It’s always a pleasure talking with someone who has a passion for what they do. Therefore it was indeed a great experience, talking with the unassuming V8 Supercar driver, James Moffat of Jim Beam Racing. James made the journey from Melbourne up to the ‘Far North’ to attend the All Ford Day event at Hanson Ford in Mareeba. The All Ford Club FNQ Inc, runs this event annually and this year once again it drew quite a crowd of passionate Ford lovers! There were some great cars on parade this year from Tom Pryor’s 1945 Ford pick up to John Cheyne’s DJR 320 Supercharged Falcon, one of only seventeen ever produced by Dick Johnson’s racing team, which had been polished to within an inch of it’s life by Squeaker Clean and was gleaming menacingly at anyone coming too close! James had spent most of the morning signing merchandise while chatting with the show-goers and admiring the cars. I caught up with him as he was eyeing up the before mentioned DJR, and managed to force him away from it long enough for an interview for Queensland Street Car Magazine. Graeme – James, on behalf of QSC magazine and the All Ford Club, welcome to Mareeba and thank you for your time. James – Thanks, it’s great to see so many awesome cars on show. Graeme - I have a couple of questions from AUTO ART photography to kick off with James, what are your thoughts on Hamilton’s driving last weekend at Monaco? .... read the full article in issue 8. Back issues are available through the QSC website store.
The Ford Probe is a car that was manufactured between 1989 and 1997. It was initially planned to replace the Mustang but Ford chose to name it the Probe after buyers expressed their displeasure of the idea. Based on the same platform as the Mazda MX-6 which was manufactured in Michigan, the second generation of the Probe was ‘designed to appeal primarily to women’. The main design of the second generation was overseen by Ford’s first female designer. There were a few different engine options including a 2.0 litre, 4 cylinder motor and a 2.5 litre V6 motor. Graham Pope’s Ford Probe is a fair bit tougher then the stock ’93 model, especially since it weighs a hell of a lot less and packs a truck load more power with its updated V8 engine. Putting down 1200hp and 900 lb’s of torque.
When it comes to building cars, it’s always a lot more enjoyable when you’ve got someone there with you. Father-son projects aren’t unheard of and are a great way to bond. This son and step-father team has done it a little different by building their own projects at the same time while helping each other. Mark is David’s step dad and owns the red Hilux and David is obviously the owner of the green LJ Torana. Now we do see a fair few Torana’s around the scene and they all bring many different cool factors to the modified car party. David Dalton’s LJ sedan is as cool as they come and isn’t a bad car to be driving for a bloke of his age. There is the fact that he is on his P’s so having a cool car is one thing but being able to make it legal to please the boys in blue is the main factor in this build.
