XR Falcon GT
- Year manufactured : 1967
Launched in 1966 for the ’67 model year the all-new XR brought Falcon into a larger, lower and wider era. The big news was the new GT model dreamed up by Ford Aus head honcho Bill Bourke, packing a 220hp 4.7-litre (289ci) V8 from the American Mustang.
Packing a four-speed manual and fat (for the time) 14×5.5in wheels, nearly all 596 first-generation GTs sold were painted a bright “GT Gold” colour. However, eight cars were done in silver for the Gallaher cigarette brand and five were painted one-off colours (Avis White, Ivy Green, Polar White, Russet Bronze, and Sultan Maroon) for race teams going to the Bathurst 500-mile production car races.
XT Falcon GT
- Year manufactured : 1969
The Monaro only got meaner in ’69 with the revised HT model, as the 307ci and 327ci Chevy V8s were dropped in favour of new locally developed 253ci (4.2-litre) and 308ci (5.0-litre) Holden V8s or the big dog 300hp 350ci (5.7-litre) Chevy small-block. The full-width grille made way for a new plastic design, while the tail lights were enlarged, the boot trim simplified, and round gauges were added inside.
Two low-profile scoops made their way onto the large, flat bonnet and the racing stripes were widened to run over the centre of the car, maintaining the muscle car rage. Transmission choice was once again three-speed auto or four-speed manual, while buyers could order a “base” Monaro or top-spec GTS.
Designed to topple Ford’s mighty new GT-HO the GTS 350 proved devastatingly effective. Colin Bond brought the newly formed Holden Dealer Team in first with a young Peter Brock third in another GTS 350. Over 14,000 HT Monaros were sold before the HG model debuted a year later.
Born of the badge
The GT variant of the beloved Falcon came about after Ford slotted the 4.7-litre (289ci) V8 from the Mustang into the big four-door sedan to create Police Interceptors. It was the first Aussie vehicle with performance and aesthetic upgrades like a proper American muscle car, albeit in a four-door sedan.
HO to go
Ford had built four HO-spec race car versions of the all-new XA Falcon GT before the infamous Supercar Scare of 1972. However, only one example of a Phase IV GT-HO street car was built and tagged as such. Today the single Phase IV Falcon is believed to be worth over $3,000,000.
Snake Charmer
While many consider the XC Cobra a GT it was never officially badged as such. With the Fairmont GXL replacing the GT sedan Ford made the decision to sell the remaining Falcon coupe bodyshells as a special edition called Cobra with racing stripes and snake decals.
XW Falcon GT
- Year manufactured : 1969
The final facelift of the first-generation Monaro appeared in late July 1970. With racing duties now handled by the smaller, nimbler Torana GTR XU-1 Holden chose to soften the Monaro GTS 350’s race-ready edges to make it a far nicer road car.
The grille and tail light designs were updated while the bold muscle car stripes were thinned out to “sidewinders”. These run along the tops of the guards and are visually less brash than the loud stripes featured on HK and HT GTS models, though the sidewinders could be deleted altogether.
Mechanically very similar to the HT, the HG scored its suspension softened and larger brake discs from the GTS 350 added to lower models. Only 6147 HG Monaros were sold before the second-generation HQ debuted.
XY Falcon GT
- Year manufactured : 1971
Australia’s most legendary muscle car, the XY Falcon GT, hit the streets hard in 1971. Packing the ground-pounding 350hp 351ci (5.8-litre) Cleveland V8 (in GT-HO guise), a bold new “shaker” air intake protruded through the bonnet to let everyone know this Falcon was Ford’s biggest and baddest.
Other muscle car touches included optional chin and boot spoilers, black-outs on the bonnet, “rim-blow” three-spoke sports steering wheel, bucket seats, and twin exhaust. The GT-HO featured improved engine specs and upgraded handling to make a formidable racing car, which Allan Moffatt used to dominate the 1971 Bathurst 500 race, along with many touring car races of the era.
While Ford produced 1557 XY GTs, only 300 Phase III GT-HOs were built and remain the most valuable Australian car to date.
Speed Metal
The Phase III GT-HO is believed to have been the fastest four-door production car in the world in 1971, capable of a claimed 252km/h with the factory electronic rev-limit disabled. With the rev-limiter functioning the Phase III was timed by Wheels magazine at 228km/h.
Missing Phase
Ford built a Phase 1.5 version of the XW GT-HO to homologate key upgrades and keep the Falcon out-running Holden’s Torana XU-1. In 1970 they replaced the 1969 Phase I’s 351ci Windsor V8 with a new 351ci Cleveland, before this was later upgraded with a race “solid lifter” camshaft for the Phase II later in 1970.
XA Falcon GT
- Year manufactured : 1972
The all-new Australian designed and built XA Falcon launched at the end of 1972 for the ’73 model year. Featuring more aerodynamic styling the GT was available for the first time as a swoopy two-door coupe as well as a sedan. The 351 Cleveland remained the top V8 for the GT performance cars, while a four-speed manual or three-speed auto remained the transmission options.
Following the Supercar Scare of 1972 the GT-HO nameplate had been dropped, but buyers could still use order code RPO83 to score special performance upgrades like a winged sump and improved camshaft, which Ford had intended for the stillborn GT-HO Phase IV. Ultimately 2759 XA GTs were sold, with hardtop coupes accounting for nearly a third of that number.
XB Falcon GT
- Year manufactured : 1973
October ’73 saw Ford pull the covers off the facelifted XB Falcon. Ford was taking a sword to the previously dominant Holden in the sales race, and the XB Falcon GT was the most brash and muscular offering the Blue Oval had offered to this point.
Large vents and bonnet pins, aero mirrors, Bathurst Globe wheels, colour-matched bumpers, and large call-outs signified the 300hp 351 Cleveland powering the big four-door sedan and two-door coupe. All up 1950 GT sedans and 949 GT coupes were sold in the model’s run.
Classic Falcon GTs today
Long regarded as Australia’s most valuable classic car, top examples of the Phase III GT-HO fetch over $1,000,000. The scarcity of genuine GT-HOs mean a huge number of regular Falcon 500s, Fairmonts and even GTs were turned into replica HOs, though the high demand for classic Falcons has driven the prices of all models into an exotic sphere.
VIDEO: 1970 Ford Falcon XY GT
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