The Roaring Season

Thanks Tony. I love that those Bryan Byrt Fords had been kept all these years. John Harris took over Bryan Byrt Ford when Byrt himself died, and Harris didn't think the costs to go motor racing were justified. He was a race fan, but felt the company couldn't sustain the costs, especially once 1980 rolled around, and teams had to replace their old XC hardtops with the new XD model. Bryan Byrt was actually the guy who started the Moffat Ford Dealer Team, and was clearly a huge racing enthusiast who thought motorsport paid for itself through the publicity it generated. But John Harris was obviously a genuine enthusiast too, because he has kept all these cars in a small museum for all these years.

John McKechnie wrote:Hi Steve, looking at the red Monaro I am sure it is a HK ,you can see the shiny crossbar running horizontal on the grille, rear taillamps look smaller than HT.Could be the man from Steely Gears-is it John Rattray?

Well spotted John, I didn't look that closely. Tony still owns that HK Monaro, its now painted orange.

John McKechnie wrote:Barrys son Paul has agreed to give all these details - Dads car was sold in the early 1990's with 30,000 genuine miles on the clock.....mostly race miles!! It still had the original matching numbers engine block etc..from memory the car was rust proofed by the first Australian owner from new.....I can definitely remember it as the best example of a rust free Falcon coupe I have personally seen...... garage stored the entire time Dad owned it.
Wayne Murdochs name is mentioned in the thread a couple of times as a driver of XAGT four doors in the early 70's. He is also an incredibley talented car engineer, he built and maintained Dads four door and coupe for him along with all of his other race cars. They took a trip to Aussie together a while after building the coupe and contacted some aussie race teams they bought back all manner of good competition brake pads, suspension tweaks ,tricks and components etc..from this trip.

Nice work John, its great to finally get some concrete info about this car. As you say, it won an NZ championship, and was a significant car. Good to know it has survived.

Hi, Does any anorak/statistician have the figures on how many NZ championships XA,XB,XC sedan and coupes won. Please add if there are more-I just got these from Discontinued Race Champs.
Our first entry was Jim Richards is his XAGT.sedan-1972
Second entry is now Barry Lloyd in his XACT Coupe-1978 -2 championships
next is Jim Richards Wayne Murdoch 1974
Jim Richards 1975-2 championships
All have been Production Class.
Pretty good record for NZ.
All Ford Fans pat each other on the back , we kept Holdens winless here.
We want FPR, SBR,and DJR to do the same in Aus.
Oh, yes BTW - Leo Leonard won once in his Charger 1972
Overall it reflects that XAGT , XBGT were the right choice for straight off the road and go racing.
Here you are Haga- a story with a happy ending, but lets NOT stop this thread.
More pix please

Hi Steve, in that photo with Captain Kirk-the XA Coupe next to him is the late Steve Woody-this is the Falcon Engineering Coupe I have mentioned before.
Kirk want to enter ,joined,but has not been able to sign in yet ,may need a push start,,there will be pix then

John McKechnie wrote:Hi, Does any anorak/statistician have the figures on how many NZ championships XA,XB,XC sedan and coupes won. Please add if there are more-I just got these from Discontinued Race Champs.
Our first entry was Jim Richards is his XAGT.sedan-1972
Second entry is now Barry Lloyd in his XACT Coupe-1978 -2 championships
next is Jim Richards Wayne Murdoch 1974
Jim Richards 1975-2 championships
All have been Production Class.
Pretty good record for NZ.
All Ford Fans pat each other on the back , we kept Holdens winless here.
We want FPR, SBR,and DJR to do the same in Aus.
Oh, yes BTW - Leo Leonard won once in his Charger 1972
Overall it reflects that XAGT , XBGT were the right choice for straight off the road and go racing.
Here you are Haga- a story with a happy ending, but lets NOT stop this thread.
More pix please

Well the XA - XC won Bathurst in 1973, 1974, 1977, the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1976, 1977, the New Zealand Castrol GTX series in 1974, 1975, and 1978. So thats a pretty good record.

