Sovereign Falcon

Our

story in AMC #78 on the John Goss Special Falcons highlighted that these racy-looking limited edition 1975 XB coupes were part of a 50th anniversary range celebrating Ford Australia’s July 1, 1925 birth. The range also included a gold LTD Town Car, a Fairlane Anniversary model and a Falcon Sovereign.

The story included the following request: “We’d love to receive images of any survivors from this trio.”

South Australian reader Sharon Smith answered the call and sent us shots of her magnificent XB Sovereign.

“I bought it in 1997 and I’m the third owner,” Sharon outlined of her twin-pin-striped and vinyl-roofed Falcon 500. “I have pretty much driven it every day since I got it.”

Her very original Yellow Blaze-coloured XB came with a complete diary of everything done to it by the first and second owners, the dates of purchase, the mileage and even what she paid for it. Then Sharon’s dad found the build sheet while he was doing some work on the 4.1-litre car.

“My car was originally purchased from Adrian Brien Ford in Adelaide on October 10, 1975.The first owner traded his XL Falcon for $825 and the total cost was $4852. He owned the car until 1987, clocking up 75,809 kays,” Sharon says, highlighting that this gent traded the car in on a newer model Ford in 1987.

“The second owner bought the car from Adrian Brien Ford for $5590. He was an older man and owned it until 1997, which is when I bought it. My father saw it in the newspaper, went and had a look, told me it was in good nick and that I should buy it. I paid $3500 and the mileage was 87,800, so the second owner hardly drove it.

“Everything on the car is original. It’s a great car which has cost me bugger all to maintain and it’s been super reliable.”

Sharon is rightly proud of the certificates received at the All Ford Days attended. So it’s another piece of Australia’s car manufacturing history that’s fallen into good hands.