TOP 12 CARS FROM GEELONG ALL FORD DAY

Street Machine snapper Chris Thorogood highlights his 12 favourite cars from Geelong’s annual All Ford Day

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Photographers: Chris Thorogood

The annual Kiwanis Club Of Geelong All Ford Day took place on Sunday at the Deakin University Geelong campus, featuring over 1200 of the Blue Oval’s finest, along with club displays and appearances by racing legends Dick Johnson, Allan Moffat, John Bowe and Fred Gibson. Photographer Chris Thorogood was there to record the action; here are his 12 favourite rides from the day.

1-MustangLee Vella’s Mustang was a standout with its racy, tough-as-nails looks, but it goes hard too thanks to a Harrop TVS2300 supercharger. The S550 GT now spits out 650hp and has well over 500ft-lb of torque.

2-Ford XT-UteLoyal readers will remember Scott MacFayden’s super-smooth XT ute in the August 2014 edition of Street Machine. Well Scott has been clocking up plenty of kays on the 427ci Windsor since then, and has even run a 10-second quarter-mile pass. At the All Ford Day Scott took home the trophy for best XR-XT.

3-1971-Ford XY-Falcon -500Peter Rujanoski is no stranger to the All Ford Day, having won Best of Show in 2015 with a Lime Glaze XA GT and Best GTHO in 2016 with a Surfer Orange XW. This year Peter showed off his newest addition, a stunning Teal Glow ’71 XY Falcon 500.

3-1971-XY-Falcon -500-2But this is no ordinary 500; it was sold by the Ford Special Vehicles division to the Australian Federal Police as an undercover detective interceptor. These cars are becoming collectors’ items these days, as their basic Falcon 500 clothing hides some serious factory horsepower!

4-1967-mustang -Glenn -BensonWhat’s not to like about Glenn Benson’s 1967 Mustang? Candy Apple Red paint, Eleanor livery and a tough 427ci with eight-stack fuel injection – no wonder there were people around it all day. Glenn sourced the fastback shell from the USA, then had it shipped to Manila, where Classic Speed Shop completed a nut-and-bolt restoration.

5-GT40Another car that was surrounded by punters all day was this GT40, owned and built by Jason Ferraro. Jason is an automotive engineer, and you can tell when looking closely at this tribute to the classic Le Mans race car. Custom carbonfibre pieces surround the mid-mounted Ford Coyote engine.

6-Ford XY-GTXY GT with L-plates? You bewdy! James Moretti drove his dad Paul’s GT from East Melbourne with ease – and a grin from ear to ear, obviously. “It was great to cruise in, you can’t beat it,” the 17-year-old said. “But it did sound like an old man’s sports car through the tunnel.” We’re jealous!

7-Ford -XB-coupeAlthough it was covered in water for the photos, Kim Argaet’s XB coupe was another standout car. In restoring his XB, Kim wanted to create a car that Ford should have made; an improved factory version, if you will.

8-ford -xb -coupe -2Subtle touches like shaved and tucked bumpers, refabbed front guards and a modified bonnet scoop are just the start. A stout 427ci Windsor puts out over 600hp – enough to turn those large rear tyres with ease. And the boot is a work of art!

9-slammed -XB-500-sedanRaddest family cruiser award goes to Mick Waters in his slammed XB 500 sedan. Mick bought the Deep Aqua sedan as a rolling shell four years ago and went about making it a driver once again. A 302ci Clevo was dropped into the detailed engine bay, and he converted it to a T-bar auto.

9-slammed -XB-500-sedan -2Mick’s happy with the “rough as guts” body and paint, as his kids Rory and Billie can learn the finer points of car detailing.

10-XY-Falcon -police -cruiser -blueEvery kid would have had a fascination for police and emergency vehicles at some point, and for Murray Norris, he was hooked at his first sight of XY Falcon police cars as a boy. Years later he obtained this XY chaser, which was painted Cruise Blue, a NSW Police-only colour.

11-Xy -falcon -police -interiorMurray restored the interior back to its police specifications and now enjoys its GT running gear. Interestingly, Murray has tried chasing up Ford for the car’s original details, but Ford couldn’t find any record of this car being built, even after he supplied them a copy of the original build plate.

12-cobra -style -XC-FalconThis Cobra-style XC Falcon ute was stored away in 1992 with only 53,000 miles on the clock. It was pulled out of hibernation in 2011 and given a full resto. It runs a 351 and Top Loader combo.

13-mystery -XYWe didn’t get the chance to catch up with the owner of this XY, but we loved the colour combo! If it’s yours, please get in touch.

14-1959-black -skylinerYou can never go wrong with a factory-black classic car, and Warren Jones’ s1959 Skyliner is a perfect example. After importing the car from Wisconsin, Warren completed a full rebuild, taking care of the body and paint himself, converting it to right-hook, freshening up the 292ci Y-block and upgrading the transmission to an FMX. The Skyliner was the world’s first hardtop convertible; it takes 10 relays, 13 limit switches and hundreds of metres of wiring to make the roof fold into the boot space.

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