“When we choose our ‘barn find’ cars, we do a lot of research and design work to create backstories for each one. We need to know what led that specific car to be abandoned in that specific barn or outhouse, and it’s important to us that it makes sense,” Fulton said.
“There are a good selection of Australian cars to be found hidden across the vast environment we’ve created. However, rest assured that even if the car isn’t domestic there’s a really good backstory which explains how it got there.”
Basically, they’re saying that each barnfind is based off a true car and story? Thoughts?
Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 (320bhp 5.0L V8)
Ford Falcon GTHO Phase IV (400bhp 5.8L V8)
Chrysler Valiant Charger (300bhp 4.3L Hemi 6)
Those three cars would make perfect barn finds. The problem is that the Phase IV was the only one that ever got built so I don’t know if the others would qualify. They are based on existing models so who knows? If not I’d happily see an E49 Charger somewhere in the game.
Some history re the Holdens that hopefully will be correctly reproduced in the game??
The FX Holden was THE first vehicle designed and built in Australia specifically for Australian conditions. Conditions that were just killing the American imports of the same age brackets.
The FX came in two configuration, and went from 1948 through to 1953 (my birth year btw) So the 50-2106 denotes the 2 door Utility (Ute) body type, not the year. The sedan was denoted as 48-215. Neither the Ute or the Sedan had a full chassis like their American counterparts, they infact incorporated a new K Frame style of front semi chassis that bolted to the bulkhead (firewall)
With regards to the HQ-HZ Holden Sandman.
The Sandman was in fact a special edition of the HQ-HZ Holden Panel Van. The Panel Van was initially designed as a workhorse for ‘tradies’ (tradesmen) so they could have the comforts of a sedan, yet the larger carrying capacities above what the Ute supplied and be protected from the elements.
They generally were decked out with the Holden 253 or 308 wide block GMH engines, with Saginaw 4 speed gearboxes. Some 3 speed Turbo Hydros were fitted, but 4 speeds were ‘the go’ at the time, unlike today. See the link above for the nine codes and types.
Thing is, Holden had no idea that the younger drivers and car enthusiasts of the time, saw the car as an ideal medium to express their unique creativity.
The HQ-HZ Sandman in fact had a very unique sticker (decal) on the rear lower tailgate. (See pics on link) that was also inclusive of a small badge, and side stickers and striping along the sides and some showed off the contours of the front and rear guards (fenders).
There was a series of Sandmans that were contracted by General Motors Holden to have the entire Vans covered in a unique murals. These murals were ALL HAND PAINTED. No computerised wraps back then. Every piece of art that decorated any of the Vans, Utes, and Sedans of the time prior to the mid to late 90’s was all done by hand via airbrush artists.
I had the fun of being one of those Custom Paint artists of the time. See link above for the unique artwork on the original Sandmans used for Holdens promotional purposes, not my work, but I did work with that artist to do the Geminis. The promo Sandmans were eventually sold to the general public.
At my Custom Shop we did several Show Cars, Choppers, Vans, Utes and Sedans that saw exposure at the various car shows, and the very early Street Machine Nationals of the time. The earlier Street a Machine Nationals happened at country towns such as Castlemaine in Victorua, Orange, Bathurst and Albury in N.S.W.
In the late '70’s to early '80’s they eventually moved to the Nations Capital State, known as ACT (Australian Capital Territory) having the Australian Street Machine Nationals at the National Capital made a great deal of sense.
Re the Sandman. As you can see, the sides of the promotional Vans included a surfer riding a huge wave that took up the entire rear of the van’s sides from top to bottom, then ran along the entire sides of the Van tapering off into the front edges of the front guards (fenders/wings). They also swept around the back and faded off into the rear lower tailgate.
As mentioned above, I had the privilege of working with the artist that did those cars. Which were around 5-8 vans in total. At the time, the late Peter Cullen of Peter Cullen Holden based at Liverpool contracted my custom paint business (Blues Magoo’s Custom Paintworks) back in the mid '70’s to do a similar paint scheme on the sides of a Holden Gemin Panel Van.
As there was a huge rush on smaller 4 cylinder commercial cars that car enthusiasts wanted to express themselves on, and Peter wanted to capitalise on them, as well as selling the Sandman Vans, which he had several at the time.
So Peter wanted something he could put in his front window that would attract the younger buyers. We did a great job, copying the original artwork from the original promotional Sandman Vans, but on a much smaller scale.
This was done on the sides of the Gemini panel van. We started with a white base, which is what the original a Sandman Surfers Promotionsl van started life as.
The Sandman Promo Vans were cycled around the various major Holden dealerships in each state. Hence the need to do around 8 vans in total. One for each state initially and one used for photo purposes. You can see the great hand painted art via the above link, as well as the ‘correct’ Sandman tailgate sticker (decal) artwork that you can see, that is hopefully replicated in the game. As that denoted a Sandman from an normal Belmont Van.
Re the Holden Marloo Ute.
