American Reacts to The Australian Car Scene in the 80's (Real Footage) 

I was born in 75 in the uk. And its the same here. The 70s and 80s and 90s were awesome. Simpler happier times. I think the Internet and population has a lot to do with ruining the modern world.

Mate I’d go back to the 70s And 80s in a heartbeat !!!

that zippy little things was a Mazda (rotiseree) rotary R ONE. worth a small fortune now.

Yellow car was rover V8 , red car was mazda R100 rotary.

1950s Vincent Black Lightning could do 150mph, quick bikes have always been around :)

I used to attend regularly. That area in Carlton was known as Repco Corner. I still live 10mins away. Ah, the good ol days.

Back in the 80's Sydney had a place called Brickies, we used for street racing (some street racing at brickies is in the movie "FJ Holden") The Government shut it down for ever in 1996. The old Hombush Brick Works site became a part of the site for the 2000 Sydney Games.

The guy and the woman arguing. It was his mum telling him to give her car back. Happened all the time.

12:41. V6 ford Capri.

I was born in 1975, and i lived the 2nd half of the 80s..my God it was beautiful, young people was always happy and we only wanted to stay together, looking for each other, you didn't need money to have fun! Now I miss it very much Gimme a time machine please 😢 Gretings from Italy

G’day Ian, I was in my 20’s in the 80’s, I was right into the car scene and used to race at a place called the Bickies, I had a 1969 Torana XU1 back then. Fun fact, the Brickies became the sight of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Thank you for taking me back to the good old days. I am now 65 and I can’t honestly say, hand on heart, that those were the best days of my life.

Man this is bringing back so many memories, i live in Perth but the car scene was huge back in the 80s, we used to go to Scarborough beach and get the cooking fat from the local chippie and pour it on the ramp from the lower carpark to the upper carpark and just chuck skids until the cops moved some of us on, leaving the drive in movies after watching mad max or running on empty was just awesome, burnouts always, just cruising with mates, we weren't afraid back then, not like now days where you could get stabbed for looking at someone the wrong way, the 80s were just so cool.

The seventies and the eighties were a wonderful time for me when I was in my teens and twenties. Great times.

Bouverie Street Carlton. Those were the days. I was there

I was 16 in 1985 All the car brands had there own distinctive style/faces. You knew immediately what car was coming around the corner just by how they sounded (the stock cars)

i was a teen in the 80's and was lucky enough to have an XB falcon. probably a $50-60k car now. i can tell you from experience, the Cleveland is an awesome motor. the whirring/whining sound is most likely a set of straight cut cam gears. we would put them in just for the noise. sounds so tough. in Newcastle, NSW we had Kooragang Island. hundreds of cars and people galore. even today you get people leaving skid marks and chunks of rubber everywhere. BTW a roll cage adds 50HP!

That yellow thing with the first burnout is an old rover from the UK, pretty sure they ran a 3.5lt V8. And it was obviously followed by a little red Dorito slinging Mazda

Back in the day there was an older guy near me that was engineering old Toyota Vans and putting the biggest V8’s in them. Only one of them was painted up with advertisements for his business in fitting all sorts of engines into them. The rest were all white sleepers. They were all really quiet at idle. But once they took off they roared and spun the tyres with far too much ease. Most of them he put the old Buick V6 from Commodores in them for tradies who hated having the tiny and sluggish underpowered 4 cylinders in them.

I lived in Australia in the 80's it was so much better than it is now. We took it for granted then.

The 70s 80s were the best times....EVER!😊

11:32 those Ford Capri GTs had a 3.0l V6 from the factory but in Australia in the 80s a lot of people swapped them with small block chevs, or windsors, even a few had clevelands. That one is doing a decent burnout. I attended many of these street meets in the 80s in Melbourne, fond memories.

when this came up in my youtube feed i knew you'd enjoy checking it out 😁 it's such a great time capsule from a simpler time. i am too young to have witnessed this era, but i live just up the street from where a lot of this was filmed, so it's interesting to see what it was like back then. thanks for watching one of my suggestions!

That was my era, it was much better than today.

