HO Phase Autos was established in 1979 by Ford designer, Wayne Draper, and drag racing guru, Bob McWilliam, to produce the Falcon bodykits for the XD/XE Group C race cars, as well as the Group A EB Falcons. Wayne and Bob also designed and built Ford Showcars throughout the 80s and 90s.
When Ford pulled support for Allan Moffat and the motor racing program, Phase Autos homologated the XD Falcon for the race track (in 1979/1980). They have to sell 25 road going versions of the XD Group C race car to make the XD eligible for the track. They were allowed to do 2" flared versions to make it more practical for the public, as was Holden.
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Contrary to popular belief, Wayne and Bob never wanted to compete with HDT, they new that wasn't possible without Ford backing. They simply didn't want to see no Ford's on the grid at Bathurst. But it is true that Wayne Draper was temporarily fired by Ford for going against the company line. The XE Falcon Group C was also designed by Wayne Draper, but by then Dick Johnson was a national icon and CAMS did not request the bodykit to be sold to the public. There were no questions asked.
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After Ford insisted Wayne abandon the XD race program, the XD Falcon was homologated in secret in the backyards of Broadmeadows, Victoria, walking distance from the Ford plant.
Wayne Draper was part of the Ford Australia Design team from 1970-1989, which took him to Japan, Detroit and Cologne. He worked on the Falcon programs from XY to EB, the Laser, Telstar and Capri programs. He left Ford to become Chief Designer at Nissan Australia, lectured Automotive Design at RMIT and designed Ford show cars throughout the'90s. Wayne continued to run HO until he passed away in 2012.
It all started for Wayne with a love of Aussie Motorsport. His first job as designer at Ford was doing the GT stripe on the XY GTHO Phase III in 1970 for Bill Bourke and Howard Marsden. A super fan of the GTHO’s, Wayne was part of a young group of fresh-faced Australian designers who expected to carry the GTHO flame into the 70s and 80s. So Wayne was devastated when Ford dropped the GTHO program and then later dropped out of motorsport altogether.
Wayne Draper continued to develop his abandoned GTHO Phase 5 design for the XD Falcon, and teamed up with drag racing guru, Bob McWilliam and Ford modeller, Paul Kucera to develop an XD Falcon for the racetrack. They were a bunch of guys determined to see Ford stay on the race track. Draper was a Ford stylist at the time (XB-EB Falcons), so with this all being done behind Ford’s back he kept his name off the books as much as possible, given FoMoCo's directive on racing the cars. So Murray Carter pursued the homologation process with CAMS.
To ensure the XD was eligible to race, at least 25 XD Group Cs needed to be sold as street-legal production vehicles. The problem was, Ford Motor Company had no interest in seeing the XD race, and actively discouraged drivers from pursuing the idea of racing it, including words of warning to Wayne Draper, and stern letters to the likes of Garry Willmington and Murray Carter (Garry apparently still has his letter to this day). Still... HO Phase Autos sold 22 Phase 5 Falcons, enough to keep CAMS happy. When they counted Murray Carter, Garry Wilmington, Bob Morris and Dick Johnson's race cars as sales, that got them well over the line.
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Since Wayne's XD race car design had started as a prospective Phase 5 GTHO, Wayne named the XD Group C the Phase 5 in its honour. it was part of Ford's racing lineage after-all..
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The initial styling for the Phase 5 had radical box guards and a massive rear wing, but CAMS squashed it, as they'd already knocked Holden back on a similar styling exercise for the VB/VC Commodore. CAMS wanted to follow Europe’s lead and went with arched flares, and deemed it illegal to have a gap between the decklid and spoiler.
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Wayne and Bob went to great lengths with huge financial cost to keep Ford on the racetrack. Garry Wilmington homologated the running gear and was the first to race the XD Falcon.
So... the Phase 5 & 6 (XE) were sold as dealership specials by Ford and designed and built by Ford employees, who, unlike Ford’s upper management, actually cared about motor racing and its fans. “These cars not only look incredible, but they represent that raw fighting spirit from those days. To me, these cars are anti-establishment Aussie grit on wheels,” says Rob Draper.
