A CAR nut since she was a teenager, Anna Smith has owned plenty of sweet steel over the years. Yet the ride she truly desired remained elusive until six years ago, when her husband Gary secured this stunning 1970 XY GS Fairmont for her.

First published in the March 2022 issue of Street Machine

How did your revhead journey begin?

I started dating Gary when I was 15 years old, and our older friends always had hotted-up cars, so we’d hang out with them. My mum and dad weren’t into cars, but Dad had an XY Falcon, and that’s why I’ve always loved them. Gary and I bought a ZC Fairlane when he turned 18, and after that was an XB coupe. Since then, we’ve had a range of cars – Camaros, Holdens, a Mercury, Mustangs – though I have always preferred the Fords.

How’d the XY come into your life?

Gary saw it parked off to one side at our regular Saturday-night car meet. The guy had owned the car for over 20 years and almost never drove it, so he rocked up to the meet with a For Sale sign on it. Gary knew I have always loved XYs, so he put a deposit on the car that night.

Tell us about it.

It’s a GS Fairmont that originally had a rare factory-fitted Top Loader and nine-inch. It had previously won Best Restored Original at an All Ford Day. It only had 46,000 miles on it when I got it, but it had a C10 trans and 4800 stall by then. Even so, it was still too stock for me!

And so a spicy make-over began?

Yes! Straight away I changed the Globe wheels to Center Lines – it’s had a few different wheels now. And as I love motors sticking out the bonnet, we tunnel-rammed the 302ci and added twin 600cfm Holley carbs and a mild cam. With all the mods, it now puts out 430hp at the fly. It runs a reverse-cowl bonnet to do the right thing for legalities, though I kept the original bonnet so that I can return the car to factory-spec if I choose.

Do you get much seat time?

Yes, I love to drive it. We go to a lot of car meets; Gary takes his ’69 Camaro and I take the XY. Recently we went up to Bright, and soon we’ll head out to Queenscliff. The events are cancelled, but we’ll go for a drive there on that same weekend. I enjoy taking photos of cars for my ‘Car Life’ Facebook and @car_life_by_anna Instagram pages; often I’m the one trying to convince Gary to head out to a meet! I just love the car scene; it’s full of like-minded people. All our friends are car people.

Girls — wanna be famous? Send pics, car details and contact details to: Iron Maiden, Street Machine, Locked Bag 12, Oakleigh, Vic 3166. Or email: [email protected].