148MPH XA GT-HO POLICE SUPERCAR variant chase

XA Falcon GT-HO POLICE SUPERCAR variants 148MPH XA GT-HO POLICE SUPERCAR variant chase Now after 50 YEARS of the Ford XA FALCON 1972-2002 this year a celebration, it is about time to tell The sole CALDER HIGHWAY 79 unmarked Q CAR 1 build before the 8 XA CANDY CARS JG23MYXXXXXK Is it he only known survivor?
We thank the driver Senior Constable Geoffrey Robert Brown of the SUPERCAR for his contribution with a statement of the event that led Ford Motor Company to state where the HO engines went and confirming the certain 1972 XA Police interceptors received the HO PHASE IV engines in Q CARS & S CARS aka candy cars
Certain POLICE XA GT-HO SUPER CARS received the XA Falcon GT -HO ENGINES with 3 others all up a total of 40 • 148MPH XA GT-HO POLICE...
MILESTONE On the 24th of APRIL 1972 was the day Ford Motor Company Australia went ahead with the RACING GT-HO PHASE 4 the first SIDO was created exactly 50 YEARS AGO today
Secrets revealed about the GTHO PHASE IV ENGINES
falcongthophase4.wixsite.com/...
groups/8XAcandycars
GTHO4X
POLICEV8
CYBER Home of the GT-HO RESEARCH FORD falcon GT & Aussie muscle CAR "Police CAR' by #dragonslived with #Chrisisgood #gthoresearch

[@user-yj6mx4xi3v]

Bought my first car in 1973 when I was 17. It was a 1972 XA 351 GS Wild violet and white interior. It virtually had the phase 4 motor less the ears on the sump. I had it up to 145mph but the Dyna tune guy had it up over 148mph. Nothing like the adrenalin driving that car. Cheers.

[@arnbo88]

Any idea about the estimated gross horsepower of the phase 4 motor?

[@wascadoo8946]

That was a fantastic story, told in a manner that kept you eager from start to finish. Well done & long live the story of the Phase 4 by Ford Australia👍🍺🇦🇺

[@DaveM245]

My Uncle was a Ballarat, Victorian police officer, he took me and my family for a day trip to a police station in Melbourne, Victoria, I saw about 5 or 6 XA GT's lined up behind the police station, I remember one being tuned and was told they were all tuned before leaving for duty, I was probably 10 at the time. A bloke in Mt Gambier went to the police auctions and bought a XA GT ex pursuit car, in the early 80's he advertised it for sale, I went to look at it to buy it, he wanted $2,200 dollars for it, soon as I walked into his shed I knew it was something different, it sat much lower than I expected, I planned to offer him $1500, I didn't end up buying it because it needed full body resto and being in my early 20's had not much money, it was sold to the wreckers for $1200. I did get to test drive it, I was trying to be careful because the owner was with me, I put my foot down and it took off like a bloody rocket, I looked at the owner as to apologize for taking off so fast. Talking to him when we got back I am sure he said it had four wheel disc brakes, it was white with a brown bucket seat interior, rubber floor mat not carpet very plain jane. Cheers, Dave.

[@kelvinrf]

Just as well you didn't buy it. You would probably be dead by now. That is the reason I never regretted buying one.

[@terrysmith7740]

Ah, the good old days.

[@neild3074]

I had a cowboy like this guy pull me over near Bairnsdale in 1980 he was driving a yellow Falcon XD "candy car", I was following a mate at night at about 90 meters, cruising at 130 km/h. The cop followed us without lights at about 200km/h as he passed me on the wrong side of the road he hit his lights and siren and pulled in front of me , we naturally braked. The cop then realised he could not slow down. He moved back to the opposite side with oncoming headlights a few 100 meters ahead, locked his front wheels swaying until he slowed enough to pull back on the left side of the road. We went through the routine and after a minute or so this radiator cap popped and coolant and steam oozed from the front of his Falcon and he booked us for speeding.

[@freddieallan3583]

I had 2 XA GTs ..one 2 Dr ..and an RPO 83 4dr ...loved them ..back in the 80s I had an XB coupe that would sit down the old Hume highway late at night with the needle pointing straight down ...

