Aussie Motoring

1971 GTHO Phase III Falcon stolen in Perth

Earlier this month fully restored red version of this classic Australian muscle car was stolen from a collector in Perth. Sadly this car is now right out of circulation and, unless the thieves are caught, it’s unlikely it will ever be seen again. With only 300 of these cars ever produced these days such a vehicle could never be re-birthed.

I had the good fortune of being able to photograph (and listen to) this 1970 version of the Falcon GT here in Queensland earlier this year. You can read more about this particular car here

The sweet sound of raw power
by Stuart Livesey

Like most car enthusiasts I can appreciate anything with a Ferrari badge on it. BMWs are interesting, Ford Focus XR5s are pretty cool too (and if my daughter ever buys one she better let her old man have a drive or she’s out of the will for ever) but what really gets my blood pressure up is the sound of raw power that comes from an old Falcon GT.

One turned up in my driveway some weeks back when Mick McCalman was home from Hong Kong. This is Mick’s pride and joy and he kindly interrupted his busy schedule to bring it around so I could photograph it.

Sadly I don’t think my photos do it justice (the lighting was getting worse by the minute as the sun started to go down). This Ford Falcon XW GT is one very serious piece of Aussie muscle and it’s kept in immaculate condition.

This Falcon GT is painted in Reef green with saddle interior and runs on original 5 slot rims.

The motor is a 351 cubic inch (5.8 litre) Cleveland V8 matched to a 4 speed toploader.

This Ford Falcon GT is definitely something very special.

If you have only just hit Aussie Motoring I should tell you that it comes to you from Hervey Bay - a town of about 50,000 people on the Queensland coast about 3.5 hours drive north of Brisbane.

For a town of such relatively small size we have a surprisingly large number of very interesting motor vehicles here in town. I’ve photographed and written about a few here already and there will be more to come but right now let me show you a nicely restored Valiant Charger I happened to see late this afternoon.

For our overseas visitors I should explain that all Valiant models were produced here in Australia by Chrysler. The first model rolled off the production line in 1971 and the last was produced in 1978. Some were definitely more muscle than others.

I’m certainly no expert on the Valiant Charger but I think this one is one of the more civilised CL models. If anyone can positively identify which model it is then feel free to mention it in the comments section.

The 1972 model Valiant Charger E49 sub-group is recognised as Australia’s fastes muscle car.

If you can find out more about the Valiant Charger at Valiant.org