Ford Australia confirmed on Monday it would not support the category from 2016, the move potentially spelling the end of one of the nation’s greatest motor sport rivalries.

While the past two years have seen Nissan, Mercedes and Volvo join the V8 Supercars grid, for many the championship is still very much about Ford versus Holden.

And Mount Panorama has been the scene of many epic battles.

Back in 1963, when Bathurst staged the first Armstrong 500, it was the Ford Cortina of Harry Firth and Bob Jane which surprised rivals to win the inaugural Great Race.

“Everyone was saying you’ve got to have V8s,” Firth said of that race. 

“And I said no, this new little car with disc brakes will go just as fast round a track as what a V8 will, and it won’t wear itself out. It weighs nothing and you’ll never have brake trouble with it.”

Since that victory, Ford has gone on to win Bathurst 19 times, while a Holden has received a chequered flag on 29 occasions.

Though Holden will now seemingly forever hold that advantage, Ford has certainly had some memorable wins.

The most controversial was in 1977 when Allan Moffat won the Hardie-Ferodo 1000 ahead of team-mate Colin Bond in what has become known as the “form finish”.

The entry Bond shared with Alan Hamilton was ordered to back off and let the Ford Falcon XC of Moffat and Jacky Ickx through.

“Allan’s car had a problem towards the end of the race and yeah, I suppose we could have actually won, but team orders came out, form finish, that was pretty obvious, but it was one of the great finishes,” Bond said.

“I think had I won it would have been just another race, but everyone remembers that race for that particular finish and I think in hindsight, it has been good for the sport and good for Ford.”

That was the last of four Great Race wins Moffat claimed for Ford, the Canadian native also remembered for another Bathurst first.

“I was the first person to win back-to-back solo – winning solo, that was the best part,” Moffat said of his 1970-71 victories which came in a Ford Falcon XW GTHO and XY GTHO.

“There were co-drivers who weren’t as experienced, but then guys like me and Colin [Bond] and Peter [Brock], we drove all year. We didn’t have to think about it, we just got on with the job.”

This year’s Bathurst 1000 also rates as one of Ford’s more remarkable wins as young gun Chaz Mostert claimed the chequered flag after Jamie Whincup’s Red Bull Racing Commodore ran out of fuel on the final lap.

Mostert, who shared his Falcon with Paul Morris, led for just one lap. Their car had hit the fence twice before the final lap drama.

“The last five laps all I could think of was ‘Cough, you bastard, cough!’” Mostert said of Whincup’s car.

“I had to have a crack, and we pulled it off. From 26th to first, it’s unbelievable. Everything went our way.”

As well as the triumphs, Ford drivers have had their share of heartbreak at Mount Panorama. The image of Dick Johnson, head in hands after hitting a rock and crashing out after just 18 laps of the 1980 Bathurst 1000, is now iconic.

“I arrived on the scene to find a truck and a rock and a bank and I was between a rock and a hard place,” Johnson said.

Still, Ford Australia’s withdrawal of support does not completely spell the end of the blue oval association with V8 Supercars.

There can still be privateers and the Dick Johnson Racing Team Penske entry which Marcos Ambrose will steer next year is a Ford.

Ford Performance Racing’s chief executive officer Tim Edwards has also stated his team may still use Falcons in 2016.

“We will run the new FG X Falcon next season as planned with support from Ford, and we’ll possibly campaign the car in 2016 ahead of the major regulation changes coming from 2017,” Edwards said. 

“Now that we know where we stand we can further develop other opportunities. We have a range of options, some existing and some that were awaiting this decision, so we can now begin to explore these further.

“We have enjoyed a highly-successful relationship with Ford Australia with just shy of 50 race wins, 150 podiums and the last two Bathurst 1000 crowns together.”

Six Ford Falcons will contest the 2015 season – FPR’s four entries plus single vehicles from Super Black Racing and DJR Team Penske.

Just how many Fords will be on the grid after that remains to be seen.