Who is John Goss?
John Goss is a two times Bathurst 1000 winner who Ford Australia honored in 1975 by creating a limited run of XB Falcon Hardtops to commemorate his 1974 Bathurst win. John Goss was an early pioneer of the Falcon hardtop while others chose to stick with the less refined, but track proven XY Falcons.
The 1974 Bathurst win was an unexpected win for Ford. By this time the Holden Toranas were at their peak, with the factory cars of Brock and Bond four seconds faster in qualifying than the privateer entered XA GT of John Goss.
With heavy rain falling on the track, and the Toranas expiring around them, John Goss and Kevin Bartlett crossed the line to win after over seven hours behind the wheel.
John Goss' long time sponsor during his racing days was McLeod Ford from Rockdale, Sydney. In the late 70s dealers were keen to be associated with winning drivers and rumour has it that the idea for the JGS began with McLeod Ford. Max McLeod was well known for adding innovative features to cars on his lot. His "Horn Cars" certainly attracted attention even though some designs were not to everyone's taste.
What is a John Goss Special?
John Goss Specials were based on an XB Falcon 500 Hardtop 302ci with the GS Rally Pack added. This included a GT dash and steering wheel, GT style '12 Slotter' wheels, GT style bonnet with lockdowns, and GT side vents. Colour choice was limited to either Apollo Blue over white or Emerald Fire (green) over white Actual production numbers of these cars were never released by Ford, but media reports of the day place the total numbers of John Goss Specials produced at somewhere between 260 and 800.
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