First published in the March 2009 issue of Street Machine

If not for a couple of accidents, this car would be a near-stock XA GT Falcon. Thankfully fate intervened and it’s evolved into a brilliant and distinctive street machine with almost 500hp.

Kon Voulinos bought it 18 years ago, after his father demanded he get something to replace his ride at the time.

“I had an LH Torana that he thought was a bit too quick, so he told me to get something slower,” Kon laughs. He found the GT in the Trading Post. Despite the 351 Clevo, it was a much bigger car and the weight tamed the power enough to satisfy the then 19-year-old’s dad.

It was largely original, the seller perhaps recognising how valuable it’d eventually become. “But he didn’t like the original Wild Plum colour. He thought it was poofy. So it had red paint and Bathurst Globes, The rest was stock.”

It became a fun weekend warrior for Kon and his mates, and saw plenty of use around his Shepparton, Vic, home until one friend chucked a U-turn in front of a motorcyclist. Said biker took umbrage and kicked in one of the doors, something Kon understands, being a rider himself. Not long after, his brother backed into a light pole and the streetlight dropped on the roof, ruining the paint.

That was about 10 years ago. Kon used the repairs as an opportunity to return the car to its Wild Plum colour code, though the scheme isn’t exact but more how Kon imagined it should be. The two-pack still looks great a decade on.

More recently, Kon decided to give the GT a rebuild, including updating the driveline. First stop was Selva Racing Power in Shepparton, and the brief was more power from the original 351.

“Kon wanted something with a bit of grunt that he could also get in and drive to Melbourne,” Danny Selva recalls. A mild flat-tappet cam keeps it daily drivable, with the extra power coming from higher compression and Danny’s hand-porting of the stock 4V cast-iron cylinder heads.

Danny tuned and dynoed the new donk for an honest 484hp at 5800rpm, but emphasises there’s a lot more in it when Kon’s keen for more. The engine is filled with quality performance bits to handle more power, and fired by a Paul Turner Performance dizzy.

“All we have to do is change the cam,” Danny says. “The engine has been built to rev to 7500rpm and make close to 600hp when Kon’s ready.”

The completed package was then shipped around the corner to Greg Maskell at Revhead Restorations, who oversaw the full build.

“It was one of my favourite projects,” Greg says. “It’s awesome: comfortable, a shitload of grunt, six gears — it’s one way-cool car on the street.

“You could run this thing on a 40-degree day around Sydney in traffic and it would not get hot.”

Mal Wood Automotive supplied the six-speed T56 Tremec and the necessary advice and brackets to fit the ’box without modifying the increasingly valuable body. Kon specifically wanted to keep the car in such condition that all the original equipment could be returned to recreate an original XA GT. Even the gear lever is in the exact same spot on the centre console.

“Mal was really helpful,” Greg says. All engine details, wheel and tyre sizes and Kon’s intended use were forwarded to Mal, who then selected the internal gearbox ratios to mate up with the 4.11s in the full-spool nine-inch. A high-performance twin-plate clutch was fitted, and the tailshaft shortened. The result is strong acceleration, sweet shift points and a cruisy 1800rpm in top at 100km/h.

“I’m a big, big fan of automatic transmissions,” Greg says. “But Kon’s car nearly converted me! I love driving it so much, I was tempted to put a manual into my blown ute.”

The hubs and axles, supported by Pedders suspension, were carefully measured and adapted so that the 19-inch polished Simmons wheels shod in not-too-low profile Nankang rubber would fill the wheel arches without rubbing the guards under full load.

With the major headaches fixed, there were myriad details requiring attention — the interior needed a freshen-up, so the carpets and seatbelts were replaced and gauges fitted. Not radical stuff but enough to give the old classic a smart new look in keeping with its original design.

The brakes were also upgraded to cope with the power, with PBR 300mm discs and calipers up front and new brake lines.

“The purists probably won’t like it,” says Kon. “But I wanted to make it so if I was ever to sell it, it could be returned to completely stock.”

Who cares about purists? This is one neat driver that’s a tribute to the original XA GT but tastefully modified. Go Ford.

Kon Voulinos
XA GT FALCON