A bespoke race car and unique number plate, each owned by two members of an Australian racing dynasty, are heading to auction and have been tipped to go for solid coin.
Lloyds is hosting both Steven Johnson’s ‘Tru-Blu’ tribute Ford Falcon XD race car which competed in the Touring Car Masters championship, as well as his father Dick’s ‘Q17’ Queensland heritage number plate.
The elder Johnson – a three-time Bathurst 1000 winner – has owned Q17 since at least the 1980s, when it appeared in multiple books and advertisements on his Ford Sierra RS500 road cars, reflecting the famous number #17 he used to win five Australian Touring Car Championships.
First registered to a Studebaker owned by Alfred L. Stewart in 1929, the Q17 plates are now set to leave the Johnson family for the first time in almost four decades, with bidding already up to almost $90,000 before fees at the time of writing.
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Meanwhile, second-generation racer Steven is selling the Tru-Blu tribute car which debuted in the 2020 Touring Car Masters championship, and pays tribute to Dick’s Falcon XDs which he campaigned in the 1980 and 1981 ATCC, which resulted in a title win in 1981 along with a Bathurst 1000 victory.
The tribute car isn’t as wild as the Group C-spec XD of the 1980s, but it has taken advantage of modern advancements to be an arguably more complete package, with modifications by PACE Innovations to its 351 cubic-inch (5.8-litre) V8 engine.
Its competition history was sadly limited due to COVID-related restrictions from 2020 to 2022, though the Falcon has so far racked up three TCM victories, which included two wins at Bathurst in 2021 – 40 years on from its forebear’s victory.
At the time of writing, bidding for the XD Falcon is up to $66,000 before auction fees.
Both auctions are due to close on Saturday, October 27 at 12pm AEDT.
The sale of the items comes as Dick Johnson Racing (DJR) – the family’s Supercars Championship team – prepares to welcome 2023 series champion and 2024 Bathurst 1000 winner Brodie Kostecki to the squad next year.
DJR is sitting on 10 driver’s championships (1981, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1995, 2010, 2018, 2019, 2020), and hopes Kostecki can deliver an 11th, alongside veteran team-mate Will Davison.