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"We used to hide Wayne on testing days — but he was inevitably found out.", Murray said. "Ford rocked up to the track one day and said, 'Tell Wayne Draper we bloody know he's behind this'. Luckily, by the time Draper was caught, the XD was quick, so instead of firing him on the spot Ford agreed to help sell the Phase 5 as a dealership special to help us reach the sales numbers needed under CAMS law”.
Wayne followed this up by saying, "Ford had realised they could turn a blind eye and stay in motor racing without spending any money. They left that up to the privateers like Murray, Willmington and later, Dick Johnson. In fact, if Dick hadn't have won in his Tru Blu I'd probably have been fired. It was touch and go there for a while." In fairness, Ford did end up supporting Dick Johnson after he started winning on his own bat. Dick won in a car he built in his own garage at home, in a car developed and sold from backyards in Broadmeadows.Edsel Ford II was also inspired and famously matched Johnson’s relief fund after he hit the rock at Bathurst. Rob Draper says,"Dad always knew he owed Dick a lot for being the winner he was in that XD. Dick got it even lighter than Murray. Dad had already been fired in the mid-seventies for going against company policy... there were no second chances." Homologation was the responsibility of the manufacturer, so the formation of Phase Autos was to "manufacture" the XD-based Phase 5, in the same way that HDT Special Vehicle claimed manufacturer status on the Holden side of the fence. Contrary to popular belief, Draper never bought the HO name off Ford. They didn't want it so gave it to him. Ford aided in the sale of the Phase 5 until it came close to the number needed to race, then abandoned it. The ridiculously-low homologated weight of 1367kg was a result of Wayne Draper determining that the lowest-weight model in the XD product range was the taxi pack, and he used that figure in the homologation papers. Wayne recalled, “CAMS didn't question it, and it wasn't raised as an issue until Johnson's Tru-Blu was weighed at Calder at the ATCC round in 1981, and was found to be on the money at around 1381kg, where Carter's car was about 1600kg. Things got a bit more serious from then on.”
H.O. originally meant Homologated Options, but Howard Marsden changed it to Handling Options so not to confuse journalists. Wayne later changed it back to
Homologated Options when he became the custodian of the name. Wayne didn't use the HO name for the Phase 5 or 6 due to insurance costs.
H.O. also homologated the XE Falcon, the Phase 6, a Wayne Draper design with the bodykit used on the race cars as well, although the rear wing design was altered for 1983 when most of the teams blamed poor aerodynamics for the handling issues. “We later realised it was a rear-end suspension issue. Wayne hated the birdbath wing, he thought it was just a sail and it slowed the car down. Could have been even quicker he reckons,” Murray said.
When HO Phase Autos did the bodykits for the AUSCAR later on, they used the original XD Phase 5 wing for the XF, proving it's aerodynamic ability.
HO Phase Autos also produced the XF Millennium Falcon show car, Indy Pace Cars, the rare Phase 7 and 8 E-series Falcons, and other show cars for Ford after Wayne went to be chief-designer at Nissan in 1991. They also worked with Allan Moffat to produce the Allan Moffat EB HO Falcon which was, for a while, the quickest sedan in the country.
HO Phase Autos then laid dormant for a few decades until 2009 when Wayne decided to reignite the fire and spend his twilight years building Falcons the way he had originally wanted them. After Wayne sadly passed away in 2012, his son Rob continued the legacy. “Those early days after Dad left us were tough for HO. I received a lot of help from many people. Namely, Dad's fabricator Denison Phillips, my brother David Wyles, good friend James Morrison, and the guys at Blue Power Racing Developments who made sure Dad saw his final build before he passed away. I remember getting Dad out onto the porch and we all wheeled out the big red Phase 6 and started it up for him. He only died a few days later. Once he'd seen that he was ready to go”.
More recently, Rob sought out fibreglass gurus Fraser and Michelle Vincent from Alfa Motorsport Fibreglass, who are now a vital part of HO, making all the fibreglass parts. Rob is no carrying the flame and taking HO into the new decade with eyes set on turning the brand into a local design studio, using legendary Ford designers like Steve Park. In 2020, HO was contracted to design a 1000HP electric vehicle for a Korean motoring manufacturer.
