1970 - 1971 Ford XY Falcon GTHO - Images, Specifications and Information

Country of origin:	Australia
Produced from:	1970 - 1971
Numbers built:	1857
Author:	Wouter Melissen
Last updated:	Before December 1st, 2004
Download:	All images

Add your comments on the Ford XY Falcon GTHO

General Info about the Phase 3

Daz27
10-21-2007

Fairly recently a GTHO Phase 3 was sold at auction for over $850,000. One example in Sydney that was driven by the late Peter Brock for a magazine spread some years ago is reportedly for sale for $1 million plus. All up there were 302 examples of the Phase 3 and it is fair to estimate there may be as many as 100 left, probably less, with maybe 5 - 10 of these in immaculate, un-molested condition. The GTHO would have to be the most copied car in Australia, with even the 'Faker Shakers' worth upwards of $50,000 depending on the level of detail in build of the car. It held the record for the fastest Australian built, mass produced car until 1996-7 when Holden released the HSV GTS-R.

the falcon GTHO inspired a 13yr old (turned 24yr millionaire

doshbag85
02-02-2007

hi everyone im jason id just like to tell you all that ford have made my life even better, im aussie and i work for ford australia. i was part of the team who designed the fpv gt and the f6 typhoon, and i owe it all to the xy GTHO

australian built legend. did you know?

xbgt406
01-28-2007

Did you know that the ford company in Australia was ran and owned by the american's through a ford canadain company and it started in 1926 in Geelong.Until the year that the first xb falcon was built Australian's did not have much of a say.The first owned and designed Australian ford was the xb falcon which was built in late 1973 and released to the public in 1974.All ford's built in melbourne pre xb are yank designed.watch the gt legend dvd or ask ford in broadmeadow's melbourne

Ph3 spec Correction

jg33ll
15-8-2004

Just to correct a couple of entries and add to ... (a)The carb is Holley list 4653 ,780 vac secondaries not dbl pump. (b)Sump has no ears. That was planned for Ph4 XAGTHO. (c) No stainless drop tank. Had option 64 which is 36 Gallon steel tank available on XW thru to XY models. (d) Had 54H bodyshell which is reinforced same for any 351 engine. (e) Had XA (next model) front spindles / wishbones, reset springs ,shocks, and front bar,rear stab bar.(not fitted GT) (f) approx 130 remain in Australia and 10 or so in NZ.

australian built legend

phase 3
23-7-2004

the phase 3 is a legendary car. in those days it was capable of well over 140mph, that meant it was an extremely fast car. as mentioned no sedan could get near it and the speed that this car reached was capable only by italian performance cars. it took an aussie manufacterer 30 or someting like that years to build a car that can beat it in speed and performance not to mention being the fastest 4 door sedan for 25 years. it held the title for that long and were talkin aussie here compared to the rest of the world.i personally would do anything to own or even drive one of these. that awesome power, sound and looks not to mention that legendary status that this car possesses. what about bathurst that year in 1971. moffat had put the most devastating bathurst win to date even with a beer box blocking the air intake of the car. well that did go down to the driver but what more can i say about moffat hes a champion. if only the phase 4 actually went into production. it would be a killer.

classic aussie muscle

XJS Lover
16-6-2003

While the story is correct to an extent, the devil as they say is in the detail. The phase 3 GTHO was a totally different car to any of its suburban sibblings including the GT. It had ears on the sump for increased oil holding capacity and hense the engine ran cooler under extreme loads. The carburetor was the biggest ever used on any production Falcon, being a Holley 780cfm double pumper. The intake manifold was of a different design. And the biggest difference that nobody but the select few who ever got to work on them, was under the rear quarter panels, where extra reinforcing was placed for extra regidity. Further into the cars racing life (1971) Ford realised the obvious (that the braking was woeful) and had Globe, an australian wheel manufacturer, build a run of 5 spoke 15 X 7 mag wheels, after finding that they reduced brake temperatures by 40%. While the story is good, for the most revered car ever built in Australia it is simply to short and undermines the sublety of Fords engineers.

Anyone got an accurate photo???

Ngapuhi
15-12-2002

"Just thought i'd mention that the GTHO Phase III, was not only the fastest production 4dr family car in Australia. But it is also the most highly replicated model of Ford Falcon. (yes only 300 were GTHO's were built but if you were to check with the authorities you would fin over 1500 registered in New Zealnd and Australia!) By the way your photo is of a 1970 XY Ford Falcon GT, not a GTHO Phase III! The GTHO Phase III was the Top of the Range for that Year and had in addition to the external appearance of the car in the pic: * A lower more aggressive stance due to the suspension package which gave the car part of its name. HO stands for Handling Options and was only used on the XY GT's. This was to seperate the car from the rest of the Falcon/Fairmont Range of that year. * A front chin spoiler, akin to the Boss and Cobra Jet Mustangs of '69. * A ""Shaker"" air intake hence the GTHO's nickname ""The Shaker"". (Which coincedentally is also Ex-Mustang) * A Rear Wing the same or similar to the Boss and Cobra Jet Mustangs. *And finally a Stainless steel ""Bathurst"" Droptank visible from behind the vehicle. I believe the cars were built to make an all out assault on the dominating Holden GTS Monaros, the styling cues were taken (as with most Australian Falcons till '81) directly from the performance model mustangs of the '60's and '70's. YOu only have to look at the XA,B and C Falcon coupes to figure that out. I'm not downing your sight(which bythe way is awesome) but if you are gonna bring these cars to the world, please ensure accuracy as this is the Greatest Muscle Car next to the E49 Valiant Charger to come out of Australia. And owners and enthusiasts alike are very affectionate about them, by the way just for the record, I'm no Ford nut I own a Holden Calais. Keep up the Good work Guys (and remember we never know unless someone tells us) """

I want to see more of this car

GTHO
8-9-2002

This an awsome muscle car it was actully putting out more than the 220 kw ford said it was more like 260 to 290 kw. And this a phase 3 model shown thier were also phase 1 and phase 2 GT falcons aswell

Oz muscle cars

phases
23-6-2002

I would like everyone in the world to know that this was the fastest four-door production car in 1971