Beautiful Port Line Ships

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Ivan
Have just cut the first Car out of the Pic and resized a bit,and it does look like a Ford Badge there??
What say you.
But Boy they are so similar hard to tell!
Cheers

Capture Ford.JPG

[Michael Trezise]

Yes that is a ford cortina & the vehicle in the background is a GT ford falcon(now much sought after they were the fastest 4door car in the world at the time)The falcon was produced in large numbers in Oz..Ford Australia didn't start to put the blue oval in the grill on"all"vehicles produced until I think in the 1970ts but iam not real certain axactly what year...Michael T

[Doc Vernon]

The GT Falcon is still a very much sought after Car here!Tey are wotsme Cash too!
Really pack a Grunt as well!
Cheers

[Doc Vernon]

Capture Ford GT.jpg

Ford Falcon XY GT-HO Phase 3 Sedan

Engine
V8, 351-cid

Gearbox
4-speed manual

Body Work
Sedan

Colour
Frosted Pewter Metal

Interior
Black

Trim
Black

Wheels
Cast Alloy

Brakes
Discs/Drums


Description


1971 Ford Falcon XY GT-HO Phase 3 Sedan


Just what is it about the Phase III GT-HO that has made the car such an icon and the king of the local muscle car scene? The fact that, of the 300 original examples built, just over half survive in original condition. That it was the ultimate Falcon GT in terms of raw performance, not to mention the fastest four-door sedan in the world at the time? Perhaps it's the racing heritage - the GT-HO proved just about unbeatable at Bathurst, taking out five of the top six places in 1971, with Allan Moffat at the wheel of the winning car. Whatever it might be, for most Aussie blokes with even a passing interest in cars, the Phase III has become a legend and this ultimate status has translated into unprecedented appreciation in recent years. Based on the hottest Falcon of the era, the XY GT, complete with Shaker hood and thumping 351-cid V8, the HO option added a front spoiler and full-width rear wing to an already tough looking package. Under the bonnet (complete with stripes and lock-out pins) there were new heads and valve gear while a four-barrel Holley 780 cfm carburettor and higher compression ratio of 11.5:1 helped boost output to a staggering 370 bhp at 5400 rpm. With a choice of three diff ratios and a close-ratio gearbox optional, other modifications included thicker stabiliser bars and bigger rear drums. All of this added up to the finest handling, quickest and most desirable GT Falcon ever produced in Australia. Make no mistake, the Phase III remains a seriously fast motor car - figures like 14.4 seconds down the quarter mile and a top speed of 142 mph remain impressive even now, 36 years later. Without question the most collectable production car ever made in Australia, the Ford Falcon XY GT-HO Phase III has become a rapidly appreciating asset in recent years but slipping behind the wheel all this becomes largely irrelevant, as the cars true worth can only be experienced behind the wheel.








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[Michael Trezise]

Aaah yes if only we knew what would happen to the values of those machines,but as a young seaman I couldn't afford one then either,you will notice no blue oval on them,my old man used to say it was a race between the fuel gauge & the speedo to see which reached there first.all the best Michael T

[Doc Vernon]

Michael
I bought a Zepher Zodiac while I was in the Uk many Years back now,it had Seats covered in Leopard Skin and was a Convertible,a lovely Machine and drew many a Chick! LOL
Sadly and stupidly I sold it what a Plonker!! LOL

[Michael Trezise]

Sorry Captain Kong I don't know if the pub burned down or not but there certainly is another pub on the same piece of land I had assumed the place had been rebuilt but of course if it burnt down then that would be a dam good reason I left Tassie in 1985 the same year ANL pulled out of Bass Strait passenger ferries & went all freight..Michael T

[Michael Trezise]

Hiya JWS I dont remember any of the trainers at the AMC you wrote about but can assure you much of Tassie is known as"Little England"& if you shipped to NZ much of it is the same but possibly more so than Tassie because of all the tall Hedges which my wife & I admired in country United Kingdom.cheers

[Roger Dyer]

A few more Photos of old shipmates.
With the lads we were off to the local dance hall. Was it the Orange Ballroom or was that in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne? R.

Hi Richard,

Wondered if the Orange ballroom you referred to may have been the one in Auckland (up the hill). I first went there in 1957, when I was on the 'Port Sydney" (beautiful ship). Primed by a bottle or two of DB Lager, with two or three shipmates, I was a wide-eyed deck-boy masquerading as an aspiring Lothario desperately in need of female company, but sadly lacking the necessary skills one might need to win the heart of an older woman. I was no great shakes on the dance-floor either - which didn't help (Fred Astaire had little to fear from me). Had I but realised it at the time, my rather gauche performance amongst the 'older set' that evening might have received greater appreciation among the 'budding' temptresses down at the Bar-X milk bar in the city. Oh! the folly of over-ambitious adolescence ! Eventually, I grew wiser, but never really mastered the art of dancing which, in those days, was deemed an added advantage for any sailor seeking to win the heart of a fair maiden (if only for the night). My dancing career came to an end one night at the Bakehouse Ball in Lyttelton. I'd been 'dancing' with a pretty young girl and as we came off the floor a well-meaning shipmate informed me my dance movements resembled the actions of someone driving a Sherman tank. Somehow I knew he was telling the truth and I decided that henceforth, with beer in hand, I would become the male equivelent of a wall-flower pretending to play hard to get Although not always successful, I can proudly say I did score one or two victories ..... a darn sight more than I might have got imitating a tank-driver I can tell you! Never could really dance, but loved to watch.. still do !!! Incidentally, the 'Trades Hall' was another popular dance venue in Auckland at that time, but if the U.S.Navy was in town (which seemed like every second week) then forget it ! All the same, they were happy days weren't they ?

.....Roger

[Keith Tindell]

I like you Roger, do not do dancing, my wife , who loves to dance acknowledges it now, and says that if try, i waddle like a ruptured duck. So now i tell everyone , if you see me dancing, make sure you take my car keys away, because i would be unfit to drive, kt