Old mate in the green Falcon at the start sounds like he's just fitted a set of straight cut timing gears and is doing a "note run" in front of the cameras 😂😎

Yep, the zippy little red car was a Mazda R100, as identified by other viewers. I know ''cause I owned one. It was the first two-door rotary-engined car - basically a Mazda 1200 Coupe - to be sold in Australia. It featured blackened grille, round tail-lamps, powered antenna, bonnet louvres, wooden steering wheel, a very cool aircraft-look dash console with two large dials for speedo and tacho, while underneath springs rates were upped and bigger 14 inch wheels shod with radials fitted. It also had a fully synchronized 4-speed-manual transmission. The R100 was not fast by today’s standards but, back in 1969 when it first came out, it went like the clappers. The rotary (Wankel) engine had only one major moving part and so was simpler and easier to overhaul because there were less parts to wear. There was also less internal power loss because there was no reciprocating motion and hence less vibration. There was no power-draining valve train gear, either. All of that meant a greater power output for smaller overall engine size with greater smoothness and lower noise level thrown in. Seals and rotor bearing, which were simple but expensive to replace, were the main source of concern in development of the rotary. When the engine in mine gave up the ghost, my older brother and fitted it with a conventional four-cylinder engine, but not without first having to modify the undercarriage to accommodate the drive train and exhaust.

First car is a 1973-76 XB Falcon GT 351 Cleveland

Watched this couple weeks ago, bring back memories.

@1:23 For the eagle eye. Is that an MGB on the right? That would be hilarious, because Ian reacted to an MGB video only 12 hours ago. A car he never heared of or saw in his life 😵‍💫🤣😂 Cheers! 🍻🍺🍻

"Calder Park Street Drags" Was a weekly event I spectated and ran a few 1/4 miles there back in the day.

Lygon St is the Italian quarter of central Melbourne. Plenty of Griks there too. A lot of curly black mullets in that crowd. 😄

In that bike clip it was fun to see the Holden sedan with ladders on roof and trailer attached... Obviously a tradie in the street 😊

I probably taught quite a few of those lads in the tech college back in the 80s. My students always talked of Carlton hooning.

In 1978, I was 21 and I brought a new HZ Holden V8 in Atlantis blue with American Racing mags, same as that blue one you said the guy was young. It was a great time to be alive 🥰

@5:14 Mitsubishi Galant 1977? Or a Chrysler Sigma for the Murican and Australian market. In Australia the Chrysler Sigma was built by Chrysler Australia in Adelaide, South Australia from 1977.

That green Ford Falcon GT would probably have a worked 351 4v , I worked my 351 4v 2 door XB in the 80s , my rego was XB 000 , it was a good time

Funny how we all want something we couldnt have. The 80's was my decade, and yeah I was right in the middle of that Oz scene with burnouts, street racing etc. The little red mosquito was a Mazda rotary, surprised you didnt get that. However, the 80's in Oz were awesome, but I always wanted to be in the American 60's. 22 years old in a bus at Woodstock, bring it on :D

We only raced 1/4 mile back in the 80’s

I owned a 1971 XY Ford Falcon, not a Shaker but the next best thing back then, had it for 16 years.

I'm 78 now and still drive a 1999 Ford Fairlane 5lt V8, was a speed king in the 60's 70's and 80's and still like a drag at the lights !

Dragsters were used at The Thunder Dome reached from Melbourne by the Calder Freeway.

That video is an absolute gem

Many of these cars were under 5k To day most of these cars are over 100k

Glad someone had a stolen video recorder to keep this good old times,legend.

"More than hoons: 100 years of newcastle motorsport" is definitely worth a watch if you thought this was good. it's about newcastle nsw. plenty of old footage, cool cars. newcastle probably had the best street racing scene in australia. because of a road on kooragang island being a private road the cops couldn't book you.

