1978 Ford XC Falcon Cobra: Reader Ride

By: Rodney Hansen, Photography by: Rodney Hansen

Date: 08.08.2010

Rodney Hansen's 1978 Ford XC Falcon Cobra

Rodney Hansen's 1978 Ford XC Falcon Cobra

Rodney Hansen's 1978 Ford XC Falcon Cobra...

I've been a muscle car enthusiast since I was young and used to go to Sandown with my Dad and made the pilgrimage to Bathurst, so it quickly became ingrained.

As a result, I’ve always had a muscle car of some sort since I got my licence. My XC is #392 of the 400 built and unlike other limited editions, Ford really did build 400 sequentially, so you can trace every one of them.

Around 10 years ago my wife and I were looking for a John Goss Special but couldn’t find one. A friend said he knew of a Cobra for sale and we haven’t looked back. It’s a real standout; you can see one coming for miles.

After buying the Cobra my wife and I joined the Cobra Car Club and I am a past president. There’s nothing better than cruising down the highway with 15 or 20 of them together, which happens quite often on Club runs.

People are always stopping us to take photographs – even the police – although not the sort that cost you money!

It’s covered 179,000km since new and is completely original except for its wheels, which are one of just four sets made by Jim Richards in the late-’70s.

They are copies of original Globes, widened from seven to eight inches.

Jim had a Bob Jane T-Mart at the time and owned Cobra #18 and used to do deliveries with tyres on the back seat!

For a muscle car enthusiast there’s only one thing better than owning a Cobra and that’s owning two. I also owned #366 for a while and had both coupes side-by-side in my garage for about a year, which was a pretty special. But I was hassled to sell by another Cobra enthusiast and buckled under pressure.

Right now though I’ve lent my Cobra to the Ford Museum in Geelong as part of its 50th Anniversary of the Falcon display. It’s a real honour, but I can’t wait for the year to end to get it back.

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