I see we have now past 2168 views, its reassuring to know that many people are following this public notice..
There must be more people out there with stories of these cars in their past , and that their typical day on the road is like a Mel Gibson day.
Lets see....I have one -In 1987 I had a XA Coupe 302 4 speed factory car.No Pix available. Poo brown_walnut glaze. I found some people in a certain area of Auckland that had for sale a XC GS complete front -bonnet with noses, front guards, headlamp panel assy with all lamps, grille and bumper.They were conveniently wanut glaze.So for $500 , bought the lot ,took it home and changed it.
Local Westie car wrecker gave me $100 for all the old front-hey , not the value then. Also purchased back taillamp panel from SI, no trade me in those days, it was even rustier than mu old one.
First time out with it , local 57 Chev was passing and indicated-lets perform an illegal act by loosing wheel traction.Great , but stripped the diff. Cars -one step forward, two steps back.Sold it too a guy in Masterton. He test drove it.Had to turn the keys off as we were driving as I feared for my life.He paid cash and drove away.I lived 5 miles from the motorway and I could hear him wheel spinning all the way.Heard that a week later this car hit a tree head on at maximum velocity and motor ended up inside the cabin.Has any one ended up with this car?

Interesting story John! Just by coincidence, I live in the Wairarapa, and there was a dark brown XC hardtop that a guy working in Carterton was using as a daily driver about 3-4 years ago. You tend to take notice because you don't notice them often. I should do a bit of research and try and find out more about it.

Well spotted Steve.I kept the XA tail lamps on it .Also it was a designated Continental model, badges were attached.Had vinyl roof different to factory.It went past the back window, curled down onto the rear guard and finished up at the front of the B piller under the side windows.Very distinctive and much better looking.As a trimmer, I redid the inside a silver fabric. Had mags with 265 all around .A man of your capabilities should spot all these details very easily.

I didn't see it up close John, just sort of spotted it a few times when driving past. In amongst all the modern Jap cars it was easy to spot, and I'd look out for it when driving past each time. But from memory it had mags and a vinyl roof, which I thought was black, but could be wrong.

Gezz Steve , you are replying quicker than I can send these.My customers will think I spend all my time here.Vinyl roof was cream.Forgot to mention-only reason that I sold it was that I was paralyzed and didnt know if I would ever walk again.As I recovered I didnt know if I would have the strength in my leg to operate a manual trans.Also the seats were not economically inclined for bad backs.All these things seem irrelevant now after 25 years- except I have another Coupe with ABSOLUTELY no rust

Hi, Photo Bay park 94, 95. The old xb coupe is still sitting as I sold it down the line, it didn't sell when it was on Trade me last time. I got the NZ new 1970 GT 351, 4 speed Torino in 2000. First race was 01 I think, A real handful after the Coupe. The XB GT that Brett Walker raced was my first car I raced back in1992.

Hey Kirk, good to see you on here! So is your old XB still a race car or was it converted back to a road car? Where is your Torino now?

Just checked the spread sheet on racing Falcons .Dont see Brett Walker on the list.
Any one know?

KIRK BENGE wrote:Hi, Photo Bay park 94, 95. The old xb coupe is still sitting as I sold it down the line, it didn't sell when it was on Trade me last time. I got the NZ new 1970 GT 351, 4 speed Torino in 2000. First race was 01 I think, A real handful after the Coupe. The XB GT that Brett Walker raced was my first car I raced back in1992.

Bit off topic, but I once remember following the Torino in Prod. Musclecar. It was a bit ugly around the corners, but damn it disappeared down the chute fast!

What were you driving Habu?

first time posting hope this works

NICE pics sloper. I especially love that Gary Raiti car, its an absolute show car that, but still gets driven hard.

Steve Holmes wrote:What were you driving Habu?

An XY GS 302 Falcon. Not much competition for Captain Kirks Torino

Great photos Sloper - thanks for sharing them.