Bikes started to become really fast in the 80’s There were the big Japan 4cyl bikes of course, but 2 strokes were also popular. The rules back then had anything under 250cc cheaper to rego and anyone with a learners permit could ride one with no other limitations. Bikes like the Yamaha RD250LC (liquid cooled), KR250(Kawasaki) and RG250(Suzuki) were very popular with new riders. Not popular with their parents or the cops, but popular with the cool kids. You could turn 16, head to the motor reg and do a written test, then head to the bike shop and ride away on a 200kph crotch rocket (if you saved enough money from your milk run job). I had to make do with a hand me down Suzuki TS250 but I loved it and I was the coolest guy at school for a while.

that first car is an XB ford GT i use to have one 1975 coupe original GT they are worth $250,000 today in mint condition i sold at the wrong time

Hi, Ian, this is off-topic, but I remember your enthusiasm for the French Citroën 2CV, and I think you should enjoy this: (on YT) "Driving a Slow, Strange French Car In Modern American Traffic!" - TFLclassics Enjoy the ride!

Born in '58. I lived it! That's gotta be where the expression "Those were the days" comes to right!👴😇🤫

The 70's, 80's best time in the world for cars , having fun and music .bazz

Haha, just found this video yesterday and finished watching it about half an hour ago. Coincidence😂

Loved the days before speed cameras

I was a motorcycle courier around that time, that spot is in a rat run just west of Lygon st with plenty of escape routes when the wallopers show up.

i use to have a XB FORD GT coupe in red original GT bought it for $4000 put 10 into it sold for 50G today worth 250,000

I was born in Melbourne and was a teenager in the 80s. I had a Ford Cortina that I rebuilt from the ground up and did my fair share of burnouts in it!! I know those areas and saw everything from jet cars to top fuellers at Calder Park which is 1/4 mile. I also saw Guns n Roses at Calder Park in 1993 and that was an epic concert! I actually crashed my Cortina outside Calder Park on the way into the concert. Everyone inside heard the crash and apparently they all cheered. I found that out when I caught up with my friends once getting inside and they asked me if I heard the car crash. They were stunned when I told them it was my car!! I fixed it later on and had it right up until around 2006. Kinda wish I'd kept it now.

Back in 1980 I was working at the steelworks in Port Kembla N.S.W. my daily driver (to & from work) an LJ Torana 1300 (4 cylinder) & weekender an XB Ford Falcon 500 302 T bar auto with a 30/70 cam & a Holly 4 barel double pumper on top. My dream was to swap the 1300 in the LJ with a Ford 3ltr V6 with 4 speed box & an SLR dif, as a sleeper... 44 years later it's still a dream 😉

Born in 60, late 70s and 80s was my time. So much fun with cars and bikes. Was more into point to point racing... in Brisbane Queensland ...

I was a teenager during these times in Melbourne. The car culture was not only an Aussie thing but also and Erhnic thing, first generation kids of European parents found this release in the car lifestyle As much as the car culture was extreme everyone got along and compared parts and performance gear.. There was pride in an owner and his car to show it off.. yeah we had custom plates.. COPB8T ORSM1 etc .. 1/4 mile drags at Calder Park, built by ex Pro Racer Bob Jane .. Westall Rd Drags, Dandy/Frankston Rd Drags, Cherry Lane Drags, Lygon Drags .. It was an awesome era, went to them on random days .. these cars are now worth a fortune..

Aaah, the 80's 😍 I'm not someone who claims any decade is better than another, but for me, this was my youth, 15 to 25, and I had a blast, wouldn't change a thing. It was fun to be young. My cousin had one of those little red Mazda rotaries, and he was always hooning in Carlton, for a second I thought it might have been him, it wasn't, lol. ✌❤

1985 was when the 1st Suzuki GSXR was born. From then on sports bikes really started to become fast and the handling improved a lot and weight too.

I bought my first car in 1980, it was a ‘73 Chrysler Regal Hardtop (2 door). 318 auto it cost me $3000. I commuted between Albury NSW to Adelaide (1000km’s) as an 18yo in the Army. Did it up a bit, sounded and looked great and yeah, loved the odd burnout here and there. One of the most comfortable cars I’ve ever owned too. They used to run strips across the road in country Victoria to catch you speeding. Amphometer I think it was called, no idea how it’s spelt, but had my share of fines too. Back then there was no extradition interstate so as I had a South Australian license I kept all my points. But it was a different time. If you got caught doing a burnout you didn’t lose your car. I like the old days.

