The movement of the Armstrong 500 from Phillip Island to Bathurst in 1963 coincided with increased manufacturer interest in the race as a public proving ground. There was a controversy over the eligibility of the new manual-shift 179-engined Holden, christened the S4, but it was finally admitted after General Motors Holden gave an undertaking on specifications.

Bob Jane and Harry Firth were first across the line in a Ford Cortina GT. There were some famous names in the race such as Spencer Martin, Brian Muir and Frank Matich. Only one S4 finished, the Mini Coopers had gearbox troubles, and there was a nose-to-tail duel between a Mini and a VW for first in Class A, which ended with the Mini rolling on the last corner. Class winners were Jane/Firth, Ferguson/Ford in the VW, Chivas/Wilkinson in a Mini Cooper, and Reynolds/Allan in a Valiant.

The 1964 race was run in cold, wet weather and 56 cars started. Once again a Ford works entry was first home — this time a Cortina GT in the hands of Bob Jane and George Reynolds — but there was still no official outright winner. The Geoghegans led the race in their works Cortina GT until lap 80, when it was delayed with a broken generator. The Martin/Brown Vauxhall Viva won Class A, Class B went to the Smith/Maher Mini Cooper, Class C to Jane/Reynolds and Class D to Needham/Weldon in a Studebaker Lark.

For 1965 the Federation of Automotive Products manufacturer linked up with Armstrong as sponsors and the price classes were slightly readjusted to attract a wider entry, but with imported cars allowed for the first time subject to a minimum number registered.

The result was unprecedented interest by the motor industry, with slick works teams coming from Nissan, BMC, Ford, Australian Motor Industries and various major dealers. But it was Ford once again, despite severe competition from overseas, especially BMC works drivers Timo Makinen and Paddy Hopkirk. But the works teams did rather badly.

The French/Harvey Cooper S crashed, while the Cortina GT500s — subject of much pre-race controversy because they had been made in limited numbers — retired one-by-one, three with blown engines.

A Cortina GT500 was first across the line, the Fairfield Motors entry of Bo Seton and Midge Bosworth. Ford took out Class A with Firth/Raeburn in a Cortina 220, and Class B with Volkers/Scott in a Cortina 240 as well as Class D. Class C fell to the Foley/Manton BMC works Cooper S.

There were big changes for the 1966 race, not the least of which was a new sponsor — Gallaher the Irish-owned cigarette manufacturing company. The eligibility requirements were reframed. The classes were substantially the same, but the production minimum was raised to 250 for both fully imported and locally made cars.

Ford did not send a works team. Instead, BMC mounted a major attack with Cooper S-types, matching overseas drivers Aaltonen and Hopkirk with local drivers Holden and Foley. Nissan entered three Datsun 1300s, one of them crewed by Japanese drivers Kitama and Takahishi, while Australian Motor Industries entered two Toyota Coronas, a Toyota Crown and a Triumph 2000.

No less than five Coopers crashed in an incredible race, but Aaltonen/Holden were first across the line to win Class C and the unofficial outright. Class A fell to Kitamo/Takahashi, Class B to Cray/Holland in a 988 Cooper and Class D to Nougher/O’Keefe in a Valiant V8.

Speeds were rising and lap times falling. In 1964 the lap record for the race went to a Cortina GT in 3 mins 21.3 secs and top speed was 114.65mph (Studebaker) on the downhill Conrod Straight. The S-types in 1966 chopped the race lap record to 3 mins 10.0 secs, and were clocking 110mph, while the Studebakers were up to 120.

For 1967 there were major changes in the race rules. They provided for an outright winner and added a new class — Class E — to cater for cars costing more than $4000, the upper limit for 1966. They also decided to make the cars race for grid positions in practice instead of starting in class order. The eligibility figures were dropped to 200 for local cars and 100 for fully imported models.

There were the new Hillman Arrows and Fiat 124s and Audi Super 90, the new Morris 1100s, Toyota Corolla, Datsun 1000, Ford’s mighty Falcon GT, the fast Alfa Romeo GTVs and even a massive Dodge Phoenix.

All expected the Falcon GTs to collapse during the race but in fact they outlasted the Italian Alfas and won on sheer torque up the mountain. An incredible 10 seconds were chopped off the race lap record, and the Falcons were clocking near 130mph on Conrod. But it was also a race of controversy for a number of cars were disqualified in post-race scrutineering, and the Geoghegan brothers, declared the winners on the day, had to step down for Harry Firth and Fred Gibson on recount.

In any case, a Ford factory entry had again won the 500. After appeals and counter-appeals the Nissan works team of Roxburgh/Whiteford in a Datsun 1000 were declared Class A winners, with Class B going to Cray/Holland in a 998 Mini Cooper, Class C to the Fall/Holde works Cooper S, Class D to Firth/Gibson and Class E to Chivas/Stewart in an Alfa.

