One of the key driving forces of Australian motor racing, Allan Moffat OBE is one of first real professionals of local motor racing and an Australian sporting giant! Over a career spanning more than 25 years, Moffat won the Australian Touring Car Championship (Supercars’ predecessor) and Bathurst’s Great Race a staggering four times each!
Downies Collectables is proudly celebrating Ford’s greatest hero with the OFFICIALLY-LICENSED Allan Moffat Enamel Collection, in collaboration with Allan Moffat Racing. Read on to find out why this Canadian-born member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame will be remembered as one the greatest sportsmen Down Under…
Ford’s greatest hero in ‘red vs. blue’ battle…
The most headline-grabbing rivalry of the 1970s and ’80s was motorsport’s battle of red vs. blue! Ford’s Allan Moffat forged one of Australian touring car racing’s most memorable on-track contests with the late Holden legend Peter Brock. A rivalry, and friendship, that lasted many years and accounted for a number of memorable Bathurst victories. Their exploits changed Australia’s sporting landscape and contributed hugely to the popularity of today’s Supercars Championship.
Both made their big-stage debuts at Mt Panorama in 1969, when they were Bathurst rookies driving for the Holden and Ford factory teams respectively. They weren’t direct rivals at the time, but they came to define the Ford versus Holden ‘war’. Of his relationship with Peter Brock, Moffat has this to say, “Peter Brock had a huge ego and huge ambition, and was one of the few people I knew who was capable of living up to the immense pressures placed on him by both. I admired him as a driver and as a man. Truth be known I was a bit in awe of him.”
At the height of his success, Moffat was often portrayed by the Aussie press as a ‘big-shot’ Canadian ruthlessly dominating championships. The truth was that the naturalised Aussie (he immigrated to Australia at age 17) was irrevocably helping to nurture the Australian motorsport scene. Moffat set the benchmark for Australian racing through skill, determination and will. Supercars’ Sean Seamer observed that “Allan is one of the true greats of Australian sport.”
Dominating in Mustangs and Falcons
When asked why he thought Australia had such a renowned motorsport history Moffat replied, “I think it’s this country’s love for the motor car”…
Moffat won over 100 championship and non-championship races, and set new lap records around the country, in his Ford Mustang. He described it as “the definitive race car of my life”. Though Moffat’s Coca-Cola backed Mustang never won the Australian Touring Car Championship, the partnership brought a new level of excitement to Australian motor sport!
He also dominated in Falcons, steering the first Ford Falcon GT-HO to a debut victory at the Sandown Three-Hour in 1969. Spearheading Ford’s racing efforts in Australia throughout the 1970s, Moffat won Sandown again in 1970, this time in the latest GT-HO Phase Two. Three weeks later Moffat enjoyed his first Bathurst 500 win. 1971 saw him taking his second Bathurst win in the ferocious Phase Three Falcon GT-HO; and he won the 1973 Bathurst 1000 in a new XA Falcon GT Hardtop. Moffat also drove Falcons to victory in the Australian Touring Cars Championships of 1973, ’76 and ’77.
Over his illustrious racing career, Allan Moffat’s Fords have boasted some of the most memorable liveries. From his first ATCC win in the Coca-Cola Ford Boss 302 Trans-Am Mustang, to the Bathurst winning Falcons of the 70s, the pioneering introduction of the rotary RX-7 and the turbo Sierra RS500. Downies Collectables has immortalised Moffat’s MOST ICONIC CARS on the reverse of 9 enamelled genuine Australian Pennies!
Moffat’s greatest racing achievement at Bathurst
Moffat’s name became truly eternal with his four Bathurst 1000 triumphs in 1970, ’71, ’73 and ’77 - the latter being the most iconic! Allan Moffat is one of only two drivers, the other being Peter Brock, to have won Bathurst in both its 500 mile and 1000 km format.
Moffat believed that his greatest racing achievement was his 1977 Bathurst one-two finish alongside Colin Bond and their respective co-drivers. He crossed the finish line in first position, despite a brake failure for the last dozen laps… “I never talked about it for many months afterwards but when Colin and I came around on the last lap, no one realised that I had no brakes for the last 12 laps.” Moffat recalled.
A lasting legacy… Allan Moffat’s contributions to motorsport were acknowledged in 1999 when he became the first inductee into the Supercars Hall of Fame. Set apart by his elite professionalism and his pioneering the use of sponsorship in a way that would change the motorsport forever. Moffat retired from racing in 1989, bowing out with a win in his last race!
Now, at 83 years old, Moffat is championing a very different challenge whilst battling dementia. In true fighting spirit, he has become the ambassador and patron of Dementia Australia, and lent plenty of support to others suffering from the same disease through an appeal, which has so far has raised almost $2 million. Bravely going public with his condition allows the 400,000 Australians currently living with dementia to realise they are not alone, and that the disease does not discriminate!
Downies Collectables is incredibly proud to be a part of celebrating this icon’s illustrious career as one of the world's most celebrated touring car drivers. CLICK HERE to view the Allan Moffat Enamel Collection and add a real legend to your racing memorabilia!
