FALCON XC COBRA + ’79 FORD ESCORT + FPV FG R-SPEC – READER’S CARS OF THE WEEK

Allana Lambourne from NT is one serious petrolhead

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Photographers: Simon Davidson


Ford lover Allana Lambourne and her partner Tim own an impressive collection of 25 cars, mostly Blue Oval classics

This article on Allana’s cars was originally published in the September 2016 issue of Street Machine

WE met Allana Lambourne at Gazzanats Darwin in 2016, where we were blown away by the trio of cars she brought out to the track. We’re talking a genuine all-original XC Falcon Cobra, a ’79 Ford Escort and an FPV FG R-Spec Falcon. Allana is one of the partners involved in putting on Gazzanats Darwin, so she’s one serious petrolhead, and we had to find out more

You brought three cars out to Gazzanats, why do I get the feeling you have more?

I actually had four there. I also had my daily-driver Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT with the 6.4-litre Hemi up at Gazzanats, but I didn’t really drive it. My daughter and partner Tim took it out on the track and did like 180km/h down the straight. But between Tim and I we’ve got 25 cars, mostly old Fords ranging from fully restored to pretty poor condition. We’re definitely Ford people; my dad had XR-XYs when I was growing up so when I got my car it had to be a Ford.

And what was your first car?

My first serious car that I bought after I got my licence was a purple XA coupe with a white vinyl roof. I didn’t keep it for very long though; I drove over a young boy’s foot after he ran out in front of a bus and that scared me enough to sell the car straight away. I kicked myself later, but back then it just wasn’t practical to drive a big powerful car like that every day.

So how did this collection start?

It started in the 90s when we bought a ’53 Ford F100 and did that up, and then sold it later on. It eventually came up for sale again so we bought it back. Then we got an all-stainless-steel-body ’42 Willys Jeep built during the war that we found on a beach in Queensland, and then came the orange XM ute, which was the first car we fully restored. An FPV F6 came about 10 years ago and it has snowballed since then. I’m probably worse than Tim when it comes to buying cars; I found a lot of them myself just looking on the internet and magazines.

How long have you had the Cobra?

Originally we were looking for an XB John Goss Special; a couple of them came up but we weren’t quick enough. Then this Cobra came up for sale in South Australia so we jumped on it immediately and drove down to pick it up. When we got there the seller said they sold it to someone else – turns out it was my dad! A few years later he got too old to drive the car so he gave it to us. We take him around to all the shows with the car. It’s a real head-turner; I think the white with the blue stripes is just iconic and stands out a lot, and that’s why I like it. I’ve also got the BF FPV Cobra to match.

So is the Cobra your favourite car?

Nope! My favourite is the FPV FG R-Spec Falcon. I drove it to Alice Springs for Red CentreNATS last year and it was so much fun on the derestricted parts of the Stuart Highway. I’m going to race it in the drags later this year. It’ll probably go low 12s; it has had the ECU remapped with a bit more boost so it goes harder than standard. Close second would have to be the Escort; it is fun to fling around the corners and it’s not scary when it gets sideways.

Ever done drag racing before?

I did a season of racing last year in one of our other late-model Falcons and hung around the low 13s. I came pretty close to hitting the wall, which put me off racing for a little while, but I’m keen to get back into it.

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