[@johncunningham4820]

351 V-8 Falcon 500 , chases down Jaguar 5.3 XKE-160 . Imagine the SOUND . From BOTH .

[@lawrenceadler4325]

I was lucky enough to have learnt to drive in a XA 351GS FAIRMONT SEDAN, CHOCOLATE BROWN, GOLD PIN STRIPS, GOLD AUNGER MAGS, TWIN SYSTEM, WITH MY L PLATES, 17 years old!

[@shanebrbich5698]

This is one awesome video! My old man drove tow trucks for ‘Kimbers’ here in west Aus in the 70’s. For a humble man who doesn’t embellish in most things he has some pretty cool stories. Shire coppers had some fairly potent equipment too. He has mentioned that there was a factory Ford XY Ute built for (I believe Wanneroo shire) which had a fibreglass taunau (🤔spellcheck) cover and GT running gear no stripes and maybe shaker (not sure). He did say it was NOT a GT Ute. So...historical pieces such as these videos are more than memories they are snapshot of how great our country was! Lest We Forget

[@bigxadventures3165]

I had a xy in early 80's that I built a stroked 302, so a 351 with the closed chamber 302 heads on it and floored it one day on a long straight. Was shocked when my mate in passenger seat said holy shit, have a look at the speedo. It was only the standard 120mph speedo but it had gone past 120 and the needle was pointing straight down sitting on the P in the MPH lettering at the bottom of the speedo. The things we did haha.

[@redpepper7181]

I have this combo in my Xb and it goes like a cut snake.

[@bigxadventures3165]

True. Mine went from ordinary to a whole lot of fun in one weekend for bugger all money compared what others were spending on builds. Had a big cam too which made it tough to drive through car parks. But added to the overall fun of course.@@redpepper7181

[@vicbittertoo]

that was the go, put the 302 heads with the biggest valves that would fit on my 351 xbgt, went really well :)

[@ISCDESIGNAustralia]

great video 👏

[@arkhsm]

An 11 year old me in NZ's, first car magazine, bought with my pocket money was.... the WHEELS one with the green RPO83 XA GT on the cover ! In this story it shows this is the Police option 36. Is it just a co-incidence that there were that many Phase 4 engines left ? From what I remember, there were the 3 factory race cars, and the one production car made, which would leave 36 HO engines !!

[@falconGTHO]

I RECKON Your story of the November 1973 WHEELS mag with the Green XA GT in the cover is not RPO 36 it is RPO 83 . Some of the Race car engines were not included in the 40

[@twooccystraps6458]

Back in the early 80s I had an XR Falcon 500, top-loader 4speed, 4.11 tank fairlane diff with a worked 289 twin 650 Holleys monster cam, forged pistons, balanced / blueprinted , Valiant high volume oil pump , roller rockers, and high rise manifold blah blah blah , all the fruit, it revved that hard it snapped off the water pump shaft attached to the Flexi fan (old school stainless and alloy fan)…,Another time during a burnout( controlled conditions of course) it blew out the oil filter ‘O’ring. It was a lumpy lumpy weapon. A GTHO eater back in its day…

[@dpd6401]

Great video. Love the old school copper parlance. Can’t say I’ve read too many informant statements like this over the past few years.

[@KJs581]

