The King Hussein Falcon

Don Dunoon, former head of Vehicle Development and Testing at Ford Geelong, still has his Daily Brief (official instructions) for March 5, 1976.
That was the day Don was asked to take the ‘King’ for a few hot laps at the Ford Vehicle Proving Ground at the You Yangs. That’s King Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan who, with his Queen Alia, was paying a brief royal visit to Australia.
The King was a noted car enthusiast, so after a morning media conference in Melbourne, followed by a visit to the State Research Farm at Werribee, a trip to Ford’s test track was fitted into the schedule. And the King didn’t just want to have a look - he wanted to have a drive!
Don Dunoon was given the job of taking his Royal Highness, who was then one of the richest men in the world, for some laps of the steeply banked high speed test track - or ‘constant speed’ track as it was known - and then to casually ask if he would like to have a go.
“I was the only person that day to spend time alone with the King without any bodyguards present,” he recalls, “although they did attempt to follow us around the track in a slower vehicle but soon gave up.”

He was assigned a green 1975 model XB Falcon GT sedan (Vic reg ICW 987). It was a vehicle regularly used for testing in standard condition, except for some composite steel/alloy wheels. It was also fitted with a roof bubble, for testing an accessory that was intended to act as a wind deflector when the roof was open.
In this case, the roof was still intact. Don thinks they may also have fitted premium tyres for the occasion.
“The King and I chatted about his cars while I built up speed over a few laps up to the ‘hands-off’ situation at the top of the banking (ie the banking basically steers the car), then stopped to let the King drive. He did a couple of quiet laps and was slowing, until I suggested we had plenty of time and should see more of what the car could do. He started to enjoy himself over more laps at respectable speeds.”
Afterwards, the local media all wanted to know exactly what speed the King had reached. “On the basis that one should not outdo a King, of course I said that he drove faster than me,” says Don. “The headlines in the papers the next day said something like ‘King Drives at 100 mph’ but that was just whatever I told them at the time!”
Still, that was pretty close to the mark. It was a memorable day for Don and by co-incidence the King Hussein car still exists. Soon after the royal visit, the green Falcon was posted on Ford’s internal sales list and was bought by an employee who used it as personal transport for nearly 20 years.
Then Terry Slaymaker, who worked in the finance department at Ford, bought it from him in 1994. Its history as the car that King Hussein drove was passed on.
It’s in remarkably original condition and still has the original ICW 987 number plates, complete with the official Ford brass tag showing the internal test car code number. The original ‘Product Engineering’ car park decal is also still there on the window.
Also of interest is the car the royal bodyguards were in that day, the 'slower vehicle' driven by the Proving Ground supervisor. If you look closely, you can just see this car through the rear screen.