We’ve featured a few unique muscle cars out of Australia over the last few weeks, and we’re not done yet! This is reportedly a 1-of-13 1978 Ford XC Falcon 500 GS Hardtop that was built by Ford’s “Parts and Accessories” workshop prior to building the 30 so-called “Bathurst Cobra” hardtops that came shortly thereafter. This particular car has been laid up for 30 years after the second owner had his fun and parked it! Some of you complained about seeing the Falcon in sedan form; well, try this one on for size. Check out the story here on CarsGuide.Au.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Adam T45 for the find. Over the years, plenty has been written about various cars major manufacturers have built in small batches expressly for competition use. The XC Falcon hardtops were no different, and Ford likely built such a small number of them with the intention being they would never see road usage. The designation as a “pre-Cobra” has to do with the company’s plans to build 30 special builds known as the Bathurst Cobras for homologation purposes. Out of the 13, it is believed several were scrapped and six made their way into dealerships for sale.
The features list was quite meaty, and we’ve included it here from the article above: the 13 pre-Cobras and 30 Bathurst Cobras were fitted “…with extras such as an idler arm brace, strut tower bracing, twin thermatic fans, rear tramp rods, engine oil cooler, gearbox cooler, reverse hood scoop, wider rear wheel arch openings, anti-sun glass, long range fuel tank and front and rear spoilers.” The only real difference is that the Bathurst cars shared a standard paint job while the pre-Cobras could be ordered in any number of factory colors; this one was originally “Pine ‘N Lime.”
The article says the interior is the best part of the car and that this one has been crudely repainted, despite its low mileage of just 35,000 kilometers. Other special features on this example include a limited slip, four-wheel disc brakes, dual exhaust, “Sports Handling” suspension and a 5.8L V8 paired to a four-speed manual gearbox. If that doesn’t get your blood pumping, I don’t know what will. There were lots of details to suss out about this limited production special, so I’d ask our Aussie readers to check my math and keep me honest on the info presented here.
No matter where it came from, this falcon is very cool. I really love this car. Wish it was parked in my garage.
Aussie Falcon coupes are one of the country’s iconic machines. Thanks for sharing.
The XC Falcon 2-door was a tough looking car, especially with big wheels fitted and in the racing “war paint” of the period. The attached picture is of the Allan Moffat/John Fitzpatrick XC from the Hardie Ferodo 1000 at Bathurst in 1979. This was the last year that the XC was eligible to run at Bathurst. This livery rates as one of my all-time favourites. It just looks seriously menacing.
Yeah,,,I like it too. Kind of a downsize Torino. Except the bloomin’ steering wheel is all wrong, and “tramp rods”? Sorry, neat car, but I just can’t get past the Falcon name. In the US, except for the early ones, Falcons generally were not associated with cool cars. It was a toss up between a Falcon or a Rambler American or a Studebaker.
Yeah Rube, I get where you’re coming from with the Falcon name. Things tended to happen a bit differently here in Australia. We didn’t really have a viable local car industry in Australia until GM (Holden) commenced local production here in 1948. Prior to then, all vehicles were either imports, or tended to be locally assembled from imported CKD kits (Customlines, etc.). Ford were searching for a reasonably affordable car to take on Holden with, and the family cars tended to be English Zephyrs. However, production of these was quite expensive, so Ford commenced local assembly of the Falcon in 1960. At that stage Holden had cornered more than 50% of the new car market, but the buying public started to really take to the Falcon. Ford Australia were hesitant to go too radical with name changes on subsequent models for fear of losing customers, so the Falcon name endured for 64 years until local production ended in 2016. At that point the Falcon name was officially retired.
Tramp rods became something of a necessity for a rather obscure reason. The premier motorsport category at the time was called Group C Improved Production Car racing. The rules for this category were quite complicated. The most important thing to remember was that it was this category that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship, and in the Bathurst 1000. One of the rules that caused competitors grief surrounded suspension modifications. Springs, shock absorbers and brakes could be upgraded (but had to retain their standard configuration). However components such as suspension arms and pickup points had to remain totally standard. The Falcon was blessed with leaf-spring rear suspension, and axle tramp was an issue, especially when accelerating out of slower corners with 500hp on tap. If tramp bars were not a factory fitted component, then the rules did not allow for subsequent fitment. That’s why the production cars had them fitted.
Thanks, man, we call those “traction bars” for leaf springs, to cure “axle hop”, or axle tramp, as you call it, I’m assuming.
Was it based on anything here so you could make it LHD?
I couldn’t be 100% sure on this Steve, but I suspect that as far as steering and suspension components are concerned, there may be interchangeability between the Australian Falcon of this era and the North American third generation Falcon built from 1966-1970. The upgrades on the Australian Falcons right through from 1960 to about 1987 were predominantly cosmetic. The biggest changes that occurred between 1960 and 1987 were the introduction of coil spring rear suspension in 1982 and changes to engine and transmission specs over the years. Otherwise a lot of suspension and steering components remained largely unchanged for some 27 years.
