The Ford Pinto left people scared that if the guy in the van behind them so much as brushed their rear bumper, that their end would be a fiery one. The Bricklin SV-1 would lock you inside, the Suzuki Samurai would roll over and crush you, the first-generation Corvair would spin like a top and throw you into a tree or ditch, and so on and so forth. It’s very easy for the panic-driven to run with a fault to the very far reaches of reasonability of an argument. The Pinto was no worse than any other small car, the Bricklin was more or less an overrated kit car, the Sammi was top-heavy but wasn’t meant to be driven like a Honda CR-X, and the first-gen Corvair didn’t suffer so much from a suspension issue than it did the general public’s inability to properly maintain their vehicles or to learn how to properly handle them.

Lots of cars gain fearsome reputations. The beasts of yesterday, the wild children of today…too much power? The question pops up every now and then, but not much comes of it. But these Ford Falcons, two out of four total, they started something that sent shockwaves through the Australian automotive world, and not for the better. On June 25, 1972, an article in the Sydney newspaper The Sun-Herald broadly announced “160 MPH ‘SUPER CARS’ SOON”, and included notes from New South Wales transport minister Milton Morris quickly spooling up from caught off-guard to full on national ban talk in a matter of days. By June 30th, 1972, GM-Holden had abandoned the V8 Torana and Chrysler Australia put out that the Valiant Charger R/T “is not a super car”. The next day Ford announced that the GT-HO wouldn’t continue production and that “the company would seek governmental guidelines for the production of performance cars.”

Ugh, if that isn’t a phrase that’d make you sick.

Now, admittedly, few roads in Australia were ready to handle these beasts and the cars themselves…well, most of you lived through the 1970s. Imagine brakes, steering and suspension setups from back then doing 160 MPH on some two-lane Mad Max desert road. The reaction was and still is overkill, but they did have a point about safety, even if the inner car freak gnashes their teeth at admitting as such.

Your car might have made Aunt Maude clutch her pearls. But the Ford Falcon GT-HO Phase IV caused an entire nation’s worth of politicians to experience bunched underwear in unison. These cars are infamous in that regard, and hold special honor simply for that fact.