Ford Falcon GT National Rally

This last weekend seemed to be vehicle focussed.  On Saturday we ventured to Mount Panorama to see the well turned out Ford GT Falcons.  The National Rally is held every second year and tends to come to Bathurst occasionally, as we are home to Australia’s most famous car racing track.  This year there were over 400 cars entered from all over Australia.

I must preface this by saying that I am a Holden girl, not a Ford girl.  Growing up in Bathurst as kids, we were probably more aware of car racing than some.  Back in the 60s and 70s I think most families had either a Holden or Ford in the garage, both makes being built in Australia.  There developed a real Holden v Ford rivalry within the Bathurst 1000 car race.  My parents couldn’t care less about racing, but we just happened to own Holdens.  Hence, I’m a Holden girl.  What about Mick?  He couldn’t care less and his family has owned both makes over the years.

The rally had a Concours d’Elegance event on Saturday that was open to the public.  Of course we had to go and have a look.

Most Ford owners just had a stock standard Falcon car, station wagon, ute or panel van.  GT Falcons were the performance vehicles.  The first GT was the XR, which commenced production in 1967.  It appears that gold was the main colour, going on those in the display.  Note the round tail lights.  This was followed by the XT, which had a simply appearance.

Next came along the XW and XY, commencing production in 1969.  These are the most recognisable and the most collectable. Note the squarer shape and tail lights.  This white one was the last made of its particular model.

We got chatting to the owner of this car.  He has only owned it for a few years, but had been trying to buy it for the previous 40 years from his old boss.  It is in original unrestored condition and is his pride and joy.

Mick likes orange, so thought he would like to take this one home.  The only problem is that he doesn’t have a few hundred thousand dollars sitting around,  Yes, they bring huge money, with the rarer examples reaching into the millions.

This particular car participated in the London to Sydney race in 1968 and came 6th. What a beast. There were three Falcons and they won the team event.

The next models had another change of shape, being the XA and XB.  These were manufactured from 1972 to 1976.  Mick has owned an XB ute and panel van in the past, but just the standard version.

These came as a four door Sedan.

Or a two door coupe.  The colours are very 1970s, aren’t they.  I was surprised that there weren’t any of the Cobra versions of the coupe on show.  They were white with a blue stripe over the roof and rather collectable, even when they came out.  One of my classmate’s parents had one.

There have been more recent versions manufactured from 1992 to 1997 and then again from 2003. This orange one won the event two years ago.  The judges were busy appraising it when we wandered past and Mick asked what they looked for.  Mainly it is cleanliness and keeping them in top condition.  They are really anal in their inspections.  Apparently they go through the engine bay very thoroughly.  We saw another group of judges assessing another car and they were lying on their backs looking at the underneath of the vehicle, noting that there were a couple of marks under there.  Way too particular for us.

When they started the more recent runs of GT Falcons they resurrected the Cobra colours and there were a couple of examples of those on display.

Ford no longer make vehicles in Australia, with the final Ford Falcon rolling off the production line in 2016.  The last Falcon GT was manufactured in 2014.

Although cars like this don’t particularly interest me, it was great to see a display of such collectable vehicles and such passionate owners.  We are very lucky to have Mt Panorama on our doorstep, which attracts such events.