Ed Mulligan: A rallying rascal with a heart of gold

Let us recall just a small few memories of Ed’s life …

Ed was born on February 6, 1950, in Sydney’s north west suburbs.  A scholastically gifted student, he attended the James Ruse Agricultural High School before becoming a junior farmer.

Ed worked weekends and school holidays in the family butchers’ shops, in the process, saving money for his first car, a Ford Model A. He purchased this at the ripe age of 15 and quickly set about restoring it.

Ed joined his family business, Mulligan’s Meats, as a cattle buyer and carcass salesman at 18, which soon gave him the wherewithal to purchase a second hand Peugeot 404, in which he entered in the 1970 Ampol Round Australia Trial. He finished in the top 30, before going on to state championship rallies and the Southern Cross Rally that same year.

A Datsun 1600 soon followed – at the suggestion of 1973 ARC winner Peter Lang – and a sensational fourth place in the International KLG Rally of the Hills.  A Mazda RX2 was the next piece of weaponry, before a sideline into Rallycross, with a V8 Ford Falcon GS500.

Rallying was still the sport of his desire, and a fourth place in the 1973 Australian Rally Championship series in the RX2 followed.

After meeting his future wife, Pam, at a rallycross meeting, rallying was put on the back-burner in lieu of a house and a burgeoning and ultimately very successful motorsport accessory business, Opposite Lock.

The lure of a big horsepower rally car overcame all in 1975 and Ed presented to the rally world in an orange and white Holden Torana SLR 5000 L34.  Too many rear tyres later, the L34 gave way to another Datsun 1600, which bought Ed a highly credible fourth outright in the 1979 Castrol International Rally.

Then Ed and his team of believers, led by long time mate Bruce Garland, built – in Ed’s own words – “the ultimate rally car”, a brand new Ford Escort RS1800 Mark 2, complete with a BDG engine and all the works goodies. Ed’s smile was never broader than when he was at full flight in that Escort!

Ed did the 1979 Repco Reliability Trial in a now famous “Snoopy” 2-litre Escort, registration IMH 875, but the three-man crew were to not even reach the halfway point. The Escort was then rebuilt and generously loaned to Clive Slater for the 1981 Castrol International.

In the early 1980s, Ed was concerned about the direction of the sport and set about rebuilding the strength and reputation of the New South Wales Rally Championship through sponsorship from his Opposite Lock business, and judicious use of his flamboyant personality and convincing salesmanship, to get SBS Television to cover each round of the NSW Rally championship.

It was an example of the extraordinarily vision which Ed possessed.  He knew what people wanted and worked hard to give it to them!

A Mazda RX7 soon appeared in Ed’s workshop, in which he very nearly won the 1984 Australian Rally Championship, followed by a Subaru RX Turbo and then a Toyota Corolla AE 86.  More lately, Ed’s stable of rally cars included a BMW, another Escort RS1800 and an Opel Manta V8.

Cars were not the one and only passion for Ed.  His life was all about people.  His group of associates was wide and plentiful.

Having said that, he chose his friends carefully and wisely, and they have, in turn, remained united, close and faithful companions for many years.    

He packed more into a week than most of us did in a year.  He never stopped doing something that would benefit others. That would be achieved quietly and unobtrusively, and usually well behind the veil of his otherwise outspoken personality.

Ed may have been seen to some as being a rascal and a stirrer, but to many of us he was just a bloody great mate.

The terrible news that on April 12, 2025, Ed Mulligan lost his life after a medical episode while driving and then hit a pole, was devastating.

We will remember him well.

– Bruce Keys