Nick Short

Car: 1978 Falcon Cobra Hometown: Adelaide, SA

What is it?

“It’s a Ford Falcon XC Cobra, #257.”

When did you buy it?

“April 2000.”

Why did you buy it?

“I’m UK-born, and backpacked round Australia in 1989 and ’90, discovering that Australia had its own cars. I remember spotting V8 Toranas, HJ and HQ Monaro GTSs and Brock Group A VL Commodores in the rst few weeks. Later, just before Christmas, I was picking fruit in a small country town and spotted a car I didn’t recognise tucked away behind the pub. I went over to have a look and it was a scruffy Cobra. I was smitten by the hardtop shape, and particularly the Cobra livery. I went back to the UK in 1990 and had at the back of my mind the idea of eventually owning an Aussie car in the UK, preferably an XC hardtop. I didn’t think I could afford a Cobra, and at that stage had no idea that I would eventually move to Australia. In 1999 I asked a mate in Adelaide to nd me a hardtop. He looked at several before nding mine. It belonged to a bloke who had another Cobra in show condition. This one was a bit shabby, with sun-damaged dash and faded seats, but was driveable and had the hot motor and various period upgrades. The owner took my mate out for a test drive and my mate told me that he did a 100m burnout to demonstrate the motor! I paid for it to be retrimmed with the last four metres of seat material available (at $220 per metre!) and it had a respray to make it presentable. I ew over to Australia and trawled the breakers’ yards, which back then still had heaps of old Falcons. I found a mint XC sedan that had clearly been cherished and garaged all its life but had been hit very hard up the back, and got loads of perfect parts – a dash pad for $5, a Ford Superfringe AM push-button radio (to replace the nasty early ’80s Pioneer) thrown in for nothing, etc. I had the Cobra shipped to the UK and kept it in a farmer’s shed because UK garages were too small. I lived quite near to TWR Racing’s HQ, hence I couldn’t resist a shot outside. It was a privilege to drive the Cobra in the UK, although fuel prices, heavy traffic and narrow roads often gave me sweaty-palms!” Your Cobra would be rare in being an Aussie muscle car returning to Australia? “Yes. My (English) wife announced that she wanted to move to Australia, and I (and the Cobra) went in 2004 to Adelaide. I had been berated online when I bought the car, for pillaging Australia’s heritage. I pointed out that there were lots of classic Aussie cars rotting under sheets and dumped in paddocks because Aussies didn’t (yet) appreciate what they had. I think I’m forgiven now that the Cobra is back in Australia. I decided to have the car completely restored by a Falcon specialist, and the shell was acid-dipped before a painfully expensive four-year blank-cheque resto. I sourced NOS parts wherever possible. For instance it had Hella H4 headlights and I found NOS Lucas units for it, NOS shockers to replace the aftermarket ones, boxed indicators to replace the slightly faded originals. I decided to keep the period modi cations as they were part of its history, and they were from the Ford catalogue or otherwise period correct: heavy-duty radiator, ‘Bathurst’ tank, Globes, Davies-Craig thermo fans (with green Hella rocker switch on the dash), 9-inch diff etc.” What do you know about its early history? “It was delivered new to Sleeman Ford, Coburg North in Victoria. Early in its life it received various factory performance parts like a heavyduty radiator, switchable thermo fans, 28-gallon tank, a D2AE-CA Cleveland block with 4MAB crank, uprated internals, worked 2V closedchamber heads with big valves, a big Holley, alloy intake manifold and Ford 9-inch LSD. It also got wider Bathurst Globes, but I have an original 1978 set too. There are big gaps in its history until 2000, when I bought it and had it shipped to the UK. I would love to trace its history, but all I can remember is that I bought it from an Adelaide bloke called John.” How does it go? “The motor was built with period performance parts and is fully balanced and blueprinted. It was rebuilt by a Cleveland specialist when the car was given a rotisserie resto, and has a 780 Holley, cold air-box, a baffled sump and period HM headers. It sounds fantastic, and goes hard due to the deep breathing and huge torque. The specialist told me that it would rev to 7000 all day, which feels about right!” Anything you’d like to add? “I’m wondering if any AMC readers can help ll in some of those blanks in my car’s history? I’m also puzzled by a stamping on my motor. It’s a D2AE-CA block, with 4MAB crank, heavy-duty valve springs, alloy intake manifold, closed-chamber 2V heads with 4V valves etc – basically a hot late ’70s/early ’80s motor, but it is stamped ‘SPCC 351 DS’. Wondering if any of your readers can shed any light? [ ED: You can reach Nick via nickshort257@gmail.com]