The Maloo also came with specific engine specification options, specific sticker (decal) sets, and rim (wheel) and tyre combations.
The Maloo Holden Performsnce Ute came in a huge assortment of combinations, way too many to list here. But ultimately, they put the power of the Holden Specialty Vehicles performances cars into a much lighter body frame. These monsters ran for a few years in various configurations. As they could be ordered through dealerships, then put through the HSV performance treatment.
Providing a very potent vehicle that kept the car Enthusiasts very very happy. Today, real examples of these cars can fetch a nice sum of money. And if one is able to acquire one, and it is simply needing a good clean up, it will return a great investment in time.
Off Holden topic…
As will the late 2015 F GT351 which came with a direct drive supercharger on top of the already potent 351 Clevland modern motor. I saw one yesterday at a dealership and if I can get it for the right money, I’ll hopefully be driving away with it in the near future.
It’ll be worth a nice sum $$$ in about 3-5 yrs. it only has 9,000 kilometres on it since coming off the production line in late 2015 and fitted with nice big Bremos, including drilled and vented discs on both front and back.
These great Ford Falcon GTs are the very last for Australians to buy. With the Australian Ford manurfactoring closing shop permenantly. A very sad state of affairs. So these cars will only increase in value, rather than decrease.
What’s your problem?? Those are 3 of the newly confirmed cars as of today. People want new Australian car models in the game so of course they are going to be the main cars of this week.
“People” have gotten plenty, both here and in FM6 and FM6 DLC. I’m not saying they’re not cool; just want to see a little more variety, that’s all. Which I’m sure we will going forward.
Australian cars were among least represented groups in the series since its inception. All we’ve seen in previous Forzas was the XB Falcon and the VE Commodore. So what if they’re mostly showcasing Australian cars? This takes place in Australia, so it would be stupid to focus on American or Japanese cars.
Which – I think – means we’ve seen more Ozzy market cars in FM than any other game series.
“Least represented” is relative, when you consider the fact that there just aren’t as many Forza-esque Ozzy specials produced as there are JDM, NA, and EU examples. If you take it all on a vehicles produced basis, then I’ll bet the Ozzy cars we do see take up quite a large percentage.
The Phase II has in fact been confirmed in the official car list at the very start of this thread. It’s updated and altered at weekly intervals. The Phase III was included this week as well as the 2015 F GT 351… The last of the Aussie Ford GTs.
And of course Forza Horizons will include a decent amount of great Aussie historic cars. Both performance and hard to find historic cars, like the FX 50-2106 Ute.
I just don’t understand why ppl complain about having a decent assortment of Australian cars in a game based in Australia. Forza Motorsports was primarily based in the U.S. With excursions to several other countries. But with a huge swath of U.S. cars and tracks. No one complained that much.
Yet here we are with a game based in Australia, and some ppl are complaining that there’s a lot of Aussie cars in it. Dahhh… Of course they’ll be included. It would be insane if they weren’t. Don’t you think.?
I’m sure if it was based in the UK, then there’d be plenty of UK built cars included. I wouldn’t expect anything less.
It’s also interesting to note that as the car list expands, there’s a huge proportion of cars that are in Forza Motorsports reappearing in Horizon, along with all the Univirn cars that have only been made available in FM6 via unicorn events. While I. horizons, they will be shipped on day one. Seems a tad unfare actually. Hopefully Tirn 10 will allow the unicorns to be made available to the general gamer as the end of the games lifespan approaches.
It’ll still allow ppl to obtain them via various Univirn events, but it’ll allow those unable to get them, the opportunity to acquire them much later on.
The Phase III’s inclusion in this thread was a mistake. My friend xboxgamer969’s list was used for the main list when the first reveal was shown, although some cars, like the Phase III, were included by mistake. The list has since been refreshed and my list was used as the base now.
Audi:
1983 Sport Quattro
2006 RS4
2011 RS5
2013 RS4 Avant
2013 R8 Coupe V10 Plus 5.2 FSI quattro
2014 #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports R8 LMS Ultra
2016 R8 V10 Plus
BAC:
2014 Mono
Bentley
2013 Continental GT Speed
BMW :
1973 2002 Turbo
1981 M1
1986 M635CSi
1995 M5 (E34)
1997 M3 (E36)
2005 M3 (E46)
2008 M3 (E92)
2011 X5 M
2012 M5 (F10)
2014 M235i
2014 M4 Coupe
2014 #55 BMW Team RLL Z4 GTE
Bowler :
2012 EXR S
Bugatti:
1992 EB110 Super Sport
2011 Veyron Super Sport
Buick:
1987 Regal GNX
Cadillac:
2012 Escalade ESV
Chevrolet:
1964 Impala SS 409
1966 Nova SS
1970 El Camino SS 454
1970 Corvette ZR-1
1990 Camaro IROC-Z
2009 Corvette ZR-1 (C6)
2014 #3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R
2015 Camaro Z/28
2015 Corvette Z06
2016 Camaro SS
