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

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.

“In most cases people are buying cars they dreamed about when they were growing up, but couldn’t afford at the time,” said classic car expert, Christophe Boribon, from the Shannons auction house and insurance company, which specialises in rare motor vehicles.

“What we’re seeing for the first time, however, is not only big money for the 1960 and 1970s muscle cars, but rare Australian cars from the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s are getting good money as well.”

Some of Australia’s most sought after and collectible cars are being bought by companies that use them in giveaways, which has helped push up prices because they have more capital than individual bidders.

You might not be able to win the Mona Lisa with a raffle ticket and then hang the painting in the spare room in direct sunlight, but you can win some of Australia’s rarest cars by buying into rewards packages that cost between $30 and $500 which, in turn, give participants a chance to win prizes including Ferraris and Lamborghinis – and extremely rare Holdens and Fords.

Some enthusiasts are concerned a number of Australia’s rarest vehicles could be won by people who don’t have the resources to store, maintain, or insure them – and could be lost to history.

However, Adrian Portelli, one of the founders of Australia’s biggest automotive rewards schemes – Melbourne-based LMCT Plus – says he offers winners the chance to take the car or the cash, “and in 100 per cent of cases they’ve taken the cash”.

“We’re all car enthusiasts and the last thing we want to see is someone ruin (a historic or collectible) car,” said Mr Portelli.

“A lot of people were concerned about us driving up prices, but to be honest we only won (the Commodore owned by Peter Brock) by $250,” he said. “We bid up to $1 million then it just went crazy.”

Bidding history shows 12 other buyers offered in excess of $1 million for the special Brock Commodore.

Mr Portelli says his rewards program is a fairer way for ordinary Australians to own a rare car.

“It hurts me that these one per centers buy these cars, they store them away, and they’re never seen again,” he said. “Why not give the everyday Australian a chance to win a piece of motoring history?”

When Mr Portelli was test driving a super-rare 2017 Holden V8 ute – known as a HSV GTSR W1 Maloo (pictured below), which sold for $1.05 million at auction earlier this year – he was pulled over by police who wanted to admire the car.

“They said ‘mate we had to pull this over, we had to see it, because there’s a chance we’re never going to see this car again on the road,” said Mr Portelli.

Meanwhile, high prices will remain as long as the coronavirus is around, says Mr Boribon.

“People aren’t travelling overseas or spending that money overseas,” said Mr Boribon. “The coronavirus has scared a lot of people and caused a lot of people to reassess their lives. They want to enjoy life now, and buy a nice car while they’re not able to travel.”


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Joshua Dowling

Joshua Dowling has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years, spending most of that time working for The Sydney Morning Herald (as motoring editor and one of the early members of the Drive team) and News Corp Australia. He joined CarAdvice / Drive in 2018, and has been a World Car of the Year judge for more than 10 years.

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