1975 Ford XB Falcon 'GT Replica' Coupe

Description

Ford's XA Falcon was seen as a radical departure when introduced in 1972, with plenty of sheet metal reflecting the passion for big cars at the time. The XA was the first Falcon to be entirely designed and built in Australia and was also the first to offer both a hardtop coupe and long-wheelbase station wagon derivatives. The Launched at the 1972 London Motor Show, the hardtop featured longer doors, a lower roofline, retractable side glass and a tunnel rear window treatment. In November 1973 Ford updated the Falcon range, with the new XB series chiefly notable for having front disc brakes as standard (power assist was standard on models from the Futura upwards) and the option of disc brakes on the rear wheels for the first time. The XB can be identified by the new bonnet and honeycomb-type grille treatment, new front and rear bumpers and wraparound tail lights and was available in either six-cylinder (200/250cid) or V8 (302/351-cid) guise. The XB hardtop was the hero car in Ford's range, with the Falcon, Futura and upmarket Fairmont models all available in this form, along with the GS and limited run marketing specials like the John Goss Special to commemorate his victory, co-driving with Kevin Bartlett, at the Bathurst 1000 in 1974. Of course the most desirable of the lot was the GT, with plenty of muscle under the blacked-out bonnet thanks to a tuned 351 V8. An XB Fairmont became the 2,000,000th Ford built in Australia when it rolled off the production line on the 11th of November, 1975 - the same day the Whitlam Government was sacked -while the XB GT Coupe vied with Holden's Torana XU-1 for top honours in the Australian Touring Car Championship in the mid-1970s.