As long as I have been alive I have been obsessed with muscle cars. Growing up around them made it even worse. I left school and became a spray painter at the age of 16 psyching my mates up along the way, for more gloss and meaty cams.

After mucking about with a bunch of Ford Cortinas I got onto a low miler pottery beige Ford XA Fairmont 302. She had 46000 original miles and no rust and the usual shopping trolley dings. Totally stock standard I took the car to Eastern Creek raceway and ran 16.8 down the quarter. Some freak kept following me home, mesmerised by the Fairmont. After selling the old girl for good coin, my tow truck mate had a dusty Holden HK Monaro GTS which hadn’t been driven for eons. Now at my place I installed a stout 350 Chev from AN Racing, Tunnel Rammed and loaded with all the performance goodies. This car was also raced once at Eastern Creek supernats and ran a respectable 13.0@105MPH on street rubber with plenty of wheelspin. But again I got offered good money and let the Silver Mink beauty go.

Now I head to Canberra with Sash from AN Racing and drove back with a nice white Holden VK Group A Commodore. I love cars from all makers and this one was real good value. But as you can tell by now, after one year of ownership the Brock was also sold.

Two brand new 2003 Suzuki GSXR750’s later and almost dying on Sydney’s roads due to motorists lack of care, they both also got the bullet.

WHAT NOW I thought.

Throughout it all my mates including my brother in law Pauly all were GT enthusiasts except me. I always wanted to be different I suppose and finally went back to the XA model. This time a matching number XA GT Red Pepper sedan came up for sale. Off to country Griffith in a small propeller plane with my brother-in-law Paul to meet owner John. Once we arrived we saw the car at one of the local wineries. After 10 minutes we were crawling underneath, inside the engine bay and boot checking the old girl out. We took the car for a drive around the country roads and we were surprised at how tight she ran. The car was then placed on a hoist to further verify all the GT characteristics such as exhaust hangers and right down to block casting numbers. After all this a deal was done and the car was mine.

The car drives awesome and looks the part in Red Pepper too. My plans include restoring this car to gun barrel specs and maybe another AN Race combo. With the help of Paul and my other rev head mates like Sash it shouldn’t be a problem. Only time is my enemy and the dollars involved to complete such a task. Thanks also to my mate John in Griffith who is a champion and welcomed both me and Paul like old mates. His hospitality was greatly appreciated.

This car is totally standard including the 8 track stereo. We listened to Suzi Quattro and Deep Purple on the way home with no incidents.

Thanks to my brother in law Pauly for all his help and support through this purchase. See you on the open roads trend setters, cause thats where these cars really belong.

Going ford is the going thing Nick.