Think back to the last time you packed up and moved house. You probably found all sorts of long-forgotten odds and sods in dusty corners of the shed and swore to yourself you’d never move again. Well, spare a thought for Chris Murphy, who dragged this XW ute from place to place for years, rolling it out of one dusty shed and into another. And all that time, it was primarily used as storage space, until he finally began turning it into the 600hp Windsor-powered stunner it is now.

First published in the October 2025 issue of Street Machine

Chris picked up this XW years prior when he was working with his old man as a roofer. The pair were quoting a job at the ute owner’s house, and offered the bloke mates’ rates if the X-Dub could form part of the payment. A deal was struck, and the ute was safely tucked away in the Murphy family shed. However, apart from some occasional banter with his dad as to which of them it actually belonged to, Chris never managed to put his plans for the ute into action.

The vision was always there, with Chris having a pretty clear sense of what the XW should become; he just needed a bit of a shove in the right direction. That came seven years ago, when Chris’s wife, Cindy, stepped in. Sick of seeing the forlorn XW in the shed taking up more space than it offered in terms of storage, and sensing its untapped potential (or perhaps eyeing the rapidly rising value of barn dust), Cindy encouraged Chris to either get started on it or get rid of it.

Since moving the XW on was never really an option, it was instead shipped off to a mate who, according to Chris, could “talk the talk”. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before it was clear that said mate couldn’t walk the walk, so Chris chose another shop with which to entrust the repair work. With the ute’s bodywork underway (or so he thought), Chris then enlisted Andrew Johnson from AJ’s Engines to work his magic putting together a stout, streetable Windsor combo for the XW.

Not one to take the responsibility lightly, Andrew delivered in spades. Starting with a Dart block to allow for a 4.125-inch bore with plenty of material left in the sleeves, Andrew added a Scat steel crank with a 4in stroke, SRP pistons with a 19cc relief, and 6.2-inch Scat H-beam rods, for a total capacity of 427 cubes. Up top, CNC-ported alloy heads, an Edelbrock Victor Jr inlet manifold and a 780cfm Pro Systems carby get the all-important mix of air and 98-octane fuel to the back of the valves, with a Trick Flow hydraulic-roller cam letting the good air in and the spent gases out. When the spanners stopped twirling and the Windsor was offered up to the dyno, the combo returned 607hp at 6250rpm, with 579lb-ft of torque at just 4900rpm.

Unfortunately, progress on the ute itself wasn’t quite as successful. The panel shop Chris had engaged ended up butchering the XW and going MIA in the process, leaving him no option but to put the tough little Windsor into storage while he looked for someone more competent to tackle the metalwork.

Enter Ian and Ross from the aptly named Resurrection Panel N Paint, who became like a second family for Chris. In fact, he admits he probably spent more time with them than his actual family over the last few years of the build, watching progress and supporting the team’s efforts with more than a couple of beers when the tools were down at the end of the day.

Third time turned out to be the charm, with the Resurrection crew expertly finessing the XW’s bodywork – restoring the exterior’s crisp lines, deleting the rear bumperettes, fitting tubs in the rear and a full-width rear bar from a wagon, and smoothing out the tray. The attention to detail didn’t stop there. Under the skin, the floorpan was replaced with a flat floor and a larger transmission tunnel. The smoothed-out engine bay features a flat firewall with a recess for the brake booster, allowing the 427-cube Windsor to be the star of the show. The stellar bodywork is further highlighted by Brett Caldwell’s skilful restoration of the original chrome fittings.

With the bodywork finally completed but the Windsor still to be fitted, the push was on for the XW to make its debut at Street Machine Summernats 37. Shaun and Josh from Trims By Shaun were tasked with making Chris’s vision for the interior a reality. The neatly finished cockpit features orange stitching to reference the exterior stripe colour, white-faced Auto Meter Phantom II instruments, a B&M Pro Ratchet shifter, Grant Products alloy tiller, and a custom console, all combining seamlessly to match the detail in the rest of the build.

With plenty of horsepower on offer, the rest of the driveline had to be equally well built. Al’s Race Glides supplied a reverse-pattern C10, and M&A Engineering helped get the power to the ground with a four-link rear, shortened nine-inch diff and custom driveshaft.

Stopping power comes courtesy of Baer six-piston calipers matched with 330mm rotors up front, teamed with twin-piston Baer calipers and 300mm rotors on the rear, taking advantage of the space beneath the 20-inch American Legend Thunderbolts that fill out the wheelarches sublimely and give the XW a stunning stance. They’re shod in 255-wide fronts and massive 315s on the rear, supported by Viking coil-overs all ’round.

After some long nights and days in Chris’s shed, and some five years after the engine was completed, the XW was back together and ready for Summernats. Not only that, but it started first hit of the key – a credit to the workmanship of the team at AJ’s Engines. Credit also goes to Chris’s old man, who made the seven-hour journey to stay with Chris and Cindy for two weeks to help get everything finished, not to mention Cindy herself, who supported Chris throughout the entire build, helping deal with suppliers, ordering parts, paying invoices and keeping a small army of people fed and watered during the final push to get the ute ready for the ’Nats.

While the MNYPIT plates are the perfect finishing touch for Chris’s X-Dub, they do often lead to questions as to whether Cindy knows what he truly spent on the build. But Chris reckons she’s aware of every last cent that went into the car and remains undeterred, only stipulating that the couple’s next project be her own pick, with her sights set on either a TC Cortina or a Valiant. We just hope we don’t have to wait 20 more years to see what they come up with!

CHRIS & CINDY MURPHY
1969 XW FALCON UTE

THANKS
Mick and team at M&A Engineering; Johnno Robertson; Liam for auto electrical; Andrew Johnson at AJ’s Engines; Shaun and Josh at Trims By Shaun; Ian and Ross at Resurrection Panel N Paint; Mike’s Pipes; Brett Caldwell; my parents; my wife Cindy.