"Abe's Babe"

An American car, homologated by German’s for racing in Europe, built by Australians and raced by Kiwi’s. That statement sums up the beauty of Group A touring car racing. What an era!!

With Ford’s official blessing, the Fox Bodied Group A Mustang was an inspired creation from the legendary race shop called Zakspeed. Having had a very successful run with the Group 5 Capri (With Klaus Ludwig at the wheel, they could see off the mighty 935 Porsche.) the Zakspeed team applied what they knew, to the 5 litre, compact 2+2 Mustang. Unfortunately, early Group A period weight penalties meant that the car was never going to give the car the edge it needed, for the Gp A domination Ford wanted and they waited for the Sierra for that. A curious twist is that Zakspeed somehow homologated the Atlas type diff, as used in the Ford's they were racing at the time (Gp 2 and Gp 5) rather than the 8” Ford diff the street based Mustang utilised. Having only built two Gp A Mustang’s, they binned the project and concentrated on IMSA Mustang’s and the like. The Gp A cars were sold in 1984 to Australian cult hero Dick Johnson and they went onto much greater things “Down-Under”. 

The Pine Pac Mustang we have for sale here debuted at the 1984 Bathurst 1000, the very first race for Gp A in Australia. Finishing a very impressive 3rd outright in Gp A, behind Jeff Allam and Armin Hahne's Mobil Rover Vitesse and Prince Leopold Von Bayern and Denny Hulme's JPS 635 BMW. Don Smith and the very experienced Bathurst winner Bo Seton, who also built and prepared the car for racing duties, piloted the Mustang.

The 1985 ATCC (Australian Touring Car Championship) was a flop for the car, with a string of DNF’s. It did look pretty cool in an Aussie-type Saleen Zakspeed livery. After a few DNF's, owner Don Smith had enough and he sold it to a couple of Kiwi brothers Wayne and Bruce Anderson.  

The Anderson brothers bought the car in 1985 complete with another body shell, and shipped it over to their Pinepac premises in Auckland to prepare it for Bathurst in October that year.  They completely rebuilt the car, upgrading it to the 1^st July 1985 homologation rule changes, (FIA # 5266) these allowed larger brakes, upgraded suspension components, different engine specs including a roller cam and tubular extractors, the body was also upgraded to a 1985 GT. A race engine from fellow Mustang racer Dick Johnson's workshops in Brisbane was built, before the car was shipped to Bathurst.

1985 BATHURST 1000.

The Andersons arrived at Bathurst ready to go and did plenty of practice laps with the spare engine. However a vibration problem saw them change to the Johnson race unit early and they qualified 27th. They started well but a broken oil cooler line and a blown head gasket saw them in for repairs and the car eventually retired out on the track after 17 laps.

1986 BATHURST 1000.

The car competed in the Pukekohe 500km race at the beginning of 1986 finishing 9th, it was rolled in practise before the Wellington 500km race so the sister car was run there (this had been built up by the Andersons from the spare shell originally brought from Smith). Both cars competed at the Surfers Paradise round or the ATCC prior to Bathurst. “Abe’s Babe” was driven by Bruce up to sixth place, before a timing chain let go. At Bathurst in October the car practiced well, eventually qualifying 39th. They again ran well in the race but after 81 laps the engine broke a timing chain and lost its oil.

 1987&the WTCC.

The BIG year for Gp A. Although they didn't go to Bathurst they competed in the Wellington WTCC (World Touring Car Championship) race that year, qualifying 29th and finishing a credible 14th. 

That was the end for the car as a Pine Pac-mobile, as the car was sold to Tony Rutherford in 1988. Tony painted the car white inside and outside (kept the underside yellow), he did a number of events in the car for a three-year period, this included the group A Nissan Mobil rounds at Pukekohe Raceway, NZ. After 3 other owners, the car was purchased by the current owner in May 2005, who commissioned a complete restoration by Gp A Mustang expert and ex Pine Pac Racing Mechanic, Ken Hopper. Ken, along with being a good bloke, is whom you want to talk to, if you are keen on Group A Mustang’s. The owner has also wisely invested in getting racing legend Glenn Seton, to set up the car for optimum pace. In other words; don't touch it!! Glenn also raced the car to victory in a recent Historic Group C and A race meet.

2006 until now...

The car comes with various spares, including;

Two sets of good slicks on rims, one set of near new wets.

Axles, shocks, springs, steering rack, clutch, suspension components, pumps, filters, etc etc.

Depending on the finalised price, a custom made trailer with lockable storage compartments, tyre racks, suitable fuel racks and electric brakes, may be made available.

GROUP A MUSTANG SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 5.0L V8, 390HP, cast iron block&cylinder heads, roller cam and roller rockers, factory Aluminium inlet manifold, 4 barrel carb, tubular exhaust manifolds.

Gearbox: Getrag type-262 close ratio

Suspension: Front = fabricated fully adjustable McPherson strut&lower wishbone, Rear = Rigid axle adjustable 4 link with coil over, Bilstein gas shocks, adjustable front and rear swaybars.

Brakes: 331mm front rotors, 291mm rear rotors with AP 4 pot callipers and adjustable pedal box.

Wheels, tyres: 16inch Simmonds 3 piece, 265/630 Dunlop racing slicks.

Fuel tank; 120litre foam filled tank, 2 x Holley fuel pumps.

We are interested in trades on a Group A Sierra, or a Group C Falcon Hardtop.

For more information on this Gp A racer, Contact Chris on +61438269938,

or email via chris@ecurieinvestments.com.au