I purchased it as a road car off a dealer in Auckland with the intention of club racing it. Traded a Mercury Cougar in on it, which I had swapped a Ducati motorbike for. It was a genuine XA GT but it was a bit scruffy, had some rust issues that were largely resolved and was informed the previously owner had drag raced it in a production based class.
The first time I raced it was at Pukekohi and it still had bulky superstock tyres on the back. The car evolved slowly over the years as the budget would allow and the rules and classes I raced in changed. I would mainly buy second hand parts and had good mates that would help work on the car and any sponsorship I could get was greatly appreciated and needed.
I got the front off an XC panel van I had and sold the original GT front for good money. I liked the spoiler set up of the XC better. For classic meetings I would have to change the grille back to XB as they wouldn’t allow the later XC model to run.
The car got badly crashed at Whenapai in 1992, I got hit in the driver’s door (it’s now hanging on the wall in my garage) by the out of control Brian Peace 930 turbo Porsche. The car had the RH rear quarter almost ripped completely off and the chasses got bent, but we managed to get it fixed. I found a Falcon panel van door and door pillar to replace the destroyed ones and reattached the original rear quarter with a few patches and a large amount of filler. I remember it cost me around $1,300. I heard the Brain Peace car cost over 20,000 to fix.
When it came time to sell it no one wanted to buy it so I sold it in parts and the body was purchased (buy a guy who owned a garage in Thames I think it was) to be converted back to a road car. I had still kept it registered as I did drive it on the road on occasion.
The original GT engine ended up in a T Bucket. I swapped the good roller cam motor for a twin cam Datsun 120Y race car and the motor ended up in a speedway saloon. Ray Cheba brought anything I had that was a GT part. John Alley brought the ex Allan Moffit GTHO gearbox for his pre 65 Mustang.