GTX Series - Falcon XAGTs

[Haga]

Hi

I am an owner of a Falcon XAGT sedan, over 20 years. Over my time of ownership I have seen photos of XAGTs racing here in NZ.

When I read the article in Aust Muscle Car magazine a few years ago I realized that they played a larger role in NZ motorsport than I thought. Some of the photos in the article were taken by Lindsay Ross and I purchased some prints off him.

The other day I “stumbled” upon this forum and read the thread on the Crichton Monaro and came across the first colour photos I had seen…awesome!!

Now this has got me interested in the history of XAGTs racing here and I have a million questions…hopefully the “historians” on here can answer some of them? Right Oh…here we go:

Does anyone have more colour photos of these cars?

What colour was the Wayne Murdoch GT?

Why the change from GTHO P3s to XA? The HO would have been a better/faster race car….was it to do with marketing/price?

Why did they not race the XBGT? The early XBs ran same engine combo as XA but with the advantage of discbrake rear end. I have seen a photo of Jim Richards towing his XA on a trailer behind a XBGT!

Why race the sedan versus the coupe? I gather it was due to the easier availability buy a sedan “off the shelf”compared to the coupe? I noted in the AMC article there was a pic of a lime glaze coupe racing.

What modification were allowed? I see in some pics XA running the XY 5 slots and later shots with mag wheels. Were motor upgrades permitted?

Safety: I gather a harness was installed….how did they fit that?

I know the main “steerers” of XAs were Richards, Francevic and Murdoch. Was there others? I see the Fowler cars XA in Crichton Monaro thread..who was that?

What happened to the cars at the end of there racing career? Do any survive? I have seen the Richards and Francevic P3s so if they survived maybe some of these have too.

Sorry about all number of questions….I have more thou!!

Cheers

Wayne

[Jac Mac]

Hi

I am an owner of a Falcon XAGT sedan, over 20 years. Over my time of ownership I have seen photos of XAGTs racing here in NZ.

When I read the article in Aust Muscle Car magazine a few years ago I realized that they played a larger role in NZ motorsport than I thought. Some of the photos in the article were taken by Lindsay Ross and I purchased some prints off him.

The other day I “stumbled” upon this forum and read the thread on the Crichton Monaro and came across the first colour photos I had seen…awesome!!

Now this has got me interested in the history of XAGTs racing here and I have a million questions…hopefully the “historians” on here can answer some of them? Right Oh…here we go:

Does anyone have more colour photos of these cars?

What colour was the Wayne Murdoch GT?IIRC a dark gray/black colour, might even have had a bit of purple hue

Why the change from GTHO P3s to XA? The HO would have been a better/faster race car….was it to do with marketing/price?GTX series I think a minimum production number was in force which ruled out GTHO /E49 etc

Why did they not race the XBGT? The early XBs ran same engine combo as XA but with the advantage of discbrake rear end. I have seen a photo of Jim Richards towing his XA on a trailer behind a XBGT!

Why race the sedan versus the coupe? I gather it was due to the easier availability buy a sedan “off the shelf”compared to the coupe? I noted in the AMC article there was a pic of a lime glaze coupe racing. The numbers thing again IIRC, Lime Glaze car might have been Barry Lloyd from south canterbury.

What modification were allowed? I see in some pics XA running the XY 5 slots and later shots with mag wheels. Were motor upgrades permitted?Not much allowed in the motor other than balance & working with factory specs, hyd cam etc, they still had to run the Autolite 4300 carb which gave them some grief with cornering forces /float levels/power valve flooding etc

Safety: I gather a harness was installed….how did they fit that? I dont think full harness were in vogue then

I know the main “steerers” of XAs were Richards, Francevic and Murdoch. Was there others? I see the Fowler cars XA in Crichton Monaro thread..who was that?Tulloch, Rutherford ( Ron ), a few others might remember more.

What happened to the cars at the end of there racing career? Do any survive? I have seen the Richards and Francevic P3s so if they survived maybe some of these have too.Pretty sure Inky's did, others probably..

Sorry about all number of questions….I have more thou!!

Cheers

Wayne

Over the years Ive had a few GT XA's thru my w/shop with the odd mod underneath for straight exhausts etc that make you wonder about their past life...

[Carlo]

John Christie still has the car that Inky Tulloch used. It is a one owner car that has been pretty much driven at weekends only.

[Rod Grimwood]

Gary Bromley had a real quick XB (purple i think) and then a XC that was not as quick.

[ged]

carlo is john christies xa yellow if so i think that is the only one ive seen with chrome bumper/door handles option could be wrong

[TonyG]

Gary Bromley had a real quick XB (purple i think) and then a XC that was not as quick.

Yeah, I remember that one. It was a nice XB and went well too !

[Steve Holmes]

Yeah, some great questions there Haga. I think the reason for the change from XY Phase IIIs to the XA GT was because of the minimum number of units built. I think the minimum build number changed for the 1973/74 season, hense the reason there were also no E49 Chargers racing. But I'm not sure why teams raced the 4 door instead of the 2 door hardtop. Afterall, Crichton ran a 2 door hardtop Monaro so its not like there was a rule that stated the cars must be 4 door models.

During the 1973/74, and 1974/75 seasons, modification restrictions were quite tight, hense the reason the cars ran with the original wheels. For the 1975/76 season, the rules were changed again, to allow the Camaros and L34 Toranas to race, and here quite a few more mods were allowed, which is why the cars racing in the GTX ran wider mag wheels.