Mate I was a teenager in Brisbane Australia in the 90's ... We use to drive up to a spot called Mount Gravatt Lookout every Friday/Saturday night. Burnouts, Beers and Chicks ... Didn't know it at the time but was an amazing moment in time

I remember the Lygon St days and Calder Raceway, had a crack in my XY wagon for fun.

Fast Japanese bikes really started in the late 1960’s with the Kawasaki 500 Mach 3 triple cylinder 2 stroke, my older brother had two of them in the early 1970’s, I also had the Kawasaki 750 Mach 4 triple 2 stroker in the early 70’s as a young fella and it’s a wonder I survived to be here today, yeah I had 4 cops chasing me one night in Melbournes northern suburbs on that thing I got away but they later caught me unfortunately, probably a good thing as a night in the lock up and a hefty fine with a long loss of licence really taught me a lesson and for the better, I had a long procession of bikes and cars right up to this day but only ride my classic machine and drive my classic car on nice weather days now! Memories!

From about the mid 80's you could of found me at Lygon St Carlton hanging out with me mate in his yellow and black Ford XA GT351 Coupe and another mate in a Ford XW Fairmont 351 😄😄 that was a long time ago.

My first car was a 1981 VH Holden Commodore.

They were 1/4 mile drags at Calder Raceway probably on a Friday night.

I have custom plates, the price here in SA is $230 a year.

I was born in 1968 so yeh grew up in s.a. dam i had fun growing up with all the good cars i owned several different v8s sat night was cruise night in cars yeh good times back then

I was 17 in 1982 when I met my Italian boyfriend, he had a Falcon XYGT and all his mates and a lot of people we knew had muscle cars that had emaculate paint jobs and all badges removed to make them slicker looking. I actually met him at a restaurant in Lygon st called Notties (Notturnos ) and he taught me to drive in that car, including how to do a burnout haha. We spent our time doing laps and hanging out in lygon st, the mole factory in campbellfield was another hotspot until the cops would turn up and everyone would scatter haha, Elwood Beach at a carpark where people would do burnouts, the council put in speed humps to stop it and of course calder park drags. It was the best times looking back and would see your car impounded these days, not to mention the cost of fuel!! There is an 80's aussie movie called Running On Empty that you would love and I recommend to watch if you can get a hold of it.

5:20 - Yellow car is a Rover SD1

21:15 I'm assuming someone has mentioned that the car is a Ford Capri. Quite probably the V6 version. An underrated monster pocket rocket.

