Perhaps No GTHO

[aztech]

Ummm..Are we all forgetting that the famous Phase III HO was officially quoted as having the same 300 hp as the GT, and even the HO was officially short for Handling Option.

The fact that none of it was true in no way detracted from the image of the car. I for one don't mind the idea of lip service to a Japanese style power limit of say 300KW. At least it takes the focus away from quoted factory FLYWHEEL power figures and makes us all concentrate on only how well the car performs.

Everyone remembers the legendary performance of the Phase III - No one remembers it was only listed as having 300 hp.

[Guest clevofan]

Everyone remembers the legendary performance of the Phase III - No one remembers it was only listed as having 300 hp.

Exactly, the HOey had closer to 300kw ( 272 I think?)

[YOOT]

I agree, make a 300kw Supercharged GTHO (F8 Cyclone or whatever gay name they wanna call it) runnign stupid boost like 5psi and then let the aftermarket take car of the rest. Then everyone can have there 450kw V8 Falcons that run 12sec 1/4 and Government will be powerless to stop it because its not officially Ford that's making these beasts.

Must the same as the 240kw XR6 Turbo that just so happens to be able to make over 500kw with a matter of thousands of dollars. Too easy! :cartman:

[Marcos]

Ford shoud have badged the GT-P the GTHO and added 20 or so KW over the GT. Simple as that.

[tongueboy]

.....go back to the '70's and look at the GT and you knew that it was the car! It had impact and you knew it had the goods. It was the best local product you could buy in the performance market at the time. Now ask the same question about the current GT. I reckon you get a different answer.

[Macktheknife]

Everyone remembers the legendary performance of the Phase III - No one remembers it was only listed as having 300 hp.

Exactly, the HOey had closer to 300kw ( 272 I think?)

If my memory serves me well, the factory HO's had around the 250kW but some of the factory blueprinted Bathurst cars were reputed to be getting up around the 270kW mark.

If my conversions are correct, this gives respective HP figures of 335 and 362.

This will send me scurrying back to my old magazines to confirm my beliefs but I'll stand corrected if anyone has better info.

[Turbo6man]

Mack> 380hp was the most we ever saw on the dyno at Wright Ford - on the sponsored Bathurst race car. Most road cars were, as you say, around the 340 hp mark.

[plonky]

Consider this:

The latest BMW M3 has all the performance, handling and creature comforts of a high end German supercar.

However, the BMW M3 CSL has even more hard nosed performance, street/track cred etc, BUT it has bugger all creature comforts etc. It demands a premium of over 70k on an M3 and they are as rare as rocking horse pooh.

So the person who buys a CSL wants the ultimate MJ3. he doesn;t care about creature comforts etc, all he wants is hard nose, point and shoot performance.

This is what the GTHO should be. After all it was the ultimate evolution of the GT and as such it should remain so.

Leave the power as it is, increase the torque, give it dual exhausts, adjustable suspension, proper GT striping, functional Ram Air hood, big brakes, beefier gearbox and ditch some weight - aluminium hood, trunk lid, door skins, ditch the luxo interior etc

Limited edition, with an evolution programme (Phase 1, 2, 3 etc)

that's what a GTHO should be and like any of the cars made like that by any manufacturer, they are purely there for iconic reasons, not mass production reasons.

[Falchoon]

I guess BMW can afford to make a car like this because they have a worldwide market whereas the Falcon is a limited Australaisan model, plus the fact they are selling the thing for a King's ransom.