FALCON GT-HO PHASE I & II
BATHURST WAS THE GRAND PRIZE AND IN 1969 IT SLIPPED FROM FORD'S GRASP. THE SAME MISTAKE WAS NOT MADE TWICE.
Back in the 1960s the most important marketing tool a car maker could brandish was a banner reading ‘We Won’. And to paraphrase a well-known beer advertisement; ‘The Best Place to Win was Bathurst.’
The brawl between Ford and the rest unofficially began in 1965 when Bathurst guru Harry Firth turned up with some creatively modified Cortinas. Two years later, war was truly declared when Ford released its first V8 Falcon GT.
In 1968 they got walloped by Holden’s first Monaro but came back a year later with a 5.8-litre contender wearing a big air-dam up front and GT-HO badge on the dash. Ford even told the gullible media that the extra letters stood for ‘Handling Option.’
That first GT-HO, retrospectively referred to as a Phase I, had been created purely to win the Bathurst 500. Whatever else it might accomplish along the way was gravy, but Bathurst was the grand prize and in 1969 it slipped from Ford’s grasp.
The same mistake was not made twice and when Ford returned to The Mountain in 1970 with a Phase II version of the XW GT it was indomitable. Finishing 1-2, the works Fords paved the way for an even better result in 1971.
Winning and finishing 1-2-3 on that occasion was the GT-HO Phase III, several of which have gone on to sell for $1 million or more. Yet $500,000 is highest confirmed price we could find for a road-spec Phase II. So why the difference?
The XW HO engines supposedly didn’t produce any more power than a standard GT, but unofficial road tests found a Bathurst prepped Phase I would rev harder and deliver more torque at higher engine speeds than the basic XW.
Even Ford’s internal memo to dealers admitted that the cars would use different manifolds, stronger valve springs, a bigger carburettor and altered camshaft profiles. Improvements to actually influence durability included the heavier driveshaft, uprated alternator and that front spoiler to reduce lift at high speeds.
Brakes missed out on some desperately needed enhancement, meaning that from about lap five of the six-kilometre Bathurst circuit, drivers like Allan Moffat and Bruce McPhee had a pedal full of nothing and were relying on gears to slow the car.
Phase II GT-HOs were built during mid-1970, all with the Cleveland 351 motor that had already been installed in around 50 of the Phase 1 cars. The Cleveland engine had larger valves, solid valve lifters, a twin-point distributor and 750cfm carburettor where standard GTs ran a 600.
With a total 662 XW-bodied HOs built (260 Phase Is and 402 of the Phase II) there weren’t a lot to go around, and even major dealers only received a couple of cars each.
Information gathered over many years will help specialist historians track the movements of individual cars, making the sudden appearance of one previously unknown or believed destroyed a cause for celebration but also scrutiny.
Originality is prized and supports strong prices, but cars restored to a high standard are valuable as well and examples from both categories should follow the lead of the Phase III.