First published in the June 2005 issue of Street Machine

“No,” says Ian Almond when I ask if I’m interrupting. “I’m just scraping paint off a Mustang.” Ian’s a Ford man who can rattle off a long list of the hot Henrys he’s built and owned. His first car was a Holden but he traded it for a ’66 Mustang. What can I say?

He’d never heard of a Fairlane coupe when he spotted this at a swap meet, but he fell for it like an Irishman for Guinness.

“It was like a magnet for me,” he says. “Every time I walked down a lane at this swap meet I ended up standing in front of this car.” So he sold an HO to finance it.

The big 427-cube coupe is a far cry from the way it was when privately imported from the US.

“I made it look like an Australian car,” says Ian. “It’s got Australian front guards, grille and front bars on it. I cut out the ends of the quarters and put on Australian tail-lights.”

He had to tweak the doors to match them to the Aussie guards. The firewall, skirts and rails are Australian too, and Ian stripped off the gaudy US-spec mouldings, filling the holes and giving the Fairlane a smoother look.

The Aussie firewall made the right-hand drive conversion simple enough, with a ZD Fairlane dash that an XY GT instrument cluster bolts straight into. There’s an XY loom behind the dash, the only hassle being that the tacho reads 5000rpm when the engine’s nudging the rev limiter at 7000.

The FE big-block is basically stock at the bottom. The 15-thou oversize JE pistons were in it already and Ian added lighter 428 Super Cobra Jet conrods. He and Kevin Austin built the donk before 98-octance fuel was available. Being told it wouldn’t run happily with 12:1 compression, the pistons were machined to drop the ratio to 10.7:1, which Ian regrets. Aluminium Edelbrock heads and a Watson 311-grind cam finish the job and produced a strong but pleasant engine, with something above 600hp.

Ian needed a strong driveshaft to join the bullnose top loader ’box and diff which sit 120mm further apart than on a Falcon. KC & DR Drivetrains stretched a GTHO unit to fit.

“This 427 goes good down low but up high — mate, it accelerates in top gear like it’s in first,” says Ian. “It pulls! I had a run with a Mercedes 55 AMG sports the other day. I was in top gear and he would’ve been an auto so it would’ve kicked back but I hung with him all the way. We were in a 60km zone going into a 100 zone and he jumped out from behind me and nailed it. When he got about halfway alongside the car I had my foot to the floor and that’s where he stayed all the way.

“Actually, I was shocked that the Benz went that quick.”

But the power delivery is not the full story for Ian. “I didn’t build the car to have more horsepower than anybody else. It’s a good car to drive. It’s a fast car but it’s not a cranky car. It’s a pleasure to drive.”

One reason for this is the back end — a vast improvement on the leaf-spring crap it started with. Ian used Nolathane rod ends, a shortened F100 31-spline diff and Koni coil-overs to make a far superior four-link set-up, complete with a modified Falcon Watts link. It’s all adjustable and it works so well he’ll do the same to a Mustang he has plans for.

“The bottom four-link arms fit straight into where the original springs went. I fitted an adjustable hole in the top of the chassis so I’ve got three adjustable points to raise and lower the top arms,” explains Ian. “It’s all been strengthened.”

The interior was fine, but Ian didn’t like it so he went to town, ditching the bench seat (it’s now in Benny Gatt’s Lincoln, he says) for a pair of Scheel XF ESP Ghia buckets. He had the lot re-trimmed in blue and grey by Cruisin Upholstery.

Ian’s proud of the fact that everything in the car is Ford except for the Edelbrock bits and his custom mods. The electric mirrors and central locking, for example, are from an EL Falcon and the radiator fans are from a Focus.

The Fairlane won Top Muscle car at its first proper outing, at the All American Day in Sydney.

“That made the effort all worthwhile, y’know,” says Ian. “If nobody liked this car I’d still be happy because it’s the way I want it. It’s a car that no matter where you go, everybody looks at. It’s a bit of a buzz. It’s unique.”

Well-spent youth

Let’s go way, way back to Street Machine’s Dec ’83-Jan ’84 issue, which featured young Ian Almond’s Phase III. It was one of the most serious GTHO street machines of its day and could still give anyone a decent run for their money.

Ian still owns the beast but it’s been apart in the shed for about 20 years and he’s just taken a deposit on it. He can’t finish the sale until the Falc’s back together, and we can’t help wondering if he’s procrastinating.

“I’ve owned it since it had 289 miles on it,” he says. “I’m already sorry that I’ve sort of sold it. If it was together I probably wouldn’t have sold it. I went to America and when I came back I had a credit card bill I couldn’t jump over but I have to pay.”

Life can be tough when you’re having too much fun, eh?

“If I had an abundance of money I’d still like to own the HO,” he admits. “At the end of the day it’s worth a lot more than the Fairlane but I think I’d still much rather have the Fairlane because it’s different.”

IAN ALMOND
1967 FORD FAIRLANE COUPE

THANKS

Mick Burke, the panel beating TAFE teacher; Scott Ashby for the painting; Graeme Stevens for panel beating and the booth; Kevin Austin for engine and assembly; Glen Walker at KC & DR; Terry Wood at Hot Rods by TJ; Gary Thompson and Terry Hardiman at Hardiman Auto.