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When the Ford Falcon Phase III was released in 1971, it was the ultimate muscle car and created a milestone in the Australian motoring industry. The Ford Falcon is a Full-size car which has been manufactured by Ford Australia since 1960 Powered by a heavily modified 351 Cleveland motor with 4 speed top-loader and detroit locker 9” diff, the GT delivered the goods. Described as ". . . simply one of the best cars in the world, a true GT that could take on Ferraris and Astons on their own terms. . . " by Sports Car World.


Contents

Top Speed

The signature piece of the GT was its top speed. It was the fastest 4 door production car in the world for almost a decade. With the rev limiter disabled it was capable of 250km and would pull 7,000+ rpm, even in 4th gear. The rev limiter was set to 6,150 rpm. A Rev limiter is a device fitted to an Internal combustion engine to restrict its maximum rotational speed.

Here are some stats:
0-100 km in 6. 4 seconds
0-160 km in 15. 2 seconds
0-228 km in 31. 4 seconds
Standing 1/4 mile in 14. 7 seconds @ 97 mph

Technical details

The GT 351 Cleveland motor produced almost 400 HP (298 kW). The watt (symbol W) is the SI derived unit of power, equal to one Joule of energy per Second. In 1971 it won the Bathurst motor race in the hands of Alan Moffat, however the Chrysler Valiant [1] E49 Charger held the 1/4 mile record in Australia - and the 3. 3L (202) 6-cylinder LJ Torana GTR-XU1 on superior race tyres defeated the GT to win the 1972 Bathurst over 6 hours in the hands of Peter Brock after brake problems and wet weather put an end to the GT challenge.

Value

The Phase 3 is in incredibly high demand. Good examples of the Phase 3 sell for in excess of $525,000. [2] Due to this demand, and rarity, there has actually been a flow on effect into values of the lesser XW-XY Falcons, particularly genuine GS and GT models. Other models that also benefit from the success of the GT include the XA and XB GT hardtops as well as the lesser known Phase 1 and 2 XW GT.

A Falcon XY GT-HO Phase 3 was sold at auction for A$683,650 on Sunday 25th March 2007. The car had just 40,000 km on the clock. The buyer of the car said it will be garaged, and that he won't be driving it; he will be "keeping it as an investment". [3] The sale price set a new auction record for Australian "muscle cars". [4]

On Sunday 3rd June 2007 "The Sun-Herald" (a newspaper published in Sydney, NSW) reported the sale of Phase 3 for $750,000. [copy of page 13 of newspaper: [5] ] The writer of this article, Joshua Dowling, refers to the above mentioned previous record set at Bonhams & Goodman and states that, from a small production run, "experts believe there fewer than 100 remain". The vendor of the Phase 3 was Harry Christian. [6]

Alternative Names

The name of the car is often abbreviated to 'GT' or 'GT XY' or even just 'Phase 3'. It was also known as the 'Shaker' because of the shaker scoop that protruded out of the hood and shook as the powerful Cleveland reved. A shaker scoop (sometimes inaccurately called a shaker hood scoop or a shaker hood) is an Automobile term for an air intake for combustion

Race record

Ford Australia and Allan Moffat had great success with the Phase 3 in the Australian touring car racing where it was piloted to many race wins over its short life. Allan George Moffat, OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon Saskatchewan Canada) is an Australian racing driver known for his success in One of the Phase IIIs driven by Moffat is now owned by Bowden's Own, an Australian car care products company. [7]. This example was driven to a number of victories by Moffat, as listed below

Successor

In 1972, the XY series Falcon was replaced by the redesigned XA Falcon range. The 1972 Australian Manufacturers' Championship was a CAMS sanctioned national motor racing title for car manufacturers Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Production of the XA based 1972 Falcon GT-HO Phase 4, which was superior to the Phase 3, commenced in mid-June 1972 but production was stopped due to a "Supercar Scare", e. Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. g. The Sun-Herald ran this as its frontpage lead article (with banner headline in large capital letters) on Sunday 25th June 1972: 160mph 'Super Cars' Soon [a copy of that front page is shown at the start of a Phase 4 documentary here: [8] ].

Four vehicles were built when production was stopped -- three as race cars for the Bathurst 500 in October, and one made it off the production line for sale to the public. The four vehicles were sold by Ford Australia, but the Phase 4 was never officially released. [see "The Final Finest Phase" article in "Super Ford" magazine, 1987, pp. 20-27 [9] ]

References

Bibliography


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