No real reason to change it over. RHD cars are perfectly legal in the USA, and it’s easier than you might think to get used to driving one. I daily’d a right-hooker car for a few years.
They might be perfectly legal to import and use in the US but when I went to try to insure my JDM right hand drive CRX, my insurance company wouldn’t do it so I had to sell it….. they said because it was not designed for our roads and to be driven on our side of the roads that it was a safety hazard…. Can see their point since its true….but it was sad to see it go after all the work I had done to repair it.
@rx7
You should have gotten a different insurance company.
I have had several RHD cars in the US and never had a problem with insurance, or registration.
I change out the headlights just for safety but even that was not required where I live.
I drove a rhd lotus 7 once. It was fun and easy to pick up the driving intricacies, except for passing and line of sight. Trying to pull out from behind a truck to pass was a little precarious….that might be why insurance companies consider them “unsafe”
IDK, right hand steering may be ok, but it’s that left hand shifting that goes against everything we hold dear,,
I drove a DJ-5 I bought at auction for a couple years in my early 20s…..I can drive RHD, I just dont like it. This car is soooo cool tho, I might want one
almost looks like the Mad Max cop cars. What were they?
Good pickup Brian. The Mad Max cop cars were Falcon sedans. Max’s Interceptor was a Falcon 2-door. However, both were based on the XB model Falcon, not the XC. The only difference in appearance was minor cosmetic changes.
Got no problem with the looks and name of this car. It’s a design like the mustang that someday may ride again. I see it looking fine in black or green. However the purists must have original paint scheme on a car so rare. The 1970 1/2 falcon , in name only could have lived on in the states . Hope to see this one run the track again on old-school day.
It might be too rare to cut up, but it would make one hell of a nice Road Warrior clone.
It’s definitely too rare for that Ezeerider. If you wanted to do that you could probably source a Falcon 2-door in base 6 cylinder guise as a starting point for the project. One thing that I could guarantee is that it would be a cheaper proposition.
Toecutter is on the rage! Run,,, Run while you still can! For we are entering the wasteland.
Would’ve sold for $80K+…
Don’t think that these are cheap. I was in Melbourne recently and this one was for sale at Duttons. Asking price 1 million AUS or about 750k USD.
I am not an expert on Aussie cars but the Bathurst specials are sought after as the race there is one of the biggest in the country.
If you ever get to Sydney and want to get away from the city Bathurst is a great place to go. It is about 100 miles away and over the blue mountains and a great drive. The track is an awesome up and down affair on the side of a hill. Driving it took a great deal of skill and bravery. I really liked it there and after spending a week in Sydney. Sorry to offend the people in Sydney but I hated Sydney due to the traffic, and if you are familiar with Sydney you will probably agree.
Klharper, you are so right about the Bathurst circuit. I attempted to reply to your comment earlier but the comment disappeared into data heaven, so if it reappears then I apologise.
The Mount Panorama race circuit is a truly unique race track. It was originally constructed as a scenic drive during the Great Depression in the 1930s, and its layout has remained largely unchanged since. The only real variation to the track was introduced in 1987 when a series of three corners were introduced into Conrod Straight in 1987. These corners are referred to as The Chase, and were designed to slow the cars as they approached the last hump in Conrod Straight. Cars were getting airborne over the last hump, and in 1986 a Commodore driven by Mike Burgmann got airborne and crashed into the footing of the pedestrian bridge, resulting in Burgmann’s death. The first corner in this complex is, however, the fastest corner on any Australian circuit. Cars travel through this corner at speeds in excess of 170mph.
The circuit is 3.86 miles in length. The elevation change from the Start/Finish line to the highest point of the circuit at Brock’s Skyline is 570 feet! It is narrow, it is twisting, and it punishes drivers who make a mistake. If a driver makes a mistake there are two options available; either a trip into a sand-trap or a meeting with a concrete wall. The circuit is open as a public road all year round except for race week.
Below is a link to a YouTube video. This video was from the top 10 run-off for last year’s Bathurst 1000. The driver is a young guy by the name of Scott McLaughlin. The car he is driving is a Ford Falcon owned by DJR/Team Penske. That’s a name you should find familiar. Hope you enjoy the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jHUjT02OhY
Hahahaha, I like your comment about Sydney, I’m in Brisbane and drive tractor trailers we B doubles and some time Road trains man the traffic in Sydney is ballistic to say the least and also very much all over the place. Many years ago I had a dealer try and trade my 66 4 door Impala on an VW GT, mate not p/steer and my ex cook couldn’t drive that haha, to me my Impala was a much nicer car so wouldn’t deal, they guy was offering me money on top of it, wow if I had have only had a crystal ball, I also had a genuine 69 Z28 and sold it with 24,000 miles on the clock and sold it for $24,000, whoever would have thought back then they would be fetching what they are today, my mate suggested I should bring it to Australia and I thought I would just buy a Holden Monaro, you couldn’t find one for love nor money. Years after I had mover here from New Zealand I found out only in recent years it was one of 12 ever built Right Hand Drive, h’mm bugger me that one slipped by to, oh well on wards and upwards. By the way the Mustang has re[placed the Falcon here now so no more 4 door big cars from Henry and Holden Commodore is now in fact an Opel and not a V8 in sight there either.
