Australia harbors one of the most active tuner scenes around the globe. For the last four weeks, the Hoonigan squad has entertained their fans with the wildest drag races straight from Cootamundra airport – 4 hours away from Sydney, Australia. On the latest upload of This Vs That series, they put together an unlikely pair from the blue oval marque, a sleeper 2000 Ford Falcon AU, against a 1966 Mustang "S1CKO."
Pairing cars more than three decades apart might seem unfair, but Australians have a reputation for boosting anything with a combustion engine.
The Ford Falcon AU isn't a popular car outside Australia. That's because Ford Australia produced and developed the full-sized sedan between 1998 and 2002. Built on the EA169 platform, the AU series of Ford cars was birthed under "Project Eagle" in 1993 hence the codename "EA169" the following year.
The Ford Falcon AU had several powertrain options, including a 4-liter V6 and a 5-liter V8 (Windsor).
Jesse's Sleeper 2000 Ford Falcon AU
Photo: YouTube Screenshot/Hoonigan
Hoonigan's featured 2000 Ford Falcon AU is the ultimate form of a sleeper. It belongs to Jesse of JScottDrifts and runs on a boosted 4-liter six-cylinder engine.
"They are a little bit of the ugly duckling. You might catch your grandma driving around in them. It's a sort of affordable manual rear-wheel drive car. They're six-cylinder, non-turbo engines," Jesse explained to Vin of Hoonigan about the Ford Falcon AU.
Stock, this version of the 2000 Ford Falcon packed a 4-liter Intech 6-cylinder engine good for 211 hp (214 ps) and 263 lb-ft (357 Nm of torque. That power was channeled via a 5-speed manual transmission sending all the power to the rear wheels.
Jesse's 2000 Ford Falcon AU still runs on the same stock engine it had when it rolled out of the factory in 2000 (unopened) with 300,000 kilometers (186,411 miles) on the dash. The engine is rated at 350 hp (355 ps) thanks to a colossal turbo. The V6 engine is mated to a TR60 six-speed transmission sending all the power to the rear wheels.
Burnout-famous '66 Ford Mustang a.k.a S1CKO
Photo: YouTube Screenshot/Hoonigan
According to the owner, it's still running the stock ECU with a $200 chip inside. The car weighs about 3,307 lbs (1,500 kilograms). It's a full-fledged drift car – nothing your nana will enjoy driving.
Challenging the boosted 2000 Ford Falcon AU is a 1966 Ford Mustang, a.k.a the 'S1CKO' with a massive blower up top by Jake Myers. It originally belonged to his dad (it's been in the family for 40 years), but he has since taken over.
The 1966 Ford Mustang was identical to its predecessor (1965 Ford Mustang). It came with the 200 (3.3-liter) six-cylinder engine introduced in 1965, good for 120 hp (122 ps). The base V8 was the 289 (4-liter) with a two-barrel carburetor that replaced the 260 (4.3-liter) on the 1964 Mustang.
Top performing engines for the 1966 Ford Mustangs were similar to the 1965 offering – the 289 with a four-barrel carburetor and the HiPo edition rated at 270 hp (274 ps).
'66 Mustang runs a huge Littlefield Blower up top
Photo: YouTube Screenshot/Hoonigan
Under the hood, it packs a 302 cubic-inch Windsor V8 (aftermarket) iron block with iron heads. It's also running a Top Fuel Pro Mag 20. The '66 Mustang might be 34 years older than the Ford Falcon AU, but James says the setup is good for a whopping 1,000 hp (1,014 ps).
To harness all that power, it's running a two-speed Powerglide transmission sending all the power to the rear wheels.
"One car has a motor that's taller than the roof. The other one has taillights off from a different car. I'll go with the one with the taillights." Vin of Hoonigan predicted the drag race result.
In a drag race, the one with the most power often has the advantage, and on this setup, Jake's 1966 Ford Mustang has the upper hand. But as you'd expect, numbers on paper rarely play out in real life, and as the Hoonigan crew witnessed, having 1,000 hp (1,014) only sometimes guarantees a win.
'66 Mustang feels the wrath of the sleeper 2000 Ford Falcon AU
Photo: YouTube Screenshot/Hoonigan
Like all Hoonigan drag races, the first round was a 1,000 ft head-to-head race. When it was time to bolt, the Falcon AU was surprisingly quicker off its wheels. The 1,000 hp (1,014 ps) Mustang, on the other hand, couldn't catch up and lost by four car lengths.
The next round was a 1,000 ft head-to-head race (power skid only). The sleeper Falcon AU won again by a considerable margin. The final race of the day (bonus 1,000 ft roll race) gave the Mustang a chance to redeem itself, gapping the Falcon AU by several cars.
However, it's not the races that made this episode thrilling, but what happened after. While attempting a power burnout, the '66 Mustang spun the wheel's bead and dug into the track's floor, ripping a hole in the asphalt. We recommend catching some of that wild action in the video below.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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