an FIA Group 1 car, we never had Group 1 here in OZ.

so Peter, are you now going to post in my next step thread in the racer's forum?

[Peter Mallett]

Bugger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[yelwoci]

Unfortunately the FIA don't give back-dated/historic homologation information on their 'limited' web site.

Does anyone have any evidence of Group 1 Homolgation.

COS THIS IS GOING TO CAUSE AN AWEFUL LOT OF BOTHER TOP A GREAT NUMBER OF PEOPLE.....EVEN AN RX7 OR A CAMARO WON'T KEEP UP WITH A 1350KG 500HP CAPRI.....But then (multo solte) there are corners!!!!!!!!


IanC

[Graham]

Wasn't Starsky & Hutch's car a Torana? Or was it a Torino? Neutrino?

Damn, that car sucked. Like driving a waterbed I reckon.

[Sparky]

1972 Ford Gran Torino... actually!

I thought it was rather cool at the time, but then I was eight...

[Graham]

At least I know what Beau and Luke Duke drove - Dodge Charger RT. They'd never have been caught if they didn't have such heavy feet.

Did anyone see the series where Beau and Luke became Coy and Vance?? *cringe*

Has anyone seen any cars on the road made up like S&H's or General Lee. I have. Sad innit. Worst of all was the horn from hell, I mean Hazzard.

[Sparky]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN??!

The General Lee is my all time favourite motah! Oh to have a '69 Charger of my own *sigh*



I expect you'll be pleased to hear they destroyed over 220 late '60's Chargers making the DoH. They used '68 and '70 Chargers dressed as '69's 'cos they couldn't find enough real ones to wreck. Buggers...

I have to admit that S and H Torinos are very naff though...

[Graham]

I saw a pic once of a huge car park (lot?) filled with spare parts like suspension, bonnets, wings, etc. How did they afford to make that programme?!

Don't like the Charger myself - imagine trying to steer such a supertanker... doesn't bear thinking about. Like all good (bad) 70's US cars, it wobbled for 10 or so seconds after stopping. Wonder if it caused any whiplash injuries...

What model/ make is the eponymous 70's US police car, like Rosco and T.J.Hooker drove? They shed hubcaps like nobody's business.

[Graham]

I'm showing my age and I'm only 23!

[TimD]

This is going waaaaay off thread here, but I can't resist giving my anorak an airing on this one.

The police car is the 1976-on Dodge Monaco or Plymouth Fury. The Plymouth has a rectangular cheesecutter radiator grille, the more common (in Dukes terms) Dodge has a vertical bar running down the centre of a squarer grille.

And yes, it's a Dodge that William Shatner had as well.

American readers - are there many of those cars still about?

[Graham]

What about the NY cabs?

And what is a 'mopar'?

And, damn, what was that ugly behemoth 'The Bandit' drove? Black with central rollbar thing and lights straight out of a Ford RS2000. And did Sheriff Beaufort T. Justice drive one of those Dodges?

I should lie down now...

One more thing - was were the character names of the blonde woman and the young partner bloke of Shatner?

Anyone remember the Fall Guy? Howie et al?

[Sparky]

"Don't like the Charger myself - imagine trying to steer such a supertanker... doesn't bear thinking about. Like all good (bad) 70's US cars, it wobbled for 10 or so seconds after stopping. Wonder if it caused any whiplash injuries... " !!!!!!! A 426ci Hemi-Charger would do 156mph and 0-60 in 4.8 secs factory stock! They were some of the best handling cars of the era. Torsion bar suspension up front, gas shocks... These cars handled!!

But I forgive you Graham, at 23, you don't know any better!! Does he Tim? Tim?

Anyway, on with the quiz (many apologies to Ian and Peter - you'll have to start another thread I guess!!

"What about the NY cabs?" - Checkers or Chevy Caprices
"And what is a 'mopar'?" - Chrysler tuning brand

And, damn, what was that ugly behemoth 'The Bandit' drove? Black with central rollbar thing and lights straight out of a Ford RS2000." - 1978 Pontiac Trans-Am

"And did Sheriff Beaufort T. Justice drive one of those Dodges?" - No, that was a 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme

"One more thing - was were the character names of the blonde woman and the young partner bloke of Shatner?" - That would be Heather Locklear and Adrian Zmed

"Anyone remember the Fall Guy? Howie et al?" -Yes! Colt Seevers played by Lee Majors Howie Muntzen - Douglas Barr. I just remember the blond girly sidekick, Jodi played by Heather Thomas.


Still can't remember anyone else's name though! So I'm not the trivia king after all

[Peter Mallett]

My homologation certificate doesn't list any Perana modifications. I suspect it was purely a local (SA) baby. I also believe that to achieve homologation for Group 1 you needed to produce 5000, not 500 examples. So mod saloons is the only place to play with these things.

[DAVID PATERSON]

Peter, deftly steered back on topic there
Once the basic vehicle is homologated by building 5000, isn't there an option to build 500 specials as they did in Group A?

Slightly off topic, it's my belief that that clause actually killed Group A.