THE FALCON XB GT’S RACING ROOTS
In its early years the Australian Falcon GT (produced 1967-1976) was used by Ford to homologate the car for the Bathurst 500 production race and Australian Touring Car Championship, requiring 300 to be sold to the public. In 1972 the Sydney Sun Herald announced ‘160mph “Super Cars” Soon’, foreshadowing plans for the big three (Ford, Holden and Chrysler) to release even faster homologation specials onto the roads. In response, the Australian Government threatened to cancel its fleet contracts, and so died the ultra-high output models.
Sports Car World summed up the change for the GT, introducing the XB series in 1974 with the headline ‘Ford Refines the Stormer.’ The GT became truly a Grand Tourer, rather than a touring car for the road.