Million dollar Oz muscle

That changed when collector Daryl Mattingley parted with no less than $683,650 -- including auctioneer's fees -- for the privilege of parking a beautifully restored, bright red example of Australia's most iconic factory racer in his garage.

The figure for the 1971 Falcon was expected to instantly raise the ante on all cars produced during the supercar era of the early 1970s, including Torana XU-1 and A9X (coupe and sedan), Holden Monaro GTS 307 and GTS 350, and Chrysler's E38 and E49 Valiant Chargers.

That was in March. Now, that close-to-$700,000 figure is about to be eclipsed by a 1971 GT-HO which appeared in the last issue of Unique Cars magazine with an asking price of a cool one million dollars.

The Falcon was still available for sale when we called owner Paul Carthew for an update.

The difference here is that the Ultra White Falcon with black trim is described as unrestored and original, in the hands of its second owner and showing just 43,690 miles on the odometer.

All the original purchase documents from Mortimer Ford in Mildura in July 1991 are there, along with the revelations the car has appeared on the cover of Wheels magazine twice -- in June 1992 heralding an article titled "Time Warp" and June 2007, when it featured in the magazine's recent "Power Brokers" article.

As part of the 1992 Time Warp article, the car was driven by Peter Brock and Colin Bond for Bathurst track test stories featured in both Wheels and Street Machine magazines.

The million-dollar GT-HO is described as the "best of the best", with no expense spared maintaining that status.

The spending spree on 30 years' old Australian classics takes our home-grown products into the price region once belonging to European exotics -- somewhat ironic considering most of the local products stemmed from cars originally intended as nothing more than family transport.

And, according to the Power Brokers series of articles in Wheels magazine, they are being purchased not by your normal cashed-up lawyers, doctors and stockbrokers, but by earthier types who have achieved some measure of success and are seeking to reignite youthful memories.

Daryl Mattingley is the owner of a successful house removal business in Queensland and, at 56, belongs to the Baby Boomer generation that is generating much of the wealth behind such acquisitions.

Mattingley told Wheels magazine that the GT-HO was considered as much for its future value as for being a treasured possession. "I just think, and hope, it will be worth a million dollars." he says, "While it's a passion, it's also an investment."

Whatever it is, it's an expensive passion and an investment yet to be proven as blue-chip.

But Daryl Mattingley's outlay earlier in the year clearly set the ball rolling. The question is: Where will it stop?

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