JASON LAMBERD’S 1961 FORD FALCON XK - READER RIDE

By: Spencer Leech, Unique Cars Magazine, Photography by: Spencer Leech

Date: 21.10.2016

Jason Lamberd's Ford Falcon XK is made Aussie tough

JASON LAMBERD’S 1961 FORD FALCON XK

This particular car is very special to me as it’s the first to carry all the bits that the engineers in Broadmeadows came up with to adapt the car to Australian conditions. It’s got extra bracing for rigidity, and a lot of parts are welded rather than just bolted on — basically fixing most of the car’s fragilities.

When I bought the car it was in a serious state of disrepair, but I brought it back from the brink. I first got it in 1999, I was looking for one in Unique Cars and I came across this one which was a lot cheaper than the rest. The previous owner assured me it was in great condition, so I went to have a look. At first glance I thought it was in reasonable nick, until I touched the body and a huge chunk of paint came off in my hand. The more I looked the worse it was, so I decided against it.

At the time I was a contact member for the Falcon Car Club of South Australia, and so when the Adelaide 500 organisers wanted an on-track display of Falcons, I was their first port of call. So I managed to get a pretty strong collection of cars for them, but I soon realised I couldn’t find a stock XK owner who was free on the weekend of the race. We had plenty of modified ones, but the organisers insisted that they at least appear original. 

We were four days away from the Adelaide 500 and out of the blue I got a call from the owner of the XK that I was interested in buying some months before hand. He offered me the car for a fair chunk cheaper than before — and seen as I needed one for the display, I bought the car. It was really lucky the way that turned out, and after cleaning the car up and restoring it, it’s become a very nice little machine.

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