Dick Johnson EB Falcon limited edition model

But it would be a very tight squeeze for the fast talking, fast driving Queenslander. This Falcon is only one-eighteenth the size of the original that Johnson and John Bowe used to win the Bathurst 1000 on October 2, on the day that Craig Lowndes marked himself as a future champion with a storming drive to second with Brad Jones in a Commodore for the Holden Racing Team.

The racing replica comes from Biante, the Perth company that helps set the standard for high-quality motoring models in Australia, and is its first new model for 2012. 

Officially it's the 1:18 EB Falcon from Dick Johnson Racing, and sells for $215 including a certificate signed by both Johnson and Bowe. Like all of Biante's best models, production is limited and the run on this one is 3500 cars.

One of those is already in Bowe's study at home and he is a fan - despite writer's cramp from signing the certificates. "That car is the best V8 Supercar I ever had," Bowe says. 

"I remember everything about it, and the race. I've been going to Bathurst for a long time and that's probably the best race I've seen there - and I was in it.

"It was the time when the Stone brothers were at Dick Johnson Racing and they produced an awesome car. And the race threw up everything.

"In qualifying Dick snicked the wall out of The Cutting, so we started tenth instead of first or second, and the race was wet-and-dry, wet-and-dry. It came right down to a battle at the finish."

But what about the Biante model? "I've seen the model and it's fantastic. Actually, it's more than a model, it's a real replica of the car. Everything is in place and you can open the doors, bonnet and boot to check it out," Bowe says.

But there is one big difference between the Biante car and the original. "Unfortunately, that car was the one I wrote off at Phillip Island in 1995. it was an EBII and we updated it, and then I tagged Lowndes and went upside down," Bowe recalls.