SOME things are worth waiting for, and sometimes that wait can be about 30 years. But when it arrives in the form of a classic Aussie 1970s muscle coupe in Apollo Blue, it’s well worth the wait.
This was the case for Toolamba’s Kim Argaet, whose memory of a tough Ford Falcon XB GT coupe which got around Shepparton in the early 1980s never left him. For years he kept a notebook with ideas of modifications and improvements he’d make to such a model – when he got one.
That dream was realised a couple of years ago, when he finally got his hands on one and rebuilt it from the ground up, pouring back over his notes and making it his own.
“It’s taken thirty years for me to get to the point where I can actually go and get the car,” Kim said.
“They’re not easy to find, it’s a pretty rare car.”
The XB, produced by Ford Australia from 1973 to 1976, was the second iteration of the third generation of this model and also included the Fairmont (XB), the luxury-oriented version of the Falcon.
Kim’s Hardtop shudders and shakes under the throttle when started. It’s a sound you don’t hear much of on the road today, with the Windsor 427ci putting out more than 600 horsepower.
The XB range included station wagons, panel vans, and utes. But the Hardtop coupe looks designed for only one thing: Driving. It’s low-slung and heavy-set, and Kim gets this head-turner out every weekend he can.
“Everywhere I drive – it’s amazing really – I drive it and cars drive past and people are waving to me all the time,” he said.
“I’ve had people follow me around town filming me. Almost every time I drive it I have people pulling up next to me, winding down their windows and saying ‘Oh yeah, how good is this!’ So I get a big reaction when I drive it.”
