Hot Cargo Wild Bunch Falcon ute
2025-05-15 10:00:00
For many millions, that’s been a pretty constant theme since the invention of the internal combustion engine and has been the major motivating premise over the past century and a bit. This was no different for NSW enthusiast Al Fountain.
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Fountain grew up in a family that loved its power boats, but he preferred dry feet, so he got into drag racing in 1969 with an altered built with mate Graham Willard. It had a 394ci Oldsmobile and auto trans, and was named “Canned Heat.” It was no great shakes in performance—11-second elapsed times—and the car was sold on.
Picture: Wild Bunch racer Al Fountain looking pretty pleased with things after a runner-up spot at Eastern Creek in September 1994
After a series of performance street cars, including a well-known 1927 Model T street rod with a blown small block Chev, he gained more attention. The car was named “Hot Cargo” and became the subject of several magazine features, garnering him something of a reputation.
After the announcement of the coming opening of the new Eastern Creek Raceway’s drag strip, Fountain took one look at the new non-championship Wild Bunch bracket and really liked the concept. Its dial-your-own handicapping and easy rules made it affordable and achievable. The result was a phone call to race car builder Wayne Daley in Brisbane, who had a part-built XF Falcon ute on the jig as a project for a client who was unable to see it through to the finish. A deal was done, and the full chassis rig headed south. Fountain fitted it up with a blown 392 Chrysler Hemi and a Lenco transmission, revived the “Hot Cargo” name from his now-sold street rod, and went out to have some fun.
Picture: Al Fountain servicing the 482 Keith Black in his “Hot Cargo” Falcon ute at Eastern Creek
The blue and white ute hit the tracks at Willowbank Raceway in January 1991, but the old iron 392s proved to be a little brittle. With no previous experience, he soon split bores in that first engine. He bought five more from other racers but split each one, so he bought a 482ci Keith Black aluminium race engine from Top Alcohol racer Stan Tindal and instantly saw the mechanical troubles fade.
The Falcon’s best figures with the iron engines were an 8.82 at 156mph, but with the alloy engine—and a bunch more experience—the times dropped to as low as 7.25 seconds, and the best speed went up to 191.90mph.
Picture: There was never a shortage of bookings for Al Fountain’s “Hot Cargo” Falcon ute Wild Buncher, as the crowds loved the blue and white rocket and its wild burnouts. Here it is in action at Eastern Creek in 1994
The Falcon scored its share of bracket wins and runner-ups across a career running from 1991 to July 1996, which included five meetings for Al’s son Craig, and it generally paid its way in prize money. It became a big favourite at tracks from Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway to Calder, Heathcote, Adelaide and Sydney, as well as regional venues in Tamworth, Canberra and Nowra. It was on most track promoters’ hit lists when a Wild Bunch race was being planned, thanks to big burnouts, bellowing exhaust and classy presentation.
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When the real heavy hitters of Wild Bunch began talking of a heads-up Group One category (Top Doorslammer), the asking price in parts and spares was scheduled to take a giant leap. For Fountain, that was going to take the fun out of the exercise, so when Craig clipped the wall at Willowbank at 150mph, it was decided the car’s racing days were over. It was broken up and sold off.
Fountain wasn’t done with cars yet, though. After a few years tinkering with more street rods, in 2004 he purchased a B-52 belly tank and went salt lake racing. The car ran a best speed of 234.9mph at Lake Gairdner in South Oz in 2010. But after running up against a bunch of obstacles to racing the car at Bonneville, it was sold off—minus engine. He later swapped to a Studebaker Avanti salt racer that has gone as quick as 180mph.
Author: David Cook
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