Ray Ikin - 2001 MUSTANG & 2003 CV8
Your first question whenever you chat with Ray Ikin is, “What have you bought this week?” He laughs and then settles down to reveal the latest addition to his enviably large shed.
Ray runs a modest muscle-car museum in Traralgon, Victoria, and has long been a serial buyer of all sorts of interesting gear, in addition to being one of the country’s most prolific restorers of Valiant Chargers.
A couple of years back he got a bee in his bonnet about V8 coupes from the early 2000s and added a 2001 Tickforddeveloped Ford Mustang Cobra to his fleet. Move on six months and he’s added a 2003 Holden Monaro CV8. Given the Holden was launched about the same time as the Tickford car, the pair makes for an interesting snapshot of what the local coupe buyer might expect all those years ago.
Really, to get the Ford, you would have had to be a dedicated blue oval fan. A coupe would set you back $85,000, while you could add $4990 for the convertible. That compared to $58,750 for the Monaro in the spec you see here. The Mustang was also about $10,000 dearer than the ultimate Monaro variant of the day, the HSV GTO.
Of course the Ford ended up selling in low numbers, thought by Ray to be 200. So why bother? As Cliff Chambers explains in our online feature on these cars: “Ford in 1999 was headed for a horror patch due to criticism of its AU Falcon and adoption of the unloved Mondeo as a Telstar replacement. The brand’s Tickford Performance Vehicle subsidiary was accordingly handed the task of spending $4 million on adapting the 4.6-litre, 240kW Mustang Cobra to Australian conditions and regulations.”
That engine is a real highlight from an owner’s point of view. In the Cobra, it was running overhead cams and four valves per cylinder, and had a reputation for spinning up quickly and having a sharp throttle response. The one description all owners seem to share, including Ray, is “lively”.
Denne historien er fra Issue 501-utgaven av Unique Cars.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 501-utgaven av Unique Cars.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
CHEVROLET C2 CORVETTE 1963-67
TWO YEARS after Jaguar made every other sports car obsolete with its E-Type, Chevrolet went a step further with its radical Corvette Sting Ray.
LOST & FOUND
THE WHEREABOUTS OF THIS RARE 1969 AMC AMX WAS FOR DECADES A COMPLETE MYSTERY, UNTIL IT WAS PULLED IT OUT OF A SHED IN ADELAIDE
IN THE RED!
AS OUR ROADS EMULATE THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, GOVERNMENTS ARE DOING THEIR BIT TO SHIRK ALL RESPONSIBILITY
1986 PORSCHE 928 S
THE 928 SHAPE MIGHT HAVE BEEN AN ACQUIRED TASTE FOR PORSCHE AFICIONADOS, BUT IT’S DESIRABILITY HAS IMPROVED WITH AGE
MODERN CLASSICS ZX-12R
KAWASAKI'S KING NINJA AIMED TO BE A HAYABUSA-BEATER
FLY DMC
THE CULT OF DELOREAN - THE MAN. THE MACHINE. THE MOVIE(S)
1972 FORD FALCON HARDTOP GT REPLICA
THIS FACTORY V8 FALCON HARDTOP KNOWS A THING OR TWO ABOUT BRIGHT AND DESIRABLE COLOUR COMBINATIONS
VALE MECUM AUCTION'S JOHN KRAMAN
A CORNERSTONE of Mecum Auctions and one of its most recognisable members, John Kraman, has died.
STOP IT!
PERHAPS THE CELEBRATION OF DIVERSITY IN GENERAL SHOULD INCLUDE CELEBRATING THE DIVERSITY OF HANDBRAKE TYPES