Hi - i thought i would ad my 2 cents and some info for non - australians doing car spotting 1:00 Ford 1973-1976 XB GT - factory 351 cleveland, that one sound like it has straight cut gears instead of the normal timing chain, rear drop tank (clone Torana A9x which was popular at the time ) exhaust is down facing pipes (unsually to send exhaust to ground and have the ground dampen the sound - common thing to do found exhaust sound test untull it was outlawed now it has to be tested exiting 180 degrees flat They were the last of true muscle cars and came with 9 inch standard, not sure what ratio he is running must be high 4.0 or greater, as i had a similar car in red 302 cleveland fairmont with 2.92 or 3.0 gear and that would get to 90kph (55mph) doing a 1-2 shift with the C4 auto and factory 2bbl - this guy cannot go 4 houses to end of street without redlining 3.05 1973 ?? honda civic 1.3l - thus the unloved comments 4:10 white Torana large body LX-LX 1972-1976 can be 4/6/8, most probably 2850 or 3300 6cyl, but they did come with 4200 and 5000 V8 ( at 5:20 it has square headlights so a LX ) 4:16 Dark blue ?? VB/VH commodore 1978 - 1983 again 4/6/8 that may be a SLE top of the line sedan which often were one of the V8's, I think VB VC was V8 standard and 6 was a downgrade option,but by the 3rd model VH the 3.3 6 was very common 4:47 read of a rover 3500 V8 5:25 Mazda rotary R100 ??? 6:16 Black Torana , maybe genuine SLR 5000 - although every torana had stripes and slr badges added, same as USA you add the SS stickers and badges on camaros - 6:15 has full roll cage 7:07 ZF og ZG (XA or XB fairlane -falcon stretch most were 302/351 , from rear if you see the 9 inch hanging down it is 351 if you dont notice the diff centre you assume a Borg Warner diff and 302 ) 7:13 XW or XT Falcon GT ( or look alike ) typical rear wing of the Phase 3 GTHO - even taxis had then - typically you would by any o fthose model, spray black the door frames and add stickers and a plastic rear spoiler - Fun fact - you could get a fiberglass shaker for a 6, yet it was positioned on the rocker cover and was a pretend GT - i knew 3 of them and we called them GT250 ( 4.1 litre of 250 cid ) for fun 7:27 HJ Holden 1974-1976 appears to be kingswood or premier due to no GTS flutes of the front guards, Genuine HJ and HX monaro had larges stickers GTS on bootlid and rear quarter panel and often rear black out between the rear tail lights, however some factories did not do this, also some factories took the chrome of the rear tail light housing and sprayed gloss black 7:52 another ZF-ZG farilane - 8:20 brake job burn out 8:58 HZ GTS ( they were not called monaro in the last HZ ) HZ was the only one with the twin headlight premier front panel, all prior monaroes used the base model single headlight Note HJ-HX-HX the 4 headlight front is standard on Premier and long wheelbase statesman The only difference the grill is different and some models there is a plstic grill extension under the bumper Note sure of that colour, there was a purple available, but i have seen that washed out purple before ( Lilac ??) Note HQ has 2 setsof twin headlights, the Premier is twin light but used the stanrads base model grill, whereas the stateman has a twin headlight grill but the centre piece has a metal bar so it uses 2 smaller separate plastic grills 10:28 the purple car is a ford capri - most were 4cyl, but there also was a V6 3.0 litre - you pick them by the hump in the bonnet, however this is wasy to fast for a V6, so it probably has a 289/302 windsor transplant, also 350 chev does fit in them - i has seen about 5 or 6 with chevs engines 12:57 XB falcon sedan hard to fin in purple, the purple in XY and XA was called wild plum and very different, this may be a faded blue and bad quality color of the video tape 13:05 1971-1973 XA GT falcon, 351 - in copper bronze - the bonnet scoops are flat and teardrop similar to early shelby (1968 / 1969 ??) This one has a earlier XW-XY shaker added, but at 13:44 you can see it does not have factory 4 headlights in the stock GT or GS grill , so it is a falcon painted as GT and GT bonnet ( to be honest i an not 100% sure, i think most XA and XB GT's had 4 headlights - i had a XB 302 GS and it had 4 headlights like most GT's, it even had the factory inner high beam overide switch on the dash - maybe the 4 light was standard or a option - not so sure now - but mine had a slight front accident and i could not get a new grill in 1980 for the 4 headlight, however they plastic welded repaired it with hot air gun - and that car was 4 years old at the time ) 13:48 - has rear XW-XY GTHO style rear spoiler so yeah a copy cat for the rare HO Phase 4 13:58 forget the model but a XD era fairlane or LTD ( fairlane was 116 inch stretch falcon, and the LTD was 120 inch stretch ) Most LTD's had a type of louver for the C-pillar extra window, but it was a ford part and may fairlane people bought them and installed them 14:04 another XB GT i think we saw it before and another brake job burnout 14:26 datsun 200b 14:40 fake xa gt returns 15:26 XD falcon 1979-1981 15:49 White VB-VC commodore - that area is probably a new development in residential zone 16:00 - Looks like a HZ holden with a WB statesman front ( headlights are 2 part oblong ) , however from HQ the entire front clip comes off, Typical to use WB statesman front clip and HJ-HX-HZ gts guards 16:55 rear end is HJ-X-Z but you can add thos 1/4 panels to HQ's and it was common when a 1972 HQ was worth $ 1490 . HJ $2999 HX ?? HZ $ 5999 in 1980 for good cars, beaters were worth whatever the rego was left on it 18:39 Early Monaro coupe with pro stocker snorkel ( letter box ) did not get a good look at rear so probably HT-HG 1969-1971 - the other car is a XD falcon We dont do 1/8th mole, 90% are 1/4 mile, the sigh which i cannot read has elapsed time and exit fee, so guessing 12.5 and 118mph

We Build Great Cars

I was a teenager in Australia in the 80's and we did have the best timeline mate 😁 Mullets, denim clothes, Rockers, Skinheads, Ugg Boots, Ripples, Doc Martens, music, movies, playgrounds designed to break bones, a very real threat of nuclear war. I'm sure I've missed a few things here. Those were the days.

