BMC Spotlight - 1970 Ford Falcon XW GTHO Phase II in Surfer Orange

Author: Zeke Date Posted:13 July 2016

In May 1969 the first XW GT rolled off Ford’s Broadmeadows production line with it seemingly set to become Ford’s ultimate Grand Tourer, but things would soon change. Roughly one month later in June, the ‘HO’ variant was unveiled to the Australian motoring public. The HO stood for ‘Handling Option’ but essentially, the majority of upgrades were focussed on the engine which set the wheels in motion for the GTHO to become one of Australia’s most revered nameplates.

In June 1970, Ford introduced the XW GTHO Phase II. Most of the changes were under the bonnet, with the introduction of a revised Cleveland 351 engine. This revised Cleveland was mated to a new close ratio gearbox, new diff, diff housing and associated rear drive components. The braking system was also improved and with these modifications to the XW GTHO in place, Ford would see great success on track with Allan Moffat taking out the 1970 Hardie-Ferodo 500 at Bathurst. The age old adage of ‘Win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ was well and truly born and Ford had an iconic car on their hands.

There was only 804 of these 1:18 diecast replica models made.

	The attention to detail of all the factory features are amazing right down to the woodgrain steering wheel, instrument cluster, seat pattern etc..
Love the spare red wall tyre and boot mat. The authenticity of the badging on the boot lid is a credit to this model.
	The authenticity of the engine bay is amazing, they have gone above and beoynd to include factory stickers, decals, ID plate and engine colours, must be seen to be apreciated.
Looking through the windscreen is amost like looking at the real thing when you can see the patern in the seats and the attention to detail of the high quality finishes of this model.
	As you can see by the reflection the finish paint work is the high qualitiy that you would expect from a AUTOart product.