My Muscle Car

Reader: Terry Bromley Muscle car: XY GT (with no nickname) Hometown: Geraldton, WA What is it? “A JG33 1971 XY GT.” When did you buy it? “I purchased it off Australian Muscle Car Sales’ Mike Selby approximately 12 years ago. At that stage it was still painted red.” Why did you buy it? “Mike told me it should be painted Yellow Ochre – as in, it rolled off the production line that colour – and not red. Because the first XY Falcon I owned in 1971 was Yellow Ochre I wanted to retrace my past. I took it home to Geraldton, Western Australia, performed a full rotisserie resto from red to Yellow Ochre.” What do you know about its life? “The ACCHs report [ED: Australian Classic Car History Services] revealed that it was sold new by Napier Motors in Dalby, Queensland in March 1971.Other than that, not much. I believe the previous owner was the NSW Falcon GT Club secretary.” How does it go? “Considering my daily user is a modified F6, it’s pretty docile, but my wife loves it. She actually takes it to most shows. No power-steering, 4-speed toploader and with its big clutch it makes her look a bit like Popeye, but she loves it.” Anything you would like to add? “We took it to the Nationals a few years ago. The judges there asked me, ‘Where is the vinyl roof?’ Pardon me? ‘White hood lining means beige vinyl roof,’ they told me. So I made the appropriate enquiries to Ford Australia and, sure enough, the car was ordered new with a beige vinyl roof. Getting the vinyl was no big deal, getting the appropriate chrome and ‘S/S’ trim parts is another story. The specs read: full seat-belts, laminated windscreen, 36-gallon tank and Superfringe Deluxe Manual Radio, meaning this vehicle is a 1 of 1 – as you might expect from a GT delivered with a beige vinyl roof!