#18. 'BRIAN WOOD FORD'.
3rd : 1978 HARDIE-FERODO 1000.
Drivers : Murray CARTER / Graeme LAWRENCE.
(Each model comes with a Certificate of Authenticity personally signed by Murray Carter)
Limited to 1644

The Hardie-Ferodo 1000 of 1978 is down in the history books as a complete success for Holden's Torana A9X and a failure for the Falcon XC - the only car that stood in its way of Holden Bathurst glory. However, while the works Moffat Ford Dealers Cobras came to grief and retired, it was left to one of Ford's perennial loyal soldiers to bring some good out of the day for the blue oval.
Victorian privateer, Murray Carter and Kiwi international co-driver, Graeme Lawrence, produced one of the biggest improvements over a grid position to round out the podium in their Brian Wood Ford-backed XC. In a year where there wasn't much to smile about for fans of the blue oval, the Carter/Lawrence duo entered the race without a great deal of expectation. Carter's previous Mount Panorama assaults in the years before 1978 had been met with their fair share of problems. In co-driver Lawrence he had a driver far more experienced with open wheelers, in particular the mighty Formula 5000s that ruled the tracks of the 1970s.

But the 1970 Tasman Series champion made a solid and reliable partner for Carter, who had flown the Ford flag during a period in the previous years where Ford had withdrawn its factory support from motorsport. Wet weather conditions meant that there were only 10 minutes of any real dry running time in qualifying at Bathurst that year, which left the Carter/Lawrence Falcon way back in the field.

Their 2m 50.9s lap time buried them in 31st on the grid of 63 and right in and among the under three-litre Capris and Mazdas. The 163 laps of The Great Race were always dependent upon having a relaible car in the era of Group C touring car racing and while the Holden Dealer Team Torana of Peter Brock and Jim Richards won the race and led home the similar car of Allan Grice and John Leffler, the Falcon proved itself to be a factor.

Carter and Lawrence ran fourth after 100 laps, two laps down, as the leading Toranas blazed away out front and the Moffat cars drove themselves into the ground trying to match the nimble A9Xs.

In fact, so bad was the Torana domination that Moffat, asked team-mate Colin Bond to withdraw his otherwise OK car after numerous delays. He simply couldn't bear the sight of it being lapped so many times by all those flying Holdens.

Despite all, Carter and Lawrence stood strong and would cross the line third, three laps down on the winners and taking home $3100 prize money for their troubles.

Their 31st to third effort proved to be one of the greatest ever improvements over a grid position by a Bathurst 1000 race finisher and was the last Ford to see a podium at Bathurst until Dick Johnson and John French won some three years later.


This model is priced at $205
Product number 87811

Get your piece of Ford history here