LITTLE DID HE KNOW OF THE JOURNEY HE WAS STARTING AND OF THE DRAMAS THAT WERE ABOUT TO ENSUE

Like many car builds here, the first step was taken via a local online auction site. From what he saw, Stuart Pankhurst thought he’d found the perfect muscle car. The big Aussie coupe was just what he was looking for, from the ‘sawn-off’ front to the curved and voluptuous rear flanks, it ticked all the right boxes for the Christchurch local. A bid was made and soon after the ’76 XB Falcon Hardtop was his. Little did he know of the journey he was starting and of the dramas that were about to ensue during a build that took way longer than it should have!

Transport was arranged to ship the car from Tauranga to Christchurch. You’d think this would be an easy task for a transport operator, but apparently it wasn’t. Long story short, the Falcon was eventually located after a threeweek search in New Plymouth. It didn’t help that the transport company responsible for the elongated road trip was looking for a ute rather than a car! Stuart says, looking back on things, he probably should have taken a bit more notice of this first event, as it kind of paved the way for the difficulties that were to occur throughout the entire build process. It was, however, an omen that paled in comparison to what was about to happen over the next few years.

Eventually, the car was collected from the transport company and driven home — with no registration or warrant of fitness, but don’t tell anyone — for Stuart to assess exactly what the hell he had bought. The car was then dropped off to a local panel beater to get those “couple of rust spots” repaired for the WOF. Shortly after,