BOXER REBELLION

Mark Boxer chucks a 1000hp turbo Barra into an unsuspecting XH Falcon ute

MARK BOXER SLIDES 1000HP OF TURBOCHARGED BARRA INTO AN UNSUSPECTING XH FALCON UTE

IT WASN’T GOING AT SOME POINT I DECIDED IT WAS JUST TO BE A STREET CAR ANYMORE. GOING TO BE TOO MENTAL

MARK Boxer is a man of many hats – stunt rider, cameraman, vlogger, former Street Machine writer, and now, builder of a 1000hp Barra-powered XH Falcon ute. But the ute’s journey from shitter to shit-hot was a tumultuous one – the battleship-grey beast pushed Mark to the end of his tether more than once – yet the result is a stand-out success.

The story of his Falcon ute starts not only in a different decade, but with a completely different magazine. “I was working in Sydney with Andrew Broadley at the now-defunct Street Fords magazine,” Boxer begins after we meet up at an Adelaide coffee shop. “I was thinking of getting a BA XR8 ute as a project car.”

His search for Blue Oval ute-dom instead presented him with a very clean and original XH, the last of the ‘Blackwood’ Falcons. Hailing from the same era as the popular VR/VS Commodores, it passed Boxer’s single-pegger test, so a deal was done.

The ute was pressed into magazine duties soon after, with Broads and Boxer attending a Ford drag event in Victoria with the car. With that behind him, Boxer ripped into the XH with the intent of simply making it cool, documenting the build for Street Fords. Pedders supplied a set of coilovers, lowering the car nicely over 18-inch alloy wheels. “I was going to turbocharge the singlecam motor,” Boxer says. “I got a Garrett T51R for it; then affordable Barras started appearing in the wrecking yards.”

A local Ford wrecker got a frothy over the prospect of a Barra build, donating a non-turbo donk for the project. But the SOHC mill went to ebay rather than the engine bay and, in Boxer’s words, “it all went pear-shaped from there.” With our coffees finished, it’s time to inspect the force-fed, multi-cam six-pot monstrosity that now lives up front. Boxer moved back to Adelaide midbuild, bringing the XH with him. Initially chipping away at it in his shed at home, he shifted the car to mate Jason Waye’s workshop as the project drew closer to completion.

Jason’s Muscle Garage is strewn with tasty machinery; as we enter, I spy a V8 Sigma, a couple of vintage Sports Sedans, a very uncommon EA Falcon SVO and a stripped VW Type 3 fastback, all awaiting various degrees of attention. Parked incongruously between Jason’s famous Torana Sports Sedan and a stock-butrare VN HSV SV89, there’s no doubt as to the intent of this great grey beast. Boxer says: “At some point I decided it wasn’t going to be a street car anymore. It was just going to be too mental.”

He’s not wrong; the half-grout-filled Atomic Barra block features the biggest studs engine builder Brad could summon. “Massive cams, Atomic pistons, race crank – all sorts of go-fast stuff,” Boxer explains as he gestures around the engine bay. “It’s got a big fuel system; 12 2000cc injectors, an extrude-honed FG Falcon plenum with a Hypertune throttlebody, triple Walbro fuel pumps in a custom tank and a water-to-air intercooler up here under the dash.”

Like any build, there’s always an aspect that offers more gremlins than the AMC factory, and the intercooler saga was perhaps Boxer’s AMC moment. “This is the third intercooler it’s had,” he says. “The first one was supposed to be a front-mount, but it took up half the room for the radiator, plus they cut up my rad support panel, which I didn’t want.” Being an ex-ford mechanic, Boxer holds strong opinions on how a Ford motor should be cooled, and deleting half the radiator surface area isn’t one of them.

“The next one just wasn’t slick; pipes welded deep into tanks rather than butted to the surface. Not good for flow,” Boxer shrugs. “The third one is a charm, so I removed it all and bought a brandnew-old-stock rad support panel.” The NOS rad support panel and front bar have been mildly modified; four bolts and it’s ‘easy off – bam! And

ABOVE: Wanting to maximise the rear tyre size to ensure the car complied with multiple race classes, Boxer admits that the ute does sit up a bit high. Although the big 33x10.5in rubber meant the quarters had to be cut and stretched, the result is worth it

INTERIOR: The lightweight steering wheel is fitted with buttons for the transbrake and line locker, and is attached to a modified Falcon column, which retains the factory reach and height adjustments. “All the mod cons,” Boxer laughs, before bruising his kidneys on the orange Kirkey race buckets. “I might put the covers on next time; they’re padded and actually pretty comfortable to sit on” DOORS: Boxer bought a set of aftermarket fibreglass doors for the ute, but they were wobblier than a politician’s promise. “I got the original doors, cut out the side intrusion beams, gutted everything else and put some bars in there to retain the plastic window and standard handle mechanisms.” His work took 15kg out of each door, while retaining the factoryfresh steel skin ROLLCAGE: Having cut his teeth building hardcore off-road vehicles, fabricator Luke Szkoruda initially took the ute’s rollcage a step too far. “The centre bars are probably overkill, but Luke originally sheeted in between the first and second bars,” Boxer says. “Dude, it looks cool, but if I’m staging in the right-hand lane, I’m not going to be able to see the Christmas tree!”