1968 saw the big brake-lining firm of Hardie Ferodo Pty Ltd put the full weight of its organisation behind the race, in place of Gallaher.

For the first time it was a straight-out confrontation between teams of Falcon GTs and the new Holden GTS 327s, with the new Alfa Romeos in there to keep them honest. However, the Alfas just could not match the big V8s up the mountain, and suffered various wheel troubles. The Holdens had problems with brakes, while one works Falcon broke half a shaft and another — the Geoghegan car — welded a brake caliper to the disc when it stayed out one lap too long without a pad change.

The Gibson/Seton Falcon looked to have the race won until it retired with a blown engine. The lead was then inherited by a patient Bruce McPhee, who had kept his GT waiting to strike while the ‘big guns’ in the shape of Des West, Brian Muir, Paul Hawkins and Bill Brown had thundered around setting new lap records and even higher top speeds. His patience paid off in a well-deserved win.

In the classes, the Hindhaugh/Morris Corolla took Class A after the Datsun 1000s were disqualified, the Datsun 1600 of Roxburgh/Whiteford won Class B, the Smith/Holland Cooper S Class C, McPhee/Mulholland Class D and Bartlett/Chivas Class E in an Alfa.

Then came 1969, and a real money-down, no-holds-barred fight between the Holden Dealer Team and the Ford works cars. Ford released a brand-new hot Falcon — the GTHO — and GMH provided an answer in the Monaro GTS 350.

A record 86 entries poured into the ARDC — 18 of them for the glamorous new GTHO. These were reduced to 60 starters plus 10 reserves.

Ford’s team effort was masterminded by experienced, racing-executive American Al Turner, while Harry Firth switched over to run the Holden Dealer Team.

A crowd of 30 000 people and a live audience of 2.2 million saw a cliffhanger race. Ford’s massive attack of Geoghegan/Geoghegan, Gibson/Seton, Moffat/Hamilton came undone through the wrong choice of tyres, but 1968 winner McPhee came within seconds of catching the eventual outright winners, Colin Bond/Tony Roberts in a Holden Dealer Team Monaro.

But before all this happened there was the memorable monumental first lap incident when GTHO driver Bill Brown was pushed over into a bank at Skyline and rolled twice. Three-quarters of the field stopped behind him, and when the dust cleared two Alfas and a Mini were smashed out of the race and a dozen other cars were battered on all corners.

Behind the winners lay a trail of wreckage. The Geoghegan Falcon kept blowing tyres and finished fifth in class. Barry Seton ended up on his roof at McPhillamy when a tyre blew, and the best Moffat/Hamilton could do was fourth — although there was a high rate of mechanical failure for the Holdens and the first 12 cars in Class D comprised nine Falcons and three Holdens.

In 1970 Ford came back to the winner’s circle after an absence of two years when Allan Moffat became the first driver to win driving all 500 miles on his own, in a Phase 11 GTHO Falcon. He achieved a 39-seconds win over team-mate Bruce McPhee. The new Torana XU1s were plagued with valve trouble. Don Holland in an XU1 Torana finished third after the Dealer Team cars failed.

Now to 1971, again a Moffat year in a GTHO Phase 111. He won comfortably by a full lap in appallingly windy conditions.

The new Chrysler Chargers made their debut against the updated Torana XU1, both in the same Class D. Colin Bond won the class in the XU1 with Leo Geoghegan close behind in his R/T Charger.

Moffat’s easy win overshadowed some great performances by the drivers and cars. No less than eight other cars finished on the same lap, one behind Moffat — some of them only seconds apart. Class C saw the first-up win of the Mazda Capella Rotary driven by Gary Cooke and Gary Holmes.

1972 produced the first wet Bathurst 500 and the first win for the Torana XU1. Victorian Peter Brock, driving for the Holden Dealer Team, brought his car home in a convincing win after a spate of accidents had eliminated several of the fancied contenders.

Brock led for more than 70 laps to beat Falcon driver John French with Doug Chivas filling third place ahead of Leo Geoghegan, both in Chargers.

The race began in light rain on a slippery track made greasy by several weeks of hot weather. Early casualties included Colin Bond in the works Torana and Fred Gibson in the works Falcon, who both rolled on the top of the mountain. John Goss (Falcon) was another casualty, blowing his motor while chasing the field after an early incident put him back through the field. Pre-race favourite Allan Moffat (Falcon) limped into eighth place after his brakes gave out about 40 laps from home. Accidents and blow-ups took a heavy toll on the field and only 36 of the 60 starters finished the 500.