The 2025 Falcon GT Nationals came to Victoria for its 20th installment, hosted by The Falcon GT Club of Victoria. This year also marked the 40 years since the inception of the biennial event.
The destination for the event was the picturesque rural city of Shepparton, Victoria, just two hours drive north on the Hume and Goulburn Valley freeways from the Melbourne CBD.
GT Falcons from all over Australia descended on Shepparton and all it has to offer for the weekend to celebrate an icon. Shepparton is home to one of the best automotive museums in the country, and served as a seriously impressive backdrop and venue to host some of the rarest and historically significant offerings Ford Australia created in the nation’s rich motoring past.
The venue was the brilliant facility in the car-culture-rich town, specifically the Museum of Vehicle Evolution (MOVE), on the second day of the event. If you haven’t been to MOVE, you absolutely have to add it to your list, there is an ever rotating and evolving roster of automotive history on display. It is seriously impressive.
The museum was the ideal space for this kind of show, with both indoor and outdoor areas and facilities that showcased the 360-plus entrants. It’s family friendly, state of the art and air-conditioned, perfect for the 37°C day. The entry list covered every model of Falcon GT from the 1967 XR GT to the last Ford produced, the 2014 FG GT F.
The front car park was set up as a ‘cars and coffee’ theme in partnership with Southern Rod & Custom where everyone was invited to come along in their classic car and experience the GT Nationals and to visit the museum; a great excuse to bring their car out for the day.
Somewhere near 250 vehicles attended, with some beautiful machinery complementing the main drawcards inside. While the exact total of foot traffic through the gates isn’t clear, it was estimated to be in the 1000s according to Phil Grant, one of the organisers of the event.
With so many GTs to look at, for varying reasons you’d pick the ‘best one there’ at least 12 times over before even making it outside. But one of the most notable cars there, and given his recent passing, was John French’s 1971 XY GT-HO Phase 3 works racer. The XY GT-HO has justifiably gone to legendary status as one of Australia’s greatest ever muscle cars.
As you entered the museum’s interior space, right in front of you is the genuine factory-built works racer, from Ford Australia.
French’s HO story begins in May 1971 when three Brambles Red XY shells were being walked down the production line under instruction of Ford’s racing division, Ford Special Vehicles.
Each was built with the instructions to add no body filler, no underseal and no felt below the carpets or installed in the roof. The car on display was built for John, while the other two XYs were built for Fred Gibson and Allan Moffat.
Back in the main pavilion, George’s absolutely pristine 1970 XW GT was a definite crowd favourite and many onlookers spent large amounts of time poring over the details.
Even though there were some breathtaking and painstakingly restored and maintained examples, there were in equal measure daily drivers, workhorses, well-travelled family cars, race cars and in some unassuming cases, time capsules. Some still wear the scars of time as a badge of honour.
In fact, sitting just outside the main gallery of the museum was a very unassuming XY GT-HO. It looked neat, it was orange, it looked cared for, but it wasn’t perfect. It was a completely unrestored 1971 XY GT-HO build number #002. Still running the original fan belts on the motor too.
With a huge turnout of vehicles and patrons, the 20th edition of the GT Nationals was brilliantly executed. Car culture is alive and well in Victoria and its great to see.
The GT car clubs sure know how to throw a party and that was evident. Its about bringing everyone together, you can park your car wherever their event is held and have a good look around, have a chat to likeminded people and then at the end of the day cruise into town and catch up over a meal or create a mini car show back at the motel!
The Falcon GT Nationals are run every two years, with a moving roster around Australia. Perth will be hosting the next event in 2027, so keep an eye out for details as it will be a show not to be missed.