GT HO for Moffat anniversary?

"It is so far away from being a reality at the moment, it's off the table." They're the words of Ford Performance Vehicle (FPV) boss, Rod Barrett. And yes, he's talking about the resurrection of the most famous muscle car ever to roll on four wheels Down Under -- the Ford Falcon GT HO.

Right now, there is no plan to relaunch the HO, but the FPV chief is willing to admit thoughts of the car and the program that would spawn it occupy a significant part of the collective FPV executive's grey matter.

"[Resurrecting] the GT HO is a dream of mine," Barrett told the Carsales Network yesterday.

"I'd love to be in charge at FPV when we brought a GT HO to market but there's Jiminy Cricket sitting on my shoulder yelling into this right ear don't stuff it up."

Barrett's blueprint for a new-generation HO is clear. But he says it won't go ahead unless the joint Ford Australia Prodrive operation he heads has the "right hardware" and the "financial resource" to do it properly.

"One thing I will say, if we did ever do a HO it would not be under the typical auspices of a FPV limited edition. When the [2008 FPV BF GT-based] Cobra came out, it was very reflective of what it was in 1978 --under the skin not a lot changed. A GT HO to me needs to be a car that is completely unique in performance, handling, braking, aesthetics, colour, limited build number... It needs to reflect what the [19]71 Phase 3 was..."

Barret believes the 40th anniversary of Allan Moffat's XY GT HO win at Bathurst (pictured) is the right time for the HO to make a come back.

"It's my concept and it's not even been discussed with Ford, but I'd love to do one in 2011 because that's 40 years since Moffat last won Bathurst in an XY -- and the last HO that was borne. But it's nowhere near even thought process at the moment. It is so far away from being a reality at the moment, it's off the table."

The FPV boss says that HSV's experience with the 7.0-litre LS7-engined W427 has delivered "huge learnings" for his Ford hot shop.

"I was the keenest spectator on the W427 project. Watching how they launched it; how they developed it; the numbers they initially said they would build; the numbers they suggested they'd revise; and the numbers that actually went out the door...

But he says any GT HO must be more attainable for the man in the street -- at least as far as price is concerned.

"I would hate to think that I would be putting a car on the market that was as expensive as that. We'd like to be able to do something at an affordable Australian price -- for the man in the street," Barrett opined.

"I cover all of our 70-plus [FPV] dealers quarterly and guys bring out folders t-h-i-s thick with deposits in them [for GT HOs]... I wouldn't want to build thousands of them, because that just takes away the mystique again, but there's probably enough [demand] there -- in all these folders I see -- of hard core cheques, deposits for GT HOs."

If Barrett and his engineering team have hard performance goals for the resurrected GT HO, they are not willing to share the hard numbers yet. The FPV boss is clear, however, that the new car would have big boots to fill.

"It [the new-generation GT HO] wouldn't be a Cobra or a 40th Anniversary or a 5th Anniversary type of vehicle. It would be something entirely unique.

"You've got to remember the quote -- it was the fastest four-door sedan in the world at that time. I think that's a big ask now when you've got European manufacturers putting out the power they do in cars that are worth lotto-winning numbers," Barrett opined.

"This is an Aussie car for Aussie people and that's how I want to build it. I want it to reflect me, the company and the car that it was..."

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