The move forced General Motors-Holden and Chrysler Australia to respond with their own performance editions of their large sedan in 1968 when neither had such vehicles planned, beginning the era of the Australian Falcon GT legend. After a day-long battle against three Alfa Romeos at Bathurst in 1967, the team emerged with a 1–2 team victory (with Firth and Gibson winning by 11 seconds) which captured the public imagination and sales figures soared. The factory racing team, led by veteran driver/engineer Harry Firth entered two cars, one for himself and Fred Gibson and the other for the Geoghegan brothers, Ian and Leo, though both supplied their own pit crew and each 'team' prepared its own car. A further five units were also finished in a selection of colors at the request of teams to enter them in racing events, with the 1967 Gallaher 500 winning XR GT painted in Ivy Green. A fleet of eight units was produced in "Gallaher Silver" for promotion of the Gallaher tobacco brand, which had a small keyhole in the right-rear quarter panel under one of the taillights that activated an alarm system connected to the doors and boot. The XR GT was available to the public exclusively with a manual transmission and in the exclusive "GT Gold" paint, with a total of 596 units built. Shock absorbers were also upgraded which added to the sporty specification. This was in addition to lowering and firming the suspension by 5 cm (2.0 in). The Falcon GT would be marketed in the same way as the Cortina GT with the competition arm of Ford Australia preparing production racing cars to race at the Bathurst 500.Ī charcoal interior consisting of unique designed seats that were not available on any other model Falcon, wood-grained steering wheel, dash, and matching gear knob with special Stewart-Warner instrumentation. Australia Managing Director, Bill Bourke, then introduced the GT, based around the success of GT versions of the Ford Cortina. Modifications to engine performance and stiffer suspension were suggested and adapted the Falcon GT went into production with the police GT variant economically fitted with Falcon 500 external appearance. Two prototype Police interceptors were given to Victoria Police for evaluation, one for the Mobile Traffic Section, and the other for the Wireless patrol. The financing by the Australian Police force for certain testing created an opportunity for Ford to take advantage of the option of the powerful V8 engine, with Ford producing the Police Interceptor Pack Falcon which the Falcon GT was built on. For the first time, Ford Australia offered a V8 engine on the range, the 289-cubic-inch engine then in use on the Ford Mustang. The car was noticeably larger compared to the XP model range. The 1967 XR series was a major shift in the evolution of the Falcon, then still being adapted from its American counterpart for Australian release. FPV's operations ended in 2014, as part of Ford Australia's end of location production by 2016, with the launch of the last GT-F "351". ![]() This change led to the GT badge becoming a permanent fixture of the FPV range, with the aim of more closely competing against rival Holden's HSV. Both of these cars were developed by Tickford Vehicle Engineering (TVE), which then opted to instead establish the Ford Tickford Experience (FTE) brand as a more sophisticated alternative to high performance rival, Holden Special Vehicles (HSV), by marketing the "T series" based on the AU Falcon and Fairlane range.įrom 2003, with Tickford bought out by Prodrive, FTE was replaced by the new owner's Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) joint venture with Ford Australia. ![]() In 1992, after a 16-year absence since the last model, the badge resurfaced with the GT 25th Anniversary model based EB II series Falcon, which was followed by a GT 30th Anniversary model in 1997. An XA series HO was abandoned in the early stage of development due to public pressure in 1972 after an infamous newspaper campaign against excessive top speed. GT-HO ("Handling Option" ) versions were released with the XW and XY Falcon series, with were essentially further modified homologation specials for motor racing. They were also offered with the 1968 XT 1969 XW, 1971 XY, 1972 XA, 1973 XB Falcon ranges. The GT model was introduced as a performance variant of the Australian Ford Falcon XR series in 1967.
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