Eureka moment

This Nugget Gold-coloured GT-HO has long been considered precious metal by the Falcon GT fraternity, but a speck of information unearthed recently led to an eureka moment about its early life. Its new owner discovered it was originally earmarked as John Goss’ 1971 Hardie-Ferodo 500 ride, but instead of heading to Bathurst it became the prized roadgoing Phase III of a prominent drag racer. AMC digs out its glittering life story.

Story: Luke West

Photo Credits: Chris Currie

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Digging up the past

The 1971 XY Ford Falcon GT-HO Phase III displayed on these pages is well known to those characters who’ve hovered around the Falcon GT scene for decades.
It’s a stunningly presented and impeccably credentialed example of the granddaddy of all Australian muscle cars. So much so, this matching-numbers Phase III has won countless awards at the bi-annual Falcon GT Nationals and other GT gatherings over the decades.
Yet for every awards judge who crawled over the car and every enthusiast who lusted over it, none knew the finer details of its early history. That’s because the story of its first private owner and how he came to take possession had been lost in the sands of time. Until now.
Or more correctly, until the current owner Billy Karantonis bought the car in early 2016. Karantonis had no idea at the time of purchase that a fascinating and previously untold back story would soon emerge.
He did know that he was buying a well-respected and much sought-after Phase III enjoyed by several prominent members of the GT fraternity and a car that came with its original logbook. But it wasn’t until a mate of his, fellow GT tragic Bob Sahota, picked up on the name of its first owner from that logbook and made a connection that previous owners had overlooked, that the slow reveal of info took a most enlightening turn. Sahota recognised the name of the first owner from an article he’d read in issue #30 of Australian MUSCLE CAR and set to work tracking him down.
That first owner, Noel Ward, had vivid recollections of taking delivery of the GT-HO in mid 1971 from Sydney dealer McLeod Ford, possibly becoming the youngest owner of a brand-new Phase III.

Ward recalled how the creative use of chickenwire helped overcome difficulties in getting it first registered, and fondly remembered the extraordinary performance it displayed, even for a Phase III, over the three years he owned it.
Ward also recalled the somewhat surprising reasons he had received a call from Goss offering a built-for-Bathurst GT-HO Phase III. And why Goss had elected not to use this particular machine as his 1971 Hardie-Ferodo 500 strike weapon.
Before Noel outlines why – to borrow and mangle a canned tuna company’s slogan – this car was the Phase III that John Goss rejected, we first need to set the scene.

The car retains its original engine. The first owner of this car is adamant it was something extra special when he bought it.

Gold mine

In the early 1960s Ford Australia got serious about regenerating its dealer network and soon parted company with the last of the old agency-style sales outlets. As part of this drive, Ford’s dealer development department headhunted former Suttons Holden star salesman Max McLeod and helped set him up on the site of the old, underperforming MGH Motors at Rockdale.
“I moved into there on the sixth of June, 1966 – the sixth of the sixth, sixty-six,” McLeod told AMC for a feature story that appeared in issue #55 in 2011. “It worked out well (for McLeod Ford). It worked out terrific for Ford, too. We turned Rockdale from 14-15 new cars per month to
100-plus.”
The timing was perfect for McLeod as Ford was making significant inroads into Holden’s market share with the popular new XR Falcon model.
By the end of the decade a young mechanic from Hobart had scored a job at McLeod Ford – John Goss. He had brought with him his racecar, a six-cylinder Falcon-powered Tornado sportscar, and was keen to prove himself against the mainland’s star drivers.