Interesting. Some comments below about the quarter windows/arguing about their place in "what was what." At the time, cars were pushing the merits of "flow through ventilation" and air con was seen as more integrated/not as much an add on. So XA and HQ on didn't have them. But the XA factory manual has them in it, as they were an option. I think they were more about convenience than "related to performance" options. While most private buyers love new stuff, I remember seeing a fair few XA taxi's with quarter windows, as they were ordered new as taxis, so had them fitted. I spose when a cab driver is sitting at a rank waiting for a fare, he is in the car without engine running. If the weather is lousy, fog up with windows up/put them down = rain gets in. The quarter window gave an option to let a bit of air in when stopped........ or ash a dury out of it. Although many cabs also had the "weather shield" around drivers window. While this is a story about the Falcon, some info on the jag if anyone is interested.The pics used are accurate for an E type, but an early one. Those pics are of a series one, small bonnet opening, small tail lights. The 160 mph speedo was used pretty much throughout, but different tacho's for different series. These pics show a 5,500 tach; most E type has a 6,000 tach for 6's, (series 1 and 2) and a 7,000 tach for V12's. Dash and wheel were different than these pics for V12. So all the pics in this are of a series 1. The 120 mph for an E type is pretty typical, top speed when new was anywhere between 139 mph (heavier 2+2) to between 142 to 150 mph, but 150 mph was fanciful/take a while to wind up. But any E type sitting on low to mid 140's is quite attainable. If this was 1973, I would have though it was more likely the car in question was a then new V12 (made 71 to 73) but could be also any of the 6's made from 61 to 70. All had similar top/cruising speeds, as while the V12 was more powerful, those cars were also larger and heavier, so similar performance. His recollection of the brakes on the Jag pulling it up quickly is pretty well spot on, Most had superb brakes, except for the very early ones. My 69 E type has the same brakes that my 69 XJ6 sedan had (that I had late 80's/early 90's), and the V12's had the huge ventilated front discs the series 2 sedans had. Those brakes were brilliant in the heavier sedan, and thus were excellent when on the lighter E type. I think the owner was quite lucky, as it appears that back then "over 70 MPH" was all they had thought of. 🙂 Like I said, interesting story, thanks for sharing.

[@gregharvie3896]

Hi there, it could have been a rare race spec factory bronze head Jag 4.2 litre 6 cylinder which can have more punch than a V12. Plus unlike the V12 it does not need to be revved as high to deliver that punch. I have in my 50 year driving history owned 3 jaguars all equipped with the bronze head, no cylinder head gasket issues and way way more power, none have been E-types, the dead opposite '65 mk10, '67 420G & a rare special order long wheelbase XJ6 series one, finished in march 1974 by Jaguar racing division for the MD of Citra Constructions that built the natural gas pipelines across Australia. Ordered by Jaques Antoni to his required specs, dressed basically as a Jaguar Van Den Plas with a powerful xk 6 cylinder engine the 4 bucket seat interior and no awful vinyl roof. This car has "stonking "power, effortless as if it has some massive V8 hiding under the bonnet, but no just a powerful 4.2 XK with the "works" an elegant quiet discrete supercar in deep cherry maroon with bone leather, just as it left the factory. Shame the driver was in "mexico" as in NSW back in the late MPH days and early KPH days we had the fantastic big pale grey signs with a white fine black line framed circle with a big dark grey diagonal strafe running through it, the de-restriction zone sign, any speed you felt was appropriate and safe. So many moons ago my terrific 4.2 Mk10 would make the weekend run from Sydney to my little historic project home in Bathurst and on leaving the outskirts of Lithgow you could let the hammer fall and blast off. Soon to be all over with a maximum 130 kph limit, then to follow the other states this was to shrink to 110 kph how disappointing.

[@TheDodgeFactor]

You're right about the quarter windows on the XAs. My eldest sister and brother in law bought a new XA Fairmont and had to tick the options box for the quarter vents as they were advertised with the new full length windows in the front doors. My sister wanted them because their previous car, an XT panel van, had them. And living in Tassie, those cold winter mornings when you need to clear the windscreen fast, they worked well. Freezes your arse off though.

[@shanebrbich5698]

Early XA’s were built with quarter windows! About 9 XAGT’s came with! Rare birds indeed!

[@twinshock175]

A legendary and cool story!

[@tomgeeCalliope]

Uncle Spiro worked at Ford for 34 years. And lot 6 at masonry Rd. They had enough phase 4 parts for over 650 cars . There's alot more out there.

[@petergill8819]

That was awesome

[@garrymaher5439]

You know how the XA was the first model with single side glass front doors with the little black plastic coated spring steel tab to guide the window into the channel at speed. There were 2 examples that i knew of with factory original flip out 1/4 vent glass. It was rumored that was a phase 4 option for high speed use . A friend Richard in the 1970s in Canberra had a genuine white un striped XA GT with that option. I also had to drive for a while an XA Fairmont brown on brown genuine chrome roof rack Fairmont station wagon 351 C fmx GT suspension height 12 slot wheels with the same side glass option , Should have bought and kept that one.

