Ford Falcon EB of Dick Johnson Racing, winner of first V8-era round with John Bowe up for sale
The Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon driven by John Bowe to victory in the first ever modern V8-era round is up for sale after being painstakingly restored.
The Ford Falcon race car which won the first round of the modern V8 touring car era – the precursor to the famous V8 Supercars category – is up for sale ahead of a reunion with its sibling Dick Johnson Racing car at the 2025 Canberra Festival of Speed in January.
The priceless Ford – likely to sell for well over $1 million – is being offered for an undisclosed sum by Unique Race Car Marketing ahead of its first post-restoration public appearance at the Canberra Festival of Speed.
John Bowe – a two-time Bathurst 1000 winner and 1995 Australian Touring Car Champion – won the season opener of the 1993 championship driving the number 18 EB Ford Falcon for Dick Johnson Racing (DJR).
Bowe won the 28-lap finale – the last of three races at Amaroo Park in Sydney’s west that weekend – which was the first round of a new era with fresh regulations and the return of V8 Falcons to the category after almost a decade.
The introduction of the ‘5.0-litre’ V8 formula replaced the previous ‘Group A’ rules in favour of home-grown ‘Group 3A’ regulations focused on rear-wheel drive 5.0-litre V8 Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores.
It saw the end of the dominant Bathurst-winning Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R – powered by a twin-turbo six-cylinder engine and using all-wheel drive – while the four-cylinder E30 BMW M3 was phased out during the 1993 season.
Ford fans saw their stars – including Bowe and team-mate Dick Johnson – swap turbocharged four-cylinder Ford Sierra RS500s for EB Ford Falcons for 1993, the series officially becoming ‘V8 Supercars’ in 1997 before evolving into today’s Ford Mustang versus Chevrolet Camaro Supercars Championship format.
The number 18 DJR Ford Falcon – codenamed EB2 by the team – was the first Falcon homologated under the new rules and was raced alongside the number 17 Falcon driven by Dick Johnson (EB3) during 1993.
Johnson won the opening 11-lap race on the same day, effectively making ‘EB3’ the first Ford to win a V8 Supercars race and ‘EB2’ the first Ford – and the first of any make – to win a round of the new era.
Both cars competed throughout the 1993 season, with EB2 driven by Cameron McConville and Paul Radisich at the Bathurst 1000, with Bowe racing the car in ATCC events until mid 1994.
It also raced as number 17 with Johnson driving and became a third DJR entry at Oran Park in 1994 for the Bathurst winner’s son, the then 19-year-old Steven Johnson, for his V8 racing debut.
Now, current owner John Vergotis – who has carried out the meticulous period-correct restoration over countless hours on both cars – has put the number 18 EB2 Falcon up for sale after 11 years of ownership.
“The reason I did the work is because I am a big believer of Australian history as far as motorsport is concerned. It was about preserving history – I’m a big, big believer in that,” Vergotis told Drive.
“This [car] is where V8 Supercars starts; it’s a big part of Australian history of the moment, and it’s Number One – there’s no other Number One. This is it.”
Logbooks verify chassis EB2 is the first DJR Ford Falcon of the era actually raced, after EB1 was used for promotion and was never signed off by the sport’s governing body to compete.
Chassis EB3 was destroyed at Bathurst in 1993 when another competitor crashed into Bowe, who was sharing the car with Johnson, ending their race – and the chassis’ V8 Supercars career.
The restoration of the pair saw Vergotis contact former DJR team members – engineers, mechanics, painters, suppliers – to make the cars as period correct as possible to the day they both won at Amaroo Park.
It even included countless phone calls to legendary race car builder Jim Stone, who led the original build of the cars in late 1992.
The sale of EB2 will allow Vergotis to carry on restoring race cars to ensure their place in history.
“I love doing this. I’ll continue to do this type of stuff. I’m semi-retired. My son runs the main workshop, it still feeds me, but to sell it would allow me to continue to do this to other race cars full-time.
“It is my heart and soul in this car; I feel like it’d be a child leaving home once it goes.”
Both cars will be reunited at the Canberra Festival of Speed on 25-26 January 2025, together publicly for the first time since the 1993 Bathurst 1000.
“It’s seriously a time-warp, like truly stepping back to 1993. Both cars are so accurately restored as the way they were back then – it’s just unbelievable,” Bowe, who is also the ambassador for the Canberra Festival of Speed, told Drive.
“I can’t wait to reunite with these two very special treasures from my racing career. Between them, they’re the first V8s I raced in the ATCC [Australian Touring Car Championship] and the Bathurst 1000, and I’ve raced plenty since!
“These cars were a joy to drive after all the turbo lag of the Sierras from the years before, and without the aerodynamic downforce of today’s V8 Supercars, they really put the emphasis on the driver to get the best out of them.”
The post Ford Falcon EB of Dick Johnson Racing, winner of first V8-era round with John Bowe up for sale appeared first on Drive.
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