MAKING IT LEGAL
EVERYTHING Robi builds is 100 per cent engineered and street-legal. “To me, it’s not as challenging building a proper street car if it isn’t actually legal and conforming to some sort of regulation,” he says.
Like all the cars Robi builds, the XW will be fully engineered and on full Victorian rego. Looking at the scale of the mods, you could be forgiven for thinking that it would need to be done as an Individually Constructed Vehicle, which would mean that the car wouldn’t technically be a 1970s Ford anymore and be required to comply with current ADR regulations. Instead, Robi went the full rego route, which still required a stack of homework.
Before work on the XW began, Robi submitted his proposal for the car to Vicroads, and he consults with his engineer throughout the entire process. Starting the conversation early with both Vicroads and his engineer means less back-tracking during the build. “That starts a paper trail with both the engineer and Vicroads confirming that I can build the car as intended, with myself, the engineer and Vicroads all on the same page,” he says.
“Because the original VIN number on the radiator support wasn’t going to be modified or removed, the identity of the car remains intact. The basic silhouette of the car will also remain even with the two-door shape, so as my engineer says, if it looks like a duck and talks like a duck, it can be registered as a duck.”
With so much of the car’s structure modified, the testing procedures for the XW will be extensive. “The car will be torsion tested, which basically involves twisting the entire car on a jig to determine its torsional rigidity in comparison to the factory vehicle,” says Robi. “We’ll also have to go through noise pollution testing, suspension load testing (both digitally modelled and physical), tear-off calculations on all components, brake testing, swerve testing, suspension travel tests and so on. As you can imagine, it’s a very long process.”
So why does he go through all the effort? “Because it makes you push yourself further, and delivering what we do while having it be completely legal is very satisfying,” Robi states. “I don’t even bother these days with my own project cars, as I get to see out my visions with customers’ projects, and I’ve constantly got new ideas floating around for what to do next.”