In the ate 1960s, Ford Australia turned the humble American Falcon in to the most brutal, iconic performance car ever produced in this country. From the relatively restrained - but Bathurst winning - 1967 XR GT, to the mighty XY GTHO 351 of 1971, the GT conquered all. With a top speed of 145mph at ignition cutout of 6150rpm - the GTHO was the fastest four door car in the world in its’ day. Though Ford never released the true horsepower output of the 351 Cleveland for fear of upsetting the cardigan wearers - it was mooted to be around 380bhp.
Throughout the 1970s Ford fort it out with Holden for the title of King of the Mountain - Mt Panorama. The hardtop Falcon GTs have to be the coolest looking Aussie touring car ever made. The final GT model was the XB sedan and hardtop produced from 1973 to 1976. Ford phased out the hardtop with the XC model in Cobra guise a la the first Shelby GT350 Mustangs of 1965. Long live the mighty Falcon GT!