The other running gag about the Bathurst race is that Holden and Ford fans gather at Mt Panorama for a fight. At intermission a car race breaks out!
Never been a Falcon fan, but this thing is Falcon in name only. Beautiful car with a lot of punch.
Do I see Torino quarter panels and roof,maybe other bits and pieces as well? Cool looking cars. Did Ford stamp out these parts in Aus. or use or left overs?
NO,not Torino parts as the American Torino is a bigger car..
Yes,it looks similar to a Torino,but this is a smaller car..Small like a Mustang not bigger like a Torino !
1/4 panels and roof from a Torino wont fit the Aussie Falcon..
KSwheatfarmer, The early Falcons used American designed parts, but by the introduction of the 1972 XA model Falcon, the cars were 100% Australian designed and built. Large parts of the mechanical underpinnings would be similar if not identical to the American cars, but I can guarantee that the body is totally different.
“I am the Nightrider. I’m a fuel injected suicide machine. I am a rocker, I am a roller, I am an out-of-controller!”
(* Yes, I know this wasn’t the Mad Max car – 73’ Falcon *)
Why didn’t we get cool cars like this in the late 70’s???
What you didnt like the Pinto Mustang Cobra ? The Mustang was a Pinto fyi..
We did have cool cars,Trans Am’s,Camaro’s,Corvettes..Dodge Magnum GT that were quicker than the GM cars and LiL Red Express and MidNite Express Trucks..Ford Maverik GT was the size of this Falcon..The Pinto Mustang was a hit like all Mustangs a hit with female buyers as like today 70% or more who buy the Mustang are female,its a chick car..
There is 2 of these cars locally in Oregon, Dont see them much anymore but the owner used to drive them regularly. One is modified to MadMax style very accurately, the other I dont recall the status. Last I talked to him was around 2011, and he had some bad problems with a local shop and the cars had been sitting since. I hope to see him again and maybe get pictures next time, But I would often see him driving them in mid 2000s
sO, Its nawt f’r Bloomin SALE! rawight Mate ?
I wonder if there are any in the U.S. and what the ‘Price range’ is .
sort’v COol //\\//\
gF
Picture this car in black, and you’ll have the car from both, Mad Max, and the Road Warrior!!!
Looks like a cross breed of the 1970 Torino/Falcon and a Mercury Capri. Still cool though. Bet ya it would get a lot of curious looks here in the states.
“It’s the last of the V8s with nitrous!”
-Mad Max
Reminds me of a ’70-71 Torino GT a whole lot, or the Cobra version maybe even more with that color. Man, we here in the states got the shaft, nothing remotely like this in 1978 at all. We got what, the Granada?
My question is how long did the 351 Cleveland stay in production down there, an was there a 302 Cleveland also? Read something about these a while back but I don’t know much about the cars available to the general public in Australia.
As far as insurance goes you can order a Jeep Cherokee RHD for use in th US. Ask any mailman(or lady)
cool……..and four wheel discs….crazy man crazy……
1977 was the high water mark for these at Bathurst. The infamous 1-2 finish. Next two years the Falcons got their @rse handed to them.
This is a decent project for those interested in them.
I just want to say, our Australian readers are 1.) polite and 2.) informed. You know your racing history, which is to your credit.
Please come back and comment often. Also, people need to quit whining about RHD. It’s fun to drive and I’ve yet to have a conversation I didn’t walk away smiling from when someone asks me about the car in a parking lot or traffic.
Thanks for that Jeff. As an Aussie I appreciate your comment. My wife says that I’m something of a tragic when it comes to cars. I can look at a photo of a race here in Australia and can generally identify the track, the year, the driver and on most occasions the actual event. My wife tells people not to get in an argument with me on Australian motorsport because they will usually lose. My parents are to blame. Dad owned a succession of American Fords (including a 57 T-bird and a 57 Customline fitted with a big-block). Mum was going to race as a passenger on a side-car in her late teens until her mother found out and scuppered her plans. My obsession was an inevitability. I did race speedway myself for a while, but I’m now well and truly retired.
Ha. I get the same reaction and have the same feelings about LHD here in Australia. LHD is fine for a hobby car.
This car is so much nicer than anything we here in the U.S. were putting out in ’78.
Removing the side rub strips on this car would really clean up the look.
Falcon 2 doors in Australia are commanding very high prices. I know of a 6 cylinder one that was being sold over 20 years ago for 3500. it is still there and is pretty well rusted out. was rusted out then…. Tough cars but.
Cant beat the interceptor though