1976 XB Falcon GS Hardtop: a Reminiscence

It's been a very, very long time since I travelled in an XA or an XB Falcon.  My first experience of the early 70s flagship of the Aussie Ford fleet was being driven from Melbourne to Burleigh Heads, Queensland, and back again in a 351 V8-powered XB panel van.  It was metallic green, equipped with a four speed floor shift, full windows, a mattress in the back and barn doors.  My aunt and mother took turns driving while my three cousins, brother and I lolled about in the back, unfettered by anything as annoyingly restrictive as seatbelts.  You may have already guessed it was the 1970s; this would doubtlessly be frowned upon today, especially when I caught my mother hitting 80 mp/h (130 km/h) overtaking a truck!

Several mates had XAs and XBs early on during our driving careers, too.  Flakey had a sinister black XA van that looked cool but was pretty much a bucket of pus!  He reprised his love of the model with a sky blue V8 XB van with black GS stripes and 12 slotters a few years later but sold it, possibly just after he burned out the clutch trying to tow an RX4 another pal and I crashed down a steep embankment after a bit of impromptu, and rather ill-considered, rally action.

Webby's white XA wagon was also a memorable beast.  Fitted with an iron head, pre-crossflow 250 cu straight six coupled to to three speed column shift manual, it was decked out with dark curtains and a mattress with a not-as-awful-as-it-sounds-now brown bedspread, possibly in chenille or maybe velour.  Points for you if you guessed this was the early 1980s!  The back, rear seat folded flat, had a Tardis-like ability to accommodate we drunken louts, too post-party wobbly to make it home and desperate to sleep off our excesses.  

Without doubt, Nick's XA GT was by far the toughest of my friends' cars.  I have fond memories of being overtaken by Nick in his awesome hardtop, with what seemed more like a fuel haze than smoke issuing from its fat twin exhausts, accompanied by the most glorious noise!  

The photos above are of the actual car, before and after it was re-registered as XA 3510.  It's still about, believed to be on Tasmania's north west coast somewhere, apparently still bearing the same rego.  Both images show Nick at the wheel of the car as he punts it about a circuit but he also used to drag race it as well.

Nick never really got over the sale of his XA, which is why he jumped at the chance to pick up the 351 XB GS hardtop shown in the rest of this post.  It is, in effect, optioned up to GT spec, although it is running rear-wheel drum brakes. 

The body is rough but that's why we were out in the car, heading down to Geeveston, sussing out potential restorers.  The interior is really, really tidy, with only a few cracks in the dash but otherwise good headlining, upholstery, door trims, centre console and carpets.  The front seats - the driver's having been beautifully retrimmed with new vinyl that perfectly matches the rest of the car - are buckets in the true sense of the term, easily taking you into their comfy and supportive embrace.  There are plenty of far newer cars that are ratty by comparison to this 44 year old classic.

Mechanically, it's a gem!  The big V8 purrs down low, thunders at higher revs and its three-speed auto tranny is silkily smooth, having recently been skillfully serviced and adjusted.  It also has nicely sorted suspension that's initially compliant but firms-up and doesn't wallow or dive.  

Fortunately, the old XB's radiator and cooling system's up to par and didn't get too stressed during its run through the Huon Valley during a mid-summer's 30 degree day.  It was also nice to travel in a car that has better than adequate - effective, even - ventilation, meaning that we didn't miss the air-con that wasn't fitted anyway!  Winding down the windows is so last millenium but so, so satisfyingly good!  The smell of hot vinyl after and hour or so in the sun was oddly comforting, too, in a 70s and 80s kind of way that only people who lived through that era could understand.  

Now that's a sanga!

The location shots above - taken outside the iconic Longley International Hotel and Willie Smith's Cider Shed, respectively - show that there's more to the Huon than just great roads, and highly-skilled panel beaters and spray painters.  A beer at the Longley and another two to wash Willie Smith's up-market ham and cheese sandwiches down were hard to beat, especially given the heat.

Nick in his happy place!

But country roads, great food, cold beer and glorious summer days aside, the XB and the memories it stirred were the highlights of the day.  It is indisputably true that life is better seen through the windscreen of a classic car and the throb of a big V8 intensifies this to an even greater degree!  

U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

All iPhone images (other than Nick's pics of the XA, obviously !).