The GT-HO Phase III that took on Cyclone Tracy

Big Red was parked under the house at the time, next to my aunt's Toyota Celica when the cyclone hit.

The house was all but destroyed with Big Red suffering a broken back window, and a few dents. After Cyclone Tracy, Uncle Bing had Big Red repaired and resprayed down in Katherine by a bloke who was the 'go-to' panel guy back then.

This Phase III also took the boat to the ramp - and in to the water too. (image: Survivor Car Australia)

The Phase III was initially bought by a young entrepreneur and truck driver, Brooke Hartley. Brooke was on holidays in Perth at the time and told me he was walking down this street, 'I saw this flash car and thought I might go and buy that'. And that is exactly what Brooke did, he drove it off the show room floor. He stayed in Perth for a while and then drove the GT-HO up to Katherine, NT. Brooke had the HO registration changed and the new plate was 78-878. Brooke and his mates would hoon around in it and had a great time! So much so Brooke recalls he had a lot of heat from the local Police.

Towing the caravan. (image: Survivor Car Australia)

Uncle Bing was the second owner of Big Red and bought it around 1973. When he heard the HO was for sale, he went to Brooke's house with a wad of cash and made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Brooke recalls Uncle Bing wanting a test drive. So out they went, 'When we got out past the Police station, Bing put his boot into it and I thought, we're going to get locked up here!'

Big Red - dressed up as a Moffat race car. (image: Survivor Car Australia)

Unlike most of the other Vermilion Fire HOs, Big Red was ordered with delete side stripes and delete bonnet black-outs. My aunt says it always had side stripes when they owned it, so I followed up with Brooke who said it had the side stripes from the dealer. So Lindau Ford must have fitted them when prior to putting it on the show room floor. Uncle Bing had the bonnet stripes added at some stage of his ownership which you can see in the photos. My auntie used to drive it to work and says, 'It used to feel like it was doing 30mph just sitting at the traffic lights, with all that jiggling.' She preferred to drive their previous XT GT nicknamed Goldie.

On the track Big Red was quite a performer. (image: Survivor Car Australia)

John Potter was Bing's friend and the local Ford head mechanic. No matter what the performance enhancements, Bing was adamant in keeping the original block - Uncle Bing was fussy like that. John Potter went on to build quite a few engines for the drag racing scene in Darwin during the '70s. Coincidentally, John rebuilt Big Red's bottom end, whilst the engine was still in the car! Uncle Bing did not want the motor out or the HO out of his sight, so under the house it got a freshen up! John recalls Bing saying to him, 'get it right Potter!'. No beer was allowed to be consumed during the rebuild, only after.

Big Red was well known in Darwin, and a force to be reckoned with on the street and the track. Uncle Bing Drag raced the Falcon at Livingston, the abandoned WWII airstrip. John recalls a fierce rivalry between Bing and Charlie Sykir in his 350 HT Monaro. Charlie would occasionally beat Bing, when Bing would light it up too much on the start line. This was around the time the King Cobra Rod and Custom Club was born. The club has since changed its name and location, now called the Hidden Valley Drag Racing Association, which I'm now Vice President. Uncle Bing idolised Moffat's "works" GT-HO Phase III, such was his passion that he even went to the trouble of adding a sticker kit to replicate Moffat's No 9 race car!

Big Red back in the day. (image: Survivor Car Australia)

Owning performance Fords runs in our family, Uncle Bing later bought an XC Cobra hardtop. When he sold Big Red in 1992, to a bloke named Mo Machen, he must've had seller's remorse as it wasn't long before he bought a XW GT. My Dad had bought a Quick Silver orange stripe XY GT back in 1974. Later Dad changed the colour to yellow in the late '70s. He still owns it today. I have tried many times over the years to get it off him, but with no luck I eventually bought a Vermillion Fire GT. As I said, the passion runs in our family.

Big Red with a few other local shakers. (image: Survivor Car Australia)

Source: www.SurvivorCarAustralia.com.au

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