The GT variant of the beloved Falcon came about after Ford slotted the 4.7-litre (289ci) V8 from the Mustang into the big four-door sedan to create Police Interceptors. It was the first Aussie vehicle with performance and aesthetic upgrades like a proper American muscle car, albeit in a four-door sedan.
Ford had built four HO-spec race car versions of the all-new XA Falcon GT before the infamous Supercar Scare of 1972. However, only one example of a Phase IV GT-HO street car was built and tagged as such. Today the single Phase IV Falcon is believed to be worth over $3,000,000.
While many consider the XC Cobra a GT it was never officially badged as such. With the Fairmont GXL replacing the GT sedan Ford made the decision to sell the remaining Falcon coupe bodyshells as a special edition called Cobra with racing stripes and snake decals.
Launched in 1966 for the ’67 model year the all-new XR brought Falcon into a larger, lower and wider era. The big news was the new GT model dreamed up by Ford Aus head honcho Bill Bourke, packing a 220hp 4.7-litre (289ci) V8 from the American Mustang.
Packing a four-speed manual and fat (for the time) 14×5.5in wheels, nearly all 596 first-generation GTs sold were painted a bright “GT Gold” colour. However, eight cars were done in silver for the Gallaher cigarette brand and five were painted one-off colours (Avis White, Ivy Green, Polar White, Russet Bronze, and Sultan Maroon) for race teams going to the Bathurst 500-mile production car races.
Outwardly very similar to the XR GT the new-for-’68 XT model saw the engine bumped up to a 5.0-litre (302ci) Windsor V8 while styling was softened to replace the Mustang-bred rock’n’roll of the XR with some more maturity.
The XT GT became the first Aussie car to feature driving lights as standard, while another safety feature were dual circuit brakes, plus the 14x6in wheels offering improved roadholding. A three-speed auto was offered alongside the four-speed manual in the GT
Over 1400 were built with its greatest sporting success coming when three XT GTs took the Teams Prize in the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon rally.
After Holden’s new 327ci Monaro dusted the 302ci XT GT at Bathurst ’68 Ford came back packing big guns for the ’69 XW GT. The new model boasted a 290hp 351 cubic-inch (5.8-litre) V8, Top Loader four-speed manual (or optional three-speed auto), limited-slip diff, and long-range fuel tank, as well as muscle car staples like standard bonnet pins, Super Roo badging, a bonnet scoop, racing mirror, chin spoiler, 12-slot 14in wheels, and ventilated disc brakes.
The Phase I GT-HO saw high-performance upgrades designed to suit racing use, and began Australia’s most famous muscle car nameplate. Initially powered by the same 351ci “Windsor” V8 in 1970 they moved to the higher-performance 351ci “Cleveland” for the Phase II GT-HO that featured improved top-end breathing.
The upgrades for the Phase II saw Ford’s Allan Moffat take commanding victories at Bathurst in 1970, driving the entire 500-mile race distance on his own! Some 2287 XW GTs and 662 GT-HOs were built before the model was superseded.
Australia’s most legendary muscle car, the XY Falcon GT, hit the streets hard in 1971. Packing the ground-pounding 350hp 351ci (5.8-litre) Cleveland V8 (in GT-HO guise), a bold new “shaker” air intake protruded through the bonnet to let everyone know this Falcon was Ford’s biggest and baddest.
Other muscle car touches included optional chin and boot spoilers, black-outs on the bonnet, “rim-blow” three-spoke sports steering wheel, bucket seats, and twin exhaust. The GT-HO featured improved engine specs and upgraded handling to make a formidable racing car, which Allan Moffatt used to dominate the 1971 Bathurst 500 race, along with many touring car races of the era.
While Ford produced 1557 XY GTs, only 300 Phase III GT-HOs were built and remain the most valuable Australian car to date.
The Phase III GT-HO is believed to have been the fastest four-door production car in the world in 1971, capable of a claimed 252km/h with the factory electronic rev-limit disabled. With the rev-limiter functioning the Phase III was timed by Wheels magazine at 228km/h.
Ford built a Phase 1.5 version of the XW GT-HO to homologate key upgrades and keep the Falcon out-running Holden’s Torana XU-1. In 1970 they replaced the 1969 Phase I’s 351ci Windsor V8 with a new 351ci Cleveland, before this was later upgraded with a race “solid lifter” camshaft for the Phase II later in 1970.
The all-new Australian designed and built XA Falcon launched at the end of 1972 for the ’73 model year. Featuring more aerodynamic styling the GT was available for the first time as a swoopy two-door coupe as well as a sedan. The 351 Cleveland remained the top V8 for the GT performance cars, while a four-speed manual or three-speed auto remained the transmission options.
Following the Supercar Scare of 1972 the GT-HO nameplate had been dropped, but buyers could still use order code RPO83 to score special performance upgrades like a winged sump and improved camshaft, which Ford had intended for the stillborn GT-HO Phase IV. Ultimately 2759 XA GTs were sold, with hardtop coupes accounting for nearly a third of that number.
October ’73 saw Ford pull the covers off the facelifted XB Falcon. Ford was taking a sword to the previously dominant Holden in the sales race, and the XB Falcon GT was the most brash and muscular offering the Blue Oval had offered to this point.
Large vents and bonnet pins, aero mirrors, Bathurst Globe wheels, colour-matched bumpers, and large call-outs signified the 300hp 351 Cleveland powering the big four-door sedan and two-door coupe. All up 1950 GT sedans and 949 GT coupes were sold in the model’s run.
When Ford introduced the final facelift of the third-generation Falcon, the XC, in July 1976 the GT name had disappeared. It wouldn’t return until the launch of the limited edition EB Falcon GT in 1992.
Long regarded as Australia’s most valuable classic car, top examples of the Phase III GT-HO fetch over $1,000,000. The scarcity of genuine GT-HOs mean a huge number of regular Falcon 500s, Fairmonts and even GTs were turned into replica HOs, though the high demand for classic Falcons has driven the prices of all models into an exotic sphere.