‘Charlie’ the #41 Ford Thunderbird has had a long and interesting life that started in the United States and has continued on in Australia, a life that we’re still finding out more about as time goes by.

The story begins with Chad Little and his team Little Racing, they had the #19 Ford Thunderbird and ran in both the 1990 and 1991 seasons, one of their cars had the chassis that was later known as ‘Charlie’.

The car was one of two Ford Thunderbirds that were purchased from the United States by Charlie O’Brien in 1993 after previously driving an Oldsmobile.

The car’s history up to 1993 was greatly detailed in the SBS broadcast of ‘Thunder at the Creek’ as Charlie was on his way to victory in Race 1 (watch from the 14:10 mark).

‘Thunder at the Creek’ was also the first time that the BP Visco sponsorship appeared on the car.

Charlie’s last race in the car was on February 11, 1995, in the Pedders Suspension Night of Thunder at Calder Park Thunderdome.

Charlie qualified the car second behind George Elliot and finished sixth in the race won by Brad Jones.

After Charlie left Australian NASCAR, the car was sold to Gene Cook who needed a new car after his ex-Jerry Bowers driven Ford Falcon was destroyed in a crash with Robert Tinworth, Gene even gave the car a name ‘Charlie’.

The #15 became the #41 and early on in the Gene Cook era it was black, nicknamed ‘Black Beauty’ and was sponsored by Austoil before he had taken on Shell Helix sponsorship during the 1998/99 season.

The car made its Shell Helix sponsorship debut in the third round of the 1998/99 season that was held on December 20, 1998, at the Thunderdome.

Gene won an 80-lap race on the Thunderdome in April 1999 to close out the season, it was his second and final victory in the sport, a win that seemed unlikely after his crash with Robert Tinworth.

After the conclusion of the 1999/00 season, the car was taken by Fastrack where it was a ride car for many years, and it had logged many laps around the Thunderdome usually with the #1 VT Commodore, the #9 VT Commodore, the #8 Lumina and the #27 Lumina.

In 2019, the car was purchased by Mick Heppleston and the car made its Stock Cars Australia debut in 2022 after a couple of COVID affected years slowed down the work on the car.

The car appeared at Sydney Motorsport Park in February 2022 but did not get to participate in the races, its debut race with Mick was in May 2022 at One Raceway with the #41 finishing twelfth in Race 1.

The #41 appeared in four rounds of the 2022 season and two rounds of the 2023 season including Stock Car Australia’s first appearance at Calder Park Raceway and the exhibition laps of Calder Park Thunderdome.

Zac O’Hara got behind the wheel of the #41 to compete at One Raceway in the 2024 Australian Stock Car Championship season as Mick was in the #304 OzTruck.

In May 2025, the car was put up for sale as Mick was happy to drive an OzTruck, the car was advertised for sale on May 23 and was sold by May 25 to Phil Muffet.

Phil taken possession of the car on June 1, 2025, and officially became the fifth Australian owner of the car, four if you only count owners during competition and leave out Fastrack.

Phil Muffet’s debut in the #41 Ford Thunderbird was at Sydney Motorsport Park in the non-championship round held on July 20th, 2025.

The crew chief for the #41 Thunderbird was Elliot Barbour; he is known for being a Trans Am driver who also has a successful podcast with Scott Pye.

Phil appeared at the next round at One Raceway in a strange weekend of events, a terminal fire delayed preparations during Friday practice and then a battery failure stopped him from participating in Race 1.

He was able to race in Race 2 and picked up a fifth-place finish, he finished sixth in Race 3 and was looking forward to Race 4 when his axle snapped before the race and he could not start the race.

The car was next raced at Calder Park Raceway on November 8 and 9, 2025.

Phil finished fourth in Race 1 and in Race 2 before he won his first race in Race 3, a clutch issue forced Phil off the track at the start of Race 4 and he finished eleventh, three laps down.

That’s the story of the car so far, there will be more to tell into the future so please stop by from time to time.