It'd be worth giving Inky Tulloch a call about this. He raced an XA and then a Camaro when those were allowed.

Quite why the teams ran XAs and not XBs, again, Inky could answer that. I did read an article in Australian Muscle Car mag about the Falcon hardtop Group C car John Goss raced and won Bathurst with in 1974. He updated that car to an XB when the XB was released, but then reverted it back to an XA, citing that the XB was actually slightly heavier around the nose. I wonder if thats why the GTX teams ran the XA.

[Haga]

Hi..back again!!

Jac Mac: Thanks for the answers, great to have someone who worked on the cars during the day

ged: The chrome/versus painted bumpers were a XBGT thing. XAs were chrome only

Steve: I will need to catch up with someone like Mr Tulloch to find out. My guess is that they only started racing the XAs in 73 so being kiwis we want to get our monies worth out of something therefore run it for as long as possible. The only advantage an XB would have would be disc brake rear end. Apart from the early XBs, the majority (not all) had lower spec engines and low spec gbox (not top loader) compared to big port 4v XA...so no real advantage to change other than marketing new shape.

Interesting about Goss's comments. XB weighed the sameish. I suspect JG was more interested in open wheel racing but the "taxis" helped pay the bills.

[Russ Cunningham]

I recall doing a deal with Dexter Dunlop on the ex. Francevic XA in about 1975. It was metallic green at that stage and just another well used car. Don't remember where it went but I do remember having a XBGT that was one helluver car. Used to tow the race car trailer at over 120MPH. Manual/P/S. Both company cars. Prior to that I used a 71 XY Shaker that I traded on a Datsun 120Y SSS for $4,200.00.
An okay car but the XB was far better in all respects. Paraparaumu to central Wellington in 22 minutes.

[John McKechnie]

Hi, Haga-I have a red XBGT-351 4 speed that was raced at sometime in in South Island, now sitting quietly in my garage,.Also I have Lime Glaze XA Coupe.I bought some parts off trade me from a guy in Christchurch.I sent him pix of the car as he thought it could have been his dads-yes it was Barry Lloyd.
He still has some black and whit pix of the car.May still have it saved somewhere. Also you can talk to people who race them.Only really need top loader when running over 400hp, same with the B/Wdiff..So its not really downspec for everyday use-unless you have a Mel Gibson day. Also 4 V was designed to run at 8k revs all day on oval circuit, not street circuits.. 2V is more efficient out of corners , thats why the Yanks love the Aussie Clevelands. 4V is a pain on the road down low. XBGT has it all over the earlier models as Russ says.

[Steve Holmes]

John, is your XB a sedan or hardtop?

I wonder what happened to that Barry Lloyd car.

[Steve Holmes]

Barry Lloyds XA GT, as taken by Bruce Thompson:

[John McKechnie]

Hi Steve, yes , that is his car,same as the pix sent to me.The son didnt know what happened to it and was hoping mine was this. No. I am sure a reg check would show something. Did I forget to tell you about the XBGT Sedan-not Coupe this time.Previous owner fitted top loader to it for racing.Well, guess where its heading-yep, into the coupe.That is the one on wheels not the one on the trailer.When Dale was here yesterday showed him the three .Have got correct B/W for the car.Funny the Lime Glaze doe not seem as bright in this photo as on my Coupe, yet it is original colour.I know on the Superbirds they highlighted it emerald-on this its definitely black. I mean, who would repaint their car this colour 80s-90s, even now. Comparable colour to Nevs HQ 350?

[Haga]

There is a Lime Glaze/White InteriorXA GT coupe here in NI. It usually turns up at All Ford Days. Next time I see owner I will ask him if he knows history. Carjam does not show early plate nos for car.



Came across this photo a while back. Beleive it is Jim Richards (judging by door signage)? Any info?

[John McKechnie]

That is a fantastic photo.I have never seen this one before.I always thought he went from sedan to XC Coupe sports sedan.WOW.Carjam the rego anyone?Is this track Baypark- judging by the yellow flowers

[Steve Emson]

Photo of Jimmy in XA GT

[John McKechnie]

Looks like the P and R machine is getting a love tap from behind.It looks like the red XA Coupe and the XA above are running bicycle wheels on the back, in comparison with todays cars. Great pix Steve -do you ever see Calvin these days-from 1975.?

[Rascal]

with Further regard to Bryan thompsons Pic Of the lime green XA Falcon Coupe & other comments,

OLD MATE, Barry Lloyd, an Ashburton Earthmoving contractor, more often know as "BJ"; may have won the NZ GTX championship in 1978 with this car.
Race prepared by Timaru Guru, Wayne Murdoch, the car certainly figured well in all the points & placings in probably 2 seasons.

BJ, always the consistant driver , became a very much admired & liked, competitor.

Teretonga was his pick of the south island circuits ,where; the long front straight suited the legs of the falcon.

He had also Competed in the "villa maria 300" at Manfield, 1977 ? with this car, along with fellow ashburtonians , Rod Mclrea & Russ Haines [ X Robbie Franecievic Rx2 -capella coupe] at the same event.
Also at Races at Baypark & pukekoe on one or two ocassions during the GTX series.

[John McKechnie]

Have just contacted his son Paul to see if he has anything to add. Be great to keep this thread going with more information.

[John McKechnie]

I have some pix, having probs uploading-what is size limitation?