Ford Falcon XA GT hardtop 1972-1973

To say this Ford Falcon GT hardtop is fully restored is almost a disservice. Three years went into making it just as it was back in February 1973

The story of how XA Falcon GT hardtop owner Alan Robson disappeared down a rabbit hole of shimmering Yellow Fire isn’t an overly complicated one. It all stemmed from a single rule, “Do everything properly,” he begins. “The motor, interior, paint and panel; if it’s all done right, we’ll end up with something that’s going to last another 50 years.”

Alan’s philosophy is sound, but what makes this approach so remarkable is that Alan is no purist. He’s had his fair share of slammed, angry Beetles, installed a 355ci stroker and six-speed manual in an LX Torana hatch, and built a slick, Coyote-powered 1971 Ford F100 good enough for the pages of Street Machine. It’s ironic that his XA Falcon GT, arguably Alan’s most powerful car when new, is the one that’s been restored to factory specs.

The XA turns 50 this year

“I’ve always wanted an XA Falcon GT hardtop, but being a bit OCD, I preferred to get one and restore it rather than buy one that was already done,” Alan says. “I was flexible on colour, but I love orange cars and Yellow Fire is basically orange, so when this coupe turned up locally, we struck a deal.”

Alan says ‘we’ a lot, because although the car is his, he frequently defers to Lincoln Tucker from LJT Restorations and Adam van der Linden from Southern Classics & Customs, both of whom were instrumental in bringing the car back to its former glory. “When I first saw it, it was a non-driver,” Tucker says. “In fact, it wasn’t even a complete car. But it wasn’t excessively rusty, and the matching-numbers engine was there.” Unsurprisingly given its age, it wasn’t even Yellow Fire, but the paint code checked out. “Knowing Alan wanted it 100 per cent correct, I had some work to do, not just on GT parts, but GT parts specific to February 1973.”

| Read next: Ford Falcon XA GT review

On and off, it took a total of three years to get Alan’s XA Falcon GT where it is today. It picked up Top Body – Street Elite and Best Coupe at the Extreme Auto Festival back in November 2021, validating the efforts of Lincoln, Adam and Alan

That’s right; new-old-stock wasn’t even good enough for this resto; it had to be as correct as possible to the build date. Adding to the challenge is that not every part is date stamped. “Various parts have casting dates, part numbers or other clues giving away their age.” Lincoln says, being something of a Falcon GT aficionado himself. “Some parts are visually different and it’s just a case of recognising them in a pile of otherwise random parts.”

After Lincoln stripped the Falcon and sent the shell to Adam, he and Alan had two-and-a-half years to source bits and restore them, sometimes themselves, sometimes by experts. The idea was to have everything ready to go, so the last step would be a straightforward reassembly job. It sounds simple, but Alan’s commitment to the factory-fresh restoration ethos meant that it was a complicated and sometimes expensive process. Lincoln says, “Often we ended up paying prices that seemed exorbitant, but for every NOS part that’s put on a car, there’s one less still out there.” He pauses for a second before adding, “It’s no wonder they keep going up; sometimes you’re just paying tomorrow’s price today.”

| Buyer’s Guide: Falcon XA GT

Although Tucker had to source a date-correct water pump, the 35ci Cleveland came with the original carburettor, alternator, and starter motor, all of which were rebuilt. Engine-wise, the original crank was re-used, but the rods, pistons and rings are all high-quality aftermarket items. Tucker says, “You can’t see it, so it doesn’t really hurt the concept. Besides, NOS internal engine stuff just isn’t around.

“Above the deck, the 4V heads weren’t subjected to any major porting work. “You can almost put your fist through those ports,” he says with a laugh. Less funny were the optional 15×7-inch Globe alloy wheels, which were correct to the car, but were retained by the previous owner. Naturally, the replacement set is identical right down to the casting marks. “We also had to source a NOS fuel pump. We probably paid 10 times what you’d pay for a repro item, but it’s genuine and correct, and that’s the main thing.”

Alan and therefore Ticker’s fastidiousness around originality even extended to the shockers, a set of which Tucker happened to have in his spare parts cache. “They came off a low-mileage car that was wrecked decades ago. They’re perfect, but ironically, once they’re installed, you can’t see the date stamps anyway.” Another, larger item the general public can’t verify is the Top Loader, but have no fear, “That wasn’t correct either; we had to find another one of them, too,” Tucker added.

Up underneath is a factory faithful exhaust, albeit with some creative licence. Tucker explains, “There’s a mob in country Victoria who did a batch of replica Phase IV/RPO83 exhausts a few years back, made to the exact specs of the originals.” It turns out their purchase was timely, with Alan and Lincoln securing the last one made, including extractors. Both are happy to concede the exhaust; it’s not like NOS originals are laying around, plus, “It’s got a great note while still remaining factory-ish.” Lincoln says. “Well, factory enough for Alan,” he adds, laughing. With all the parts secured, Tucker’s role in the resto was over until Adam was finished with the body. “I knew it would come back perfect. Adam and his team are amazing at what they do and the quality out of their shop is second to none.”

|Read next: Ford Falcon XA GT RP083

Adam pulls no punches when describing the grotty and incomplete hardtop that wobbled into his workshop back in 2018. “It was just a pile of parts,” he says before adding, “And in pretty rough condition.” Knowing Alan was going to lean hard into this resto, Adam first engaged GBT Industries to do a full grit blast. “They’re on the other side of town, but they do a brilliant job. They’ve done 40-plus bodyshells for us over the years,” Adam says.