[@rodneyjones4890]

I`m so sick of rumours & someone said. These were not the first cars with 1/4 vent windows. WHY would a race car or even a road car need them for high speed ?

[@garysouthwell5762]

Both very impressive vehicles, Jaguar E type, and Falcon GT, especially the XA's of the era, and not just straight line performance.

[@anthonymaddison9588]

I enjoyed that.

[@slavojalois1639]

I had one of those if only I kept it, famous last words. Great story that just makes me feel worse!

[@falconGTHO]

Do you have any photos or info please ? message us at facebook.com/groups/8XACANDYCARS or facebook.com/POLICEV8

[@baabaabaa-yp2jh]

Bloke l knew drove non stop from Darwin to Adelaide in a XY 351 balanced n blueprinted... In 21 and a bit hours (lm 99% sure, if not it was less). We still had 770+ kays of dirt on the Stuart Hwy in 81/82... No speed limit in certain areas back then, still a nutcase drive!!

[@falconGTHO]

was the xy 351 a cop car? a falcon 500 , Fairmont, Futura?

[@baabaabaa-yp2jh]

@@falconGTHO From memory, it was an ex country cop car. He did extra work on it... If l run into him, I'll ask, he still lives in my area... I know it sounds like bullshit, but definitely isn't.

[@KHANAGE1311]

Beast!

[@MissShell1975]

Very hard to hear what's being said, especially with that music playing over the top of the person speaking.

[@davidmilledge221]

Yep they were the days 👍

[@couttsy222]

Go the Jag!!! Not bad for what was, by then, a 11 year old design!

[@greggill1401]

The officer had some big kahunas wheeling an XA at that pace on the old Calder let alone taking his hand off the wheel for a chat on the radio..ive had other Highway officers from that era declare the XA as the worst handling experience they have encountered

[@016cobra]

Totally disagree I owned one of these as featured in the video and the handles extremely well if you knew what you were doing Hey it was 1973 and they were one of the best thing about

[@greggill1401]

Any XA that i drove handled lika a fishing boat including a GT@@016cobra

[@daniellebcooper7160]

Great story, and well put together video. (surprised that the car still exists, though a pity its not in its police car configuration).

[@wayniexagt]

you only caught the pom car because he slowed down

[@cadpeter7972]

Cute Story

[@richardcrew4303]

It would be better with a real voice instead if whatever you used

[@roscius6204]

Great story. I love that LHH035 has been hiding in plain sight . Mascerading as a clone of the thing it really is...

[@falconGTHO]

UPDATE 2024 showing the visuals of the survivor retro and recent photos on the anniversary 8th APRIL 2024 kzbin.info/www/bejne/pX3HhqZ_adeBoassi=23QpXX0KPkAtPR-0

[@user-bo2jr2ms2b]

Hahaha had a hq prem 253 3 speed column shift rego LNN 838 Almost same month good times.

[@falconGTHO]

1000 views a week for the last 52 week -one year 💯

[@OliverMoore1973]

I heard the Phase IV GTHO engines were put into LTD's...🤔

[@roscius6204]

I'd like to know what other PH4 developed parts were in them. It's a factory build, if they're using the motor you'd think there would be more. Maybe we could call them a PH4P...... A GTPO PH4?

[@jamesturner4859]

They were tell us 50 years ago

[@GlenDoer-gq1rs]

Had a XYGT man spent 2 yrs doing it up..got Arthritis had to sell..I paid 20k for it /EX decide it wanted a divorce and got the GT it sold it for 17 now worth 150K?

[@bluekats777]

She’s the Ducks Guts Maxy…

[@sprendergast351]

How fast, and still are those old jags. I love the GT being a previous owner. Give me working on the Ford over the Jag any day Great article, thank you.

