NZ Falcon road racer

[yank with ute]

Photos by E. Selman of New Zealand.

The Kiwi's have a racing class known as "Class 65". You may run any auto built before 1966 and equip that vehicle with any speed equipment available for that car marketed before 1966.

The group of auto which the Falcon fits into contains LH series Holdens with the "Blue Fire" Chebbie six that's been round since the 53 Vette (and has plenty of speed equipment) and the Chrysler Valiant with the 170 and 225 slant six. Meaning to say the Falcon six offered in OZ and NZ were outclassed.

You could import an American 64-65 Falcon in order to race a V-8 but that body wasn't offered down under and the cost of repairs would be prohibited.

So why not build an American 63 Falcon from local parts? Here is the result:

Body, XM series circa 1964. The first Aussie/nz Falcon 2-dr. The roof, inner body structure, and chassis platform are the same as the North American Falcons so this car can pass as an American 63.

Well, the XM series had the tail lights mounted in a different place then the North American car, but who cares?

The front guards (fenders) and grille is from a 62-63 XM series. This car should have the "power buldge" hump common to early Falcon hoods, BUT this is a panel beater's car and in this case the skin is aluminum.

Why are the louvers blocked? Class 65 doesn't allow non-factory openings. The louvers are open when the car races under different rules.

overall view:


front w/ hood:

w/o hood:








Looking down on hood:

outside of hood:



My contact didn't mention how the skin of the hood was formed. The center ridge suggests it came from an XP series but it would be very hard to wrap the XP/Comet hood skin over the front of an early Falcon hood frame.

I am thinking the skin is aluminum (remember this car is owned by a "panel beater"). Non-factory opening are not permited in Class 65 and that's why they are covered. The vehicle also runs under other rules which allows the openings.

[yank with ute]

The "Americanized interior" of the featured Falcon. The driver was relocated to the left to match U.S. specs, the LHD steering box was imported from the states (cheaper then importing the whole car).

The stock dash replaced by a simple formed panel. Note the lack of a clutch pedal, this vehicle was running an automatic when the photo was taken (there are at least four years of photos being shown, notice details like the whell color, writing on the windscreen). Other years it had a 4 speed.



And about that roll cage, almost unheard of in North America, it is ALUMINUM!

Reason: North America has iron ore deposits, OZ and NZ have aluminum ore deposits. Steel tubing is very $$$ Down Under.



Here are examples of the sheet metal used on the race car:

The basic XL series sedan provided the grille -



Found this on Photo Bucket, I was looking for a photo of the front of a stock XM but this caught my eye. No, the paint "colour" is NOT stock but the chrome side trim, grille surround, and scoop are. This is the body used on the NZ race car.



Photo of NZ FCA member Steve Frazer's XM undergoing a rebuild. Yep, they rot out in the same places as the North American cars.


In several of the photos post below there are images of an XP Falcon race car carrying the number 21. This is what the auto would have looked like in stock form; stock XP Falcon Futura shot by E. Selman in new Zealand. This is a 1966 and had about 24,000 miles showing when the photos were taken.





The XP's interior. Note that it has the upholstery of the North American Fairlane, a "Comet" dash, and insturment pod. But it is a Falcon.



Engine bays down under are arranged differently then in North America (the photo image is not reversed). This is the "Pursuit 170" engine which was replaced in 1967 with the "Bara" design. That engine still used the same block as North America but had a cross flow head (carb on one side, exhaust on the other) with detachable intake manifold.



The back side of the XM and XP was a bit different then the North American Falcons. There seems to be photo evidence that this was the rear end treatment that would have been on the North American birds had "Lido" not order a total make over for the 64-65 Falcon.

[yank with ute]

Back to the subject road racing Falcon:

Here are photos of the same car over several years, different livery:



Car 21 is an XP Falcon. In the background, part of NZ's largest "population" (there are about 30 sheep for every person in NZ)



On the starting grid beside a genuine Type 38 Lotus-Cortina and a slant window Anglia (which probably had either a Lotus or Cosworth modified engine). The tight NZ road courses favored the small yapping dog-cars with sharp pointy teeth!



Racing as an "All Black" (a football term down under) the car leads a Lotus-Cortina, XP Falcon, and towards the left of photo, a Holden LH (blue/grey) and Chrysler Valiant. This is a small, tight road course, note position of the back straight.

So you say there have been an increasing number of 64 Falcons ruinning road course in North America, what's so hot about this car?

Answer: These photos are from 1989

Added July 14, 2008

I have this photo somewhere on this board in a smaller size but can't remember where. This was a typical New Zealand junk yard back in 1989. Most of these wagon could have been saved with some TLC!

[coon]

great photos Yank!

chances are that'll be a photo of pretty much NZ's only classic car wreckers yard of any decent size, Horopito. its featured in a film called 'smash palace' from some time in the 70's/80's..

here are some pics of an XM falcon which i think was set up for pre-65 racing, for sale online here a little while ago:

[yank with ute]

That car is set up better then the one in the photos I submitted. But of course time has passed. When finished it would resemble car #22 that I pointed out in the photos, but with the XM nose and not the XP sheet metal (same as US Comet).

I want to call attention to the front SHOCKS. Falcon people here in North America are just getting around to working with/redesigning Falcon front suspensions while OZ/NZ have been doing it for decades.

Falcons have been used as Weekend Warriors on short tracks in OZ/NZ for some times and there are many kits that would be of interest up here. One kit changes the "Modifed Mac Pherson strut" design found on factory built cars to a true Mac Pherson strut as found on Mustangs built 1979 onwards. Kits of that design have only been recently offered in North America.

And I bet Peps is sitting there with his mouth wide open after seeing the bars between the shock tower and firwall, LOL!

[Peps]

Originally Posted by yank with ute

And I bet Peps is sitting there with his mouth wide open after seeing the bars between the shock tower and firwall, LOL!

actually i was LOL at the idiot who put the steering box/linkage on the wrong side. J/K

i think the design is super!

[yank with ute]

Got to looking at the photo showing the steering box -

I wonder why there is so much angle in the U-joint? Has the steering wheel been moved inboard?

And notice the retaining nuts for the upper control arm. You can see the stock location (holes) inboard of the nuts. This car must be running later (67 up in OZ) arms?