This is a 1977 Ford Falcon XC Coupe, it’s a car only rarely seen outside of its native Australia, and this one is being sold out of Spokane, Washington as a project car needing a full restoration.
The inclusion of this series of Australian designed and built Falcons in the films Mad Max and Mad Max 2 ensured it would become a legend – but it wasn’t available to buy outside of Australia, well, other than New Zealand of course.
Fast Facts: The Ford Falcon XC
- The Falcon XC coupe is a rare sight outside Australia, where XA/XB/XC Falcons were center to Ford’s local performance push through the 1970s. These models shared a pillarless fastback silhouette developed under Jack Telnack’s design team, with Brian Rossi credited for the Hardtop’s fundamental shape. They used familiar Falcon engineering, including coil-sprung independent front suspension, a leaf-sprung rear axle, and engine choices ranging from inline-sixes to Cleveland V8s.
- Motorsport established the Falcons’ reputation across Australia. Moffat won Bathurst in an XA GT Hardtop in 1973 and later took the 1976 Australian Touring Car Championship in an XB. Semi-factory XC programs culminated in the 1977 Bathurst one-two finish with GS500 Hardtops. The 1978 XC Cobra used remaining coupe shells and V8 drivetrains to create a final limited-run hardtop that marked the end of the two-door Falcon era.
- Global recognition came through the 1979 film “Mad Max,” which used a modified 1973 XB GT coupe built into the “Pursuit Special.” The car’s nose cone, flares, side pipes, and prominent mock blower created one of cinema’s most identifiable machines. Its return in “Mad Max 2” reinforced the XA/XB/XC series’ image as Australia’s signature muscle coupe.
- The Spokane-based 1977 XC project car keeps its original Hardtop body and includes original glass, panels, a transmission, and what is said to be a genuine sunroof roof skin. It also comes with an XB GT steel hood and a clean title. The seller also has a source for a Mad Max-style body kit, and the car is offered at $35,000 on eBay.
History Speedrun: The Ford Falcon XA – XB – XC
The XA-XB-XC generation of the Australian Ford Falcon would lead the local Aussie Ford story through the 1970s. The first was the XA Falcon which launched in 1972, this was the first Falcon fully designed and engineered in Australia, with Jack Telnack heading the local design team.
The XA-XB-XC generation of the Australian Ford Falcon would lead the local Aussie Ford story through the 1970s. Image courtesy of Ford Australia.
The car had no direct American counterpart, but it did echo some of the contemporary Mustang and Torino styling themes with its long hood, coke-bottle flanks and its far more flowing profile than the boxier XY Ford it replaced.
The new Hardtop coupe body style was a visual masterpiece – a pillarless two-door fastback with huge doors, a low roofline and heavily sculpted rear quarters. Ford Australia design manager Brian Rossi sketched the basic coupe shape in the late 1960s, and it became the basis for all three series of 1970s Falcon Hardtops.
Under the skin, the XA kept the familiar Falcon layout with independent front suspension with coil springs and wishbones, a live rear axle on semi-elliptic leaf springs, and a front-engine, rear-drive layout ideal for the Australian market. Engine options ranged from 3.3 liter and 4.1 liter inline sixes on the smaller side up to 4.9 liter and 5.8 liter Cleveland V8s for those who wanted a whole lot more power.
Single-barrel and twin-barrel versions of the 250 cubic inch six sat at the lower end of the range, with the 351 Cleveland at the top in GT tune. Transmission choices included three- and four-speed manuals and a three-speed automatic.
Disc front brakes and rear drums were standard (or optional replacing four wheel drums depending on trim level), and GTs had uprated braking and suspension fitted. The XA GT Hardtop became Ford’s de facto homologation platform, and the covert RPO83 package carried many of the high-performance parts developed for the cancelled Phase IV GTHO program after the 1972 “supercar scare” stopped it from reaching full production.
The Ford Falcon In Motorsport
Racing would make this Falcon a legend in Australia – the XA GT Hardtop gave Allan Moffat a Bathurst win in 1973, proving the new car on the mountain. The XB Falcon, introduced in 1973, was essentially a facelift of the XA with a new nose, revised tail and detail changes inside and out, but the coupe remained the hero shape.
Above Video: This is the official highlights reel of the 1977 Bathurst 1000 – it offers excellent footage of the Falcon being driven in anger against many other iconic Australian cars of the time.
In motorsport, the XB GT Hardtop became Moffat’s primary weapon. He won the 1976 Australian Touring Car Championship in an XB, and the development that went into those cars – cooling, braking, and high-speed stability – fed back into road-going GTs via improved aerodynamics, optional spoilers and uprated instrumentation.
The XC Falcon arrived in 1976 as the final evolution of this Falcon generation. It wore a smoother front end and had revised rear styling and brought the last of the Australian Falcon coupes – after the XC, no two-door Falcon would be built locally. Much to the annoyance of local Australian performance Ford-lovers.
On the competition side, Ford had formally withdrawn its full works team after 1973, but semi-factory programs kept the Falcons in the spotlight and out on the track. The Moffat Ford Dealers team ran XB GT Hardtops and later XC GS500 Hardtops with substantial Ford backing, taking the 1977 Australian Touring Car Championship and delivering the famous one-two formation finish at the 1977 Bathurst 1000 in XC GS500 coupes.
Those cars, and the need to use up remaining coupe shells, fed directly into the road-going XC Falcon Cobra of 1978. Ford built 400 Cobras, all in white with blue stripes, based on leftover XC hardtop bodies. They combined V8 engines, sports-suspension and distinctive graphics, while also marking the end of the two-door Falcon era. These cars are now worth well into the six-figures and they’re only rarely seen outside of Australian shores.
The Appearance In Mad Max
For the 1979 film Mad Max, the production team started with a 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT coupe and had it transformed by Australian custom builders into the “V8 Interceptor.” The car was given a pointed front nose, wheel arch flares, spoilers, side pipes and the now-famous fake Weiand blower rising up through the hood.
Above Video: For the 1979 film “Mad Max,” the production team started with a 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT coupe and had it transformed by Australian custom builders into the “V8 Interceptor.”
It returned in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior in more battered form and has since been recreated countless times in replicas that are always a hit at car shows. That single movie car turned the XB hardtop from a regional muscle coupe into one of the most recognizable screen cars worldwide in the late-1970s.
By the time XC production ended in 1979, Australia’s appetite for big two-door domestics had faded somewhat, and the succeeding XD Falcon was sedan-only. In hindsight, though, the XA-XB-XC Falcons were the peak of Ford Australia’s locally led design and engineering program in the 1970s.
These cars remain largely unknown outside of Australia, though a small number of enthusiasts in the USA and Europe have sourced and imported them – instantly becoming a local celebrity when they roll into Cars & Coffee.
The 1977 Ford Falcon XC Project Car Shown Here
The car you see here is an original 1977 Ford Falcon XC coupe that has been imported into the United States where a restoration was started. It’s now being offered for sale in partially restored condition with many of the panels needed to finish it.
It also comes with front and rear glass, a real XBGT steel hood, a transmission, and this is said to be an original sunroof car – making it quite rare. It also comes with a clean title in hand – a crucially important factor for any project car.
The car you see here is an original 1977 Ford Falcon XC coupe that has been imported into the United States where a restoration was started. It’s now being offered for sale in partially restored condition with many of the panels needed to finish it.
The seller says they can also provide a source for a full Mad Max body kit if the new owner wants to go in that direction.
The car is now being offered for sale out of Spokane, Washington on eBay with an asking price of $35,000 USD. You can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more about it or enquire about buying it.
Images courtesy of the seller + Ford Australia
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
