2003 Ford FPV BA Ford Falcon GT-P Sedan

Description

FPV deserves great credit for its work on the BA and BF Falcons (and their successors). After the disappointments of the EB GT (which failed to deliver its promised 200kW) and the near-caricature of the in-your-face EL GT (which offered only 200kW five years later!), Geoff Polites and FPV boss, David Flint, agreed that the GT should not be returned to the range until it could live up to the legendary name. The timing was March 2003 and maximum power was 290, a huge 30kW more than the XR8. (There was, too, a general feeling that the Tickford performance variants masterminded by the late Howard Marsden were too understated and European in flavour to appeal to traditionalist Falcon loyalists.) The BA FPV Falcon GT was the real deal with its four-valve edition of the 5.4-litre Boss 290 cubic inch V8 hand-assembled by FPV. But the GT-P version was really special with its Brembo brake package (a $5950 option on the GT), seven-spoke alloys (instead of five) and its homing instinct for any racing circuit! Here was the fastest ever GT through the 400m at 14.2 seconds and the first since the XY GTHO Phase III of 1971 to break the 15-second barrier; it showed up the EB and EL for the performance pretenders they really were – the EL taking a whisker under seven seconds from zero to 100 km/h to the BA’s six flat.