Supercar scare
The Supercar scare was a national controversy in Australia in 1972 about selling very fast, high-performance road cars—homologation specials—to the public. The Bathurst race, then known as the Hardie-Ferodo 500, required car makers to sell 200 road-going versions of their race cars to compete.
Ford Australia had won Bathurst in 1970 and 1971 with the Falcon GTHO Phase II and III. On June 25, 1972, Evan Green wrote in The Sun-Herald that Holden, Ford Australia, and Chrysler Australia would produce cars capable of about 160 mph (257 km/h). The article quoted Milton Morris, the New South Wales transport minister, who called such cars “bullets on wheels” and said it was appalling they could be sold to the public.
The piece drew attention to specific models, including the Chrysler Valiant Charger (VH) R/T E55, the Ford Falcon XA GTHO Phase IV, and a V8 version of the Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1.
Morris said he would push for a national ban on these cars, and the Queensland transport minister, Keith Hooper, urged a nationwide ban on registering popular high-performance cars capable of speeds over 130 mph. The federal government even threatened not to buy vehicles from manufacturers that produced supercars.
Donald Thomson, then secretary of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), announced that regulations would be changed to end “series production car” races and allow only specially modified vehicles derived from production cars to compete. He said Bathurst had helped create big problems, including the marketing of the so-called super-cars.
In 1973 CAMS replaced the Group E rules with the new Group C series. The Ford Falcon XA GTHO Phase IV was cancelled, with only four units left; Holden cancelled the XU-1 V8; and Chrysler stopped the high-performance V8 versions of the Charger.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:25 (CET).