Falcon GTs in the UK

In past issues of AMC, we’ve discussed the Aussie Valiants and Leyland P76s that were exported to the UK. This inspired Sandy Mercer from Glasgow (yes, AMC is read in Scotland, too) to send us information on Australian Ford muscle cars that also made it to Britain.

Sandy should know. In 1982 he became the proud owner of a Burnt Orange, automatic XB Falcon GT, bought with his first pay packet and a loan from the bank. However, he was forced to sell it two years later because it cost so much to fill with petrol! More recently he has compiled a website (see details below) devoted to the surprisingly large numbers of Falcon GTs in Britain.

At last count these included two XT GTs, one XW GT, two XY GTs, 18 XA GTs and 23 XB GTs. All were sent new to the UK and advertised for sale. ‘Ford Imported Cars’ promoted these cars in a small way but tended to concentrate its marketing on the station wagons - called ‘estates’ in England - which were seen as having wider sales potential. In 1978 the Fairmont V8 wagon was given a full-page ad in the posh pages of Country Life, the magazine of choice for England’s landed gentry.