The move from CAMS in late-1979 to develop a new set of touring car regulations encompassing new models including the Holden VB Commodore and Ford XD Falcon proved a success, but early on homologation was a struggle.
Ford after being beaten by Holden badly not only on track, but off it through smart homologation was not keen for its new Falcon to compete leading to Allan Moffat chasing a new alliance with Mazda.
Two privateers combined from different states in the form of Victorian Ford stalwart Murray Carter and New South Welshman Garry Willmington.
During the homologation process the two privateers snuck under the radar by submitting the basic weight of the taxi pack Falcon as that for the race car.
As Willmington recalls, it was a difficult birth.
“No one wanted to know about the homologation of it and Ford said that it didn’t want the car to race,” Willmington explained.
“I have the letter still from Edsel Ford saying that he didn’t want the car to race and I wanted to race one. I couldn’t get one so I went and bought a road car, stripped it out, turned it into a race car, did all the homologation for it.”
After some promising performances during the early rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship, Willmington headed up to Lakeside for the third round where an interested onlooker in the form of one Richard Johnson was in attendance.
A conversation between the two at the circuit may have changed Australian motor racing history forever as Johnson tried to purchase Willmington’s Falcon, but the Sydney driver knocked him back leading to the birth of the first Tru-Blu.
“Dick [Johnson] came over to us at Lakeside and asked if I wanted to sell it, I said ‘nah’,” Willmington said.
“One of his mechanics, Roy McDonald, the very first race I ran at Oran Park he came down and worked with us, he had been with Dick for a long time. He came down and learnt a lot about the car, plus helped us a lot.”
Of course, Johnson proceeded to build his own by mortgaging his business and house out of an ex-police body shell. After giving the HDT a scare at the CRC 300 at Amaroo Park, he was dominating the early part of the Hardie-Ferodo 1000 before hitting a rock and retiring on the spot.
Cash donations followed and Johnson was vanquished by securing the touring car title first, then a maiden Hardie-Ferodo 1000 victory.