[@016cobra]

If you had of kept going the speedo needle would have went all the way around to the stop needle at zero and bounced back How do I know I also owned one

[@velocityjet1884]

first they say its 170mph, then i hear 160mph now it's 148mph, which one is it

[@isaidthat4505]

They had 140mph speedo

[@stevesma2443]

MPH in Australia??? Don't think so!! Sure it wasn't the 1st of April?

[@baabaabaa-yp2jh]

We still had MPH and KM/H on signs in the early 70s mate... Kms had a red ring around it on the sign... and still does.

[@user-pb8vc8vp8w]

XA falcons didn't have headlight flashers so how did he flash his headlights? XB's had them

[@roscius6204]

Click click.....

[@merlin51h84]

Think they may have been fitted as per police specifications. The more important question is how they put in the Phase 4 engine and it still had standard GT drum rear brakes!

[@user-pb8vc8vp8w]

@@merlin51h84 The rear brake thing wouldn't be a major problem as the Phase 3 had drums in race conditions & coped (just !) The police XA cars didn't stress the brakes to the same degree on the road.

[@Eric-kn4yn]

​​@@merlin51h84 back then men were men and didnt stop for anything.

[@Eric-kn4yn]

​​​@@user-pb8vc8vp8w no so quick brakes were dangerous back then at high speed and no ABS even slower speed they took longer to stop car keep it real

[@rodneyjones4890]

Is NOT a GT-HO.

[@rodneyjones4890]

@@MrJimibarrett They are NOT GT-HO cars, they only had the engine. I love how Yanks think they can tell Aussies about their own cars.

[@rodneyjones4890]

@@MrJimibarrett What is an RPO 83 expert ? SOME or maybe ONE GT-HO part NOT FULLY GT-HO.

[@rodneyjones4890]

@@MrJimibarrett THE XB IS NOT A GT-HO PHASE V YA LOSER, THE XA COUPE WAS TO BE THE PHASE 5. YOU KNOW NOTHING.

[@rodneyjones4890]

@@MrJimibarrett YOU`RE AN ABSOLUT JOKE.

[@rodneyjones4890]

@@MrJimibarrett WRONG AGAIN YA LOSER.

[@chrisschneiders6734]

Hmm, they weren't the greatest handling cars.. A golf r would flog em nowdays.

[@tonymontana897]

Who cares about a stupid golf. You're comparing apples and oranges. We're talking about a historical moment, not about how a silly little shitbox can out handle a 70s muscle car.

[@MickH60]

50 years ago there was no golf mate, really dumb thing to say. Set up properly they handled quite good, you wouldn't know because you've never owned or driven one... Being faster than the phase 3 GTHO, they would have been the fastest 4 door sedan in the world, something the Phase 3 held for 17 years.... You may as well have compared a model T to a modern Ferrari....sigh...

[@shreckm6470]

Yeh but a F1 car is better than a Gulf

[@steelearmstrong9616]

Golf r would most certainly not flog them and in fact similar and quite close down the quarter. Depending on driver and weather

[@pauldavies4667]

@@MickH60 Controversial subject, many believe late 70s the Mercedes Benz 450 6.9 was quicker (Euro not US spec) having driven the Benz and the HO both great cars but the build quality of the Benz was beyond anything we saw built here in Australia.

[@falconGTHO]

ANYone own or owned an XA FALCON 351 POLICE SPEC ? Do you have any photos or info please ? message us at facebook.com/groups/8XACANDYCARS If you want to learn and se more of these Police SUPERCARS use the above link

[@josephwilliams1905]

I once owned an XA 1972 Interceptor, could drop wheelies from 3rd. to 4th. and had radius rods on the rear axle. Kick myself for selling it, was probably a Phase 4.🥲

[@rodneyjones4890]

NO, it only had a GT-HO engine. That does NOT make it a Phase 4.

[@josephwilliams1905]

@@rodneyjones4890 I agree, but boy, it was good, can't account for the radius-rods on the rear axle that surprised my mechanic.

[@craig8187]

​@@josephwilliams1905 the radius rods were factory fit on the interceptor.

[@josephwilliams1905]

@@craig8187 Were they a factory fitment on the Phase 4?

[@craig8187]

@@josephwilliams1905 yes, certainly were.