Next, the body was picked apart weld-by-weld, “We took the rear quarters off, removed the door skins and separated the bonnet from the frame,” explains Adam. “XA Falcons are prone to rusting there, so we always de-skin and either blast or dip them, just to make sure.” The total disassembly wasn’t confined to external panels, with Southern Classics and Customs also pulling out the dash frame, wiper plenum chamber and parcel shelf, among other things. The Falcon, now looking more like a vintage 1:1 scale Revell model than a car, was sent back to GBT Industries for a second blast into the bits that weren’t accessible before; ‘do everything properly’, remember.

351 Cleveland cubic inches

Returning to Southern Classics & Customs, Adam and his team handled rust repairs and added a tiny bit of weld along the panel edges to ensure gapping and alignment could be made perfect. “We trial fitted the parts prior to paint, refolded the lips and put all the factory spot welds back where they’re supposed to be,” says Adam. “We’ve made it look like it’s never been done.”

With the body assembled, the Falcon was given another rub down then gapped. Naturally, the team then pulled it apart all over again for its lustrous Yellow Fire paint job. “We suspended the panels, generally doing inside and outside at the same time, although larger panels like the bonnet were done separately,” Adam says. “Finally, we fitted all the strikers, rubbers and moulds before sending it back to Lincoln.”

The office with wraparound dash, sports seats. The ‘rim blow’ steering wheel activates the horn anywhere on the inner surface of the wheel and was fitted to various Falcon and Mustang variants. This one was restored by Rimblow Restorations in Dunedin, NZ; worldwide experts in these unique fixtures

Thanks to Adam’s meticulous attention to detail, owner Alan’s prediction of an easy-ish reassembly job was correct, with the car hitting the road in time for Adelaide Auto Expo late in 2021. The XA Falcon picked up its fair share of tinware, but Alan is bashful, “Lincoln and Adam just do brilliant work. They deserve the credit. I’m just here because I like orange.”

BUYER’S CHECKLIST

Body & chassis

XA Falcons came with lots of in-built rust traps and GTs received no special treatment against corrosion. Repair sections are being made but early in the XA’s life when the cost of repairing a damaged car often wasn’t justifiable, a lot just disappeared. Even today, well-presented XAs that were restored 20+ years ago may be suffering recurrent rust, so look carefully at rear quarter panels, the rear pillars, boot floor, wheel arches, inner mudguards and plenum area between the bonnet and windscreen. Reproduction GT grilles have been advertised at $1250 but exchange re-chromed bumpers only cost $665 each. Sedan doors don’t sag like those on hardtops and hinge repair kits are available.

Grand Tourer provided a brand-new Phase II-spec cam, machined under licence by Crow Cams

Engine & transmission

V8 Ford engines are tough, simple and cheap to rebuild. Looking back 25-40 years they were also cheaper to replace than repair and a lot of owners went down the ‘exchange engine’ route in order to avoid having the car off the road for weeks. Check that the engine number matches the car ID and any documentation supplied by the vendor. Oil leaks around from cylinder heads and the timing cover can be overlooked however main bearing seal failure is going to cost money. Make sure the car starts easily and idles at sensible RPM when warm. Be wary of a gearbox that crunches as the synchromesh will be worn. Expect even a newish clutch might need replacement. Lots of XA GTs had automatic transmission and these are generally reliable.

Suspension & brakes

Creaks from wornout ball-joints and bushings typify a car that should be priced towards the bottom of our value range. However they aren’t expensive to rectify, with parts for a complete front-end rebuild costing less than $1500. Rear springs rust and crack with age and violent acceleration can bend the axle housing. If the rear tyres are edgeworn be suspicious. A soft brake pedal, pulsing through the pedal, dirty or leaking fluid are all signs that a brake overhaul is due. Uprated disc rotors and replacement boosters are easily found. Some cars have been converted to all-disc which makes a big difference to brake performance.

Interior & electrical

XAs at the high end of the market will have an interior that is excellent and reasonably authentic. However it is good to know if you do find a car showing the effects of neglect that replacement vinyl, carpets and headlining are all available. Remoulded dash surrounds and refurbished fascias are available too but expensive. New gauge lenses and surrounds are being reproduced and some switchgear is also available. Fuel gauges are unreliable so don’t assume the car has fuel. It is also important to ensure before test-driving that all the warning lights are connected. The correct GT starter motor is difficult to find.

1972-1973 Falcon XA GT specs

NUMBER BUILT: 1868 (XA GT 4-door) 891 (Hardtop)
BODY STYLE: All-steel integrated body/chassis four-door sedan
ENGINES: 5766cc V8 with overhead valves and 600cfm 4BBL carburettor
POWER & TORQUE: 224kW @ 5400rpm, 513Nm @ 3400rpm
PERFORMANCE: 0-96km/h – 8.0 seconds 0-400 metres – 15.8 seconds (auto sedan)
TRANSMISSION: Four-speed manual, three-speed automatic
SUSPENSION: Independent with coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers & anti-roll bar (f) Live axle with semi-elliptic springs, telescopic shock absorbers and anti-roll bar (r)
BRAKES: Disc (f) drum (r) power assisted
TYRES: ER70H14 radial