REBIRTH XW

Rob Claridge and his wife, Lana, were looking on sites like Trademe and Facebook marketplace for the perfect muscle car that they could enjoy for many years. When they thought they’d found it, they chose a 1969 XW

Ford Falcon. A common story we’ve heard too many times is that something that was said to be in ‘immaculate condition’ wasn’t when it was looked at more closely and, unfortunately, after it was bought. Rightfully a little pissed off, instead of cutting their losses they have decided to fully rebuild it to a condition that will now see it live on for many more years to come.

With a chat to Joel Arcus at Arcus Performance, the car was shipped off and the tired factory 351ci was rebuilt to a stroked 396ci which is fed by a tunnel ram and dual 650cfm Brawler carbs, with a couple of flower pots on top for extra coolness. The factory four-speed was kept and saw a full rebuild, and so was the 9-inch differential, but loaded with an LSD TrueTrac centre and 3.5:1 gear set and a Daytona pinion. A closer look revealed a lot of rusty body panels that had been hidden by a quick bog and spray, so the whole car had to be stripped down to the metal, fixed, and repainted. Rob had already come this far, and Lana had already given up a few handbags for this build, so a complete rewire wasn’t a bad idea at this stage for peace of mind. With the battery relocated to the boot, along with a new 36-gallon fuel tank, the brakes also haven’t been missed, and have received the complete Wilwood package. With the car almost finished, we should see a well restored ’69 XW Falcon hitting the streets soon, but it won’t be before we sneak in there first and get a closer look at all the details in an up-and-coming feature.