That was Calder raceway a quarter mile strip they had bracket racing and other occasions dedicated street drags less organised

The good old days, feeling it now though. I now know what Dr Smith ( Lost in Space) was on about, when he was saying " Oh the pain".

God that brings back some awesome memories! Brings back some memories I also wish I didn’t remember too lol.

Your G,day, How you goin, has shown definite improvement, nice job.

I started in Nov 1988 at Hawkesbury Holden and Nissan dealership I loved it for the 4 yrs I was there and still working in the car industry.

I spent the 80s in melboune in my late teens and 20s. It was agreat time.id love to go back.

Leave school at 15. Cashed up by 17. Yep the world at ya feet. Good 1 Ian 🍻

It’s the same in Australia we have gone backwards living was easy,now it’s not it sux!!!!Theres a big software outage at moment all majors companies/shop/banks have lost computers everything down

I was born in 75 (in Melbourne). Absolute classic behaviour. 👍

First car Falcon GT sedan 1974 model at a guess, 351 Cleveland probably, gear drive timing, drop tank.

Born in 68, 70s, 80s and 90s were great. No radar guns, no social media, you could get away with so much

that first car you mentioned was an XB Falcon with a 351 Cleveland 😎

I used to have film and photos of my friend's cars doing burnouts at a new housing estate near where we used to live in the 80s. This takes me back, man.

So happy to have been a teenager in the 80s. Best era by far for so many reasons...

Yes, motorcycles did really get moving in the 80's. Electronic ignitions took over from bleaker points, allowing much higher revs. Of course that wasn't the only thing.

I turned 18 in 1980 and I had a 1973 Dodge Ute 360 V8, 1969 Pontiac, 329 V8(Australian made), ZA Fairlane 289 V8, ZD Fairlane 351 V8, P6 LTD 351 V8, NA Fairlane 3.9L That was my 1980's My 1990's NA Fairlane 3.9L, XA Falcon Coupe 250, changed it over to a 303 V8, XC Fairmont 351 V8, AU Fairlane 4L Tickford My 2000's AU Fairlane 4L Tickford, AU2 Fairlane 4L Tickford My 2010's AU2 Fairlane 4L Tickford, Mazda 3 SP23 2.3L Turbo still driving it That was only my main drive cars, not adding my work utes or wifes cars. 11 main drive cars in 44 years, rust killed the Dodge, Some A=hole nicked the Pontiac, sold the XA it didn't work well with a family, gave the 1999 AU Fairlane to my daughter for her first car, Parked the AU2 Fairlane in 2009 - been working on it after hitting a wombat.

I believe in the 80's people use to do way more things toghether. In all domains.

P.S. there's plenty of roads around here that get fresh rubber layed weekly, sometimes daily 😊

Back in the 80s Holden's didn't identify as Ford's vice versa,I turned 20 in 85 it was a more likeable time period as the majority knew who they were

I had a bottle green, 253 premier HX in 90s

Calder Park is a 1/4 mile track one of the first to run a top fuel car in the 4 second range

Check out the Leyland P76, aluminium 4416 cc V8. Probably the most divisive muscle car, or any car in Australias history but just released at the wrong time.

I was a teenager in the 80s in Oz, people knew how to have fun and then the fun police came in the 90s

Looking at most of these, yeah, had one

For me here in Sydney it was lyn Parade in the late 90s and long st

Got my drivers license in 1980 at the age of 18, and yes, that were crazy times. Even here in Austria (no Kangaroos). Glad, to have enjoyed those times.