The New Zealand built Ford...'Sports Sedan'.........'Gentleman' Jim Richards

[Steve Holmes]

Nice one Ellis. I really liked the Big M guise for this car the most, before it sprouted the big rear wing.

[BMCBOY]

Here are a couple of shots from the collection from Baypark

[Steve Holmes]

Wow, those are great! That car was in such contrast to Leo Leonards PDL Mustang II, with its tall wing, super soft suspension. But the cars were so evenly matched.

[Graham]

Some pics of the Gurney Eagle engine getting ready for action to go back into the Falcon

[Graham]

The new bootlid made from all aluminium as the original was.

[Graham]

Its about time I rolled some progress pics on. The car is slowly coming along, as any restorers know it can be a slow hard slog when you have all the other commitments in life, but I will get more pics soon.
GB

[thunder427]

Its about time I rolled some progress pics on. The car is slowly coming along, as any restorers know it can be a slow hard slog when you have all the other commitments in life, but I will get more pics soon.
GB

...Graham,thank you and your family for a great 'New Years,evening,come Surprise 50th birthday for you, meeting your family and friends was a real pleasure,look forward to discussing 'Paint and Body' with regards, Myles and Stephanie, special big 'Hello' to the kids!!
PS; ....check out the fenders on the 'Winfield' version!!!!

[Steve Holmes]

Nice work Graham, thanks for the update. Great to see the progress you're making.

[Steve Holmes]

Hows progress going on the Falcon Graham?

[superford]

I'm another in the Big M Falcon Coupe fan club - would also love to know if there has been any progress.

A few scans;

[jim short]

Hollywood 5 car race reminded me of a race at puke back in the 80s all understood except an Asian

[Oldfart]

Aren't those mufflers hideous?

[Steve Holmes]

I have to assume the car was never designed to wear mufflers, as they'd naturally be added within the bodywork. There must have just been no space for them under there. The early photos of the car from its first season show it without mufflers. They don't make an appearance until 1979.

[Steve Emson]

Graham, its great to finally hear from you! We'll be looking forward to your updates and details about the Falcon. Its a really great car with a fascinating history.

Of the people involved in the car during its long history, have you ever tracked down Brent Bullivant? He was a Kiwi racer who built a very fast V8 powered Capri Sports Sedan when he was just 19. He debuted the Capri in early 1975, and was working for JR by 1978, having moved from NZ to Australia, preparing the Falcon. He would have only been 22 by this stage, so was obviously a pretty talented young guy, but he seems to have quickly vanished from trace.

[ATTACH]1575[/ATTACH]

I was just looking at this photo when I finally realised my blue Falcon panelvan is parked behind this car.

[Steve Holmes]

My understanding is that this significant car could be for sale? Can anyone confirm this? Graham has owned it for many years, and has been carefully collecting as many of the original parts for it as he could, slowly reconstructing the car. Like many Sports Sedans, much of the running gear was taken for newer projects, and Graham has tracked down one of the cars where a bunch of the parts ended up. Would really love to see this car back out racing again. It'd be very high on my shopping list if I had the coin...

[david5]

I remember seeing the bare shell sitting on the ground outside of Doherty's shed near Seymour in the early 90s, looking very sad.

[Steve Holmes]

David, thats probably around the time Graham Booth bought it. He has slowly been collecting many of the original parts ever since. Robin Doherty would have put most of the running gear into another Sports Sedan I assume?

[david5]

David, thats probably around the time Graham Booth bought it. He has slowly been collecting many of the original parts ever since. Robin Doherty would have put most of the running gear into another Sports Sedan I assume?

Steve I was hanging around Winton a bit in those days & that was the general "chat" amongst the boys, a red Commodore IIRC, but I'm only going on 20 y.o. memories.

[Steve Holmes]

I wonder if thats the car Graham Booth purchased to help with the restoration of JRs Falcon?

[Topgear]

My understanding is that this significant car could be for sale? Can anyone confirm this? Graham has owned it for many years, and has been carefully collecting as many of the original parts for it as he could, slowly reconstructing the car. Like many Sports Sedans, much of the running gear was taken for newer projects, and Graham has tracked down one of the cars where a bunch of the parts ended up. Would really love to see this car back out racing again. It'd be very high on my shopping list if I had the coin...

Steve, do you know if this car is for sale?