There are some crazy people out there. Take Martin Micallef, for instance: he decided to tackle the seemingly impossible task of transforming this XB GS from a run-down wreck that’d give you tetanus at 10 metres into a terrific Tango Orange trophy-hauler, all in less than a year. The truly mad part is that, armed with the right combo of cohorts, he achieved it!

First published in the September 2024 issue of Street Machine

Martin stumbled upon the Falcon while cruising through eBay one day in 2011. It was in ratty condition to say the least, and although the tags said it was a factory Tango Orange car, it had been repainted black with the usual GT silver accents. “It was very sad,” Martin says. “It wasn’t running, the tyres were flat, and the interior was all black velour that had faded to purple!”

True to Falcon coupe tradition, the XB also had more rust and holes in it than the Titanic, but Martin was optimistic and dived into his new project with gusto. “The 351 was very sick and needed head gaskets, and I had to sand back the silver and repaint it to get rid of the rust bubbles for the roady,” he says. “But the excitement of having an XB in my yard was overwhelming.”

Martin spent the next year tootling around in the coupe, but the dodgy resto it had been given just wasn’t his style, as attested to by his collection of seriously schmick FPVs. So, it wasn’t long before the GS was blown apart on the shed floor. Unfortunately, the damage was on a scale far beyond anything he’d expected. “The whole arse-end was fibreglass and bog,” he says.

“There was nothing left of the parcel shelf except for the ends and a few bits of wood wrapped in carpet; the rest had been cut away for bigger and bigger speakers over time. There was that much rust in the boot floor that when I jumped in to unbolt the tank, it just fell out – I’d filled it many times and it turns out there was only one bolt holding it in!”

With the sins of the XB’s previous lives laid bare, Martin paid a visit to Luke at Rusty Ford Wreckers and skipped out the door with several guards, doors, sills, a radiator support panel and the entire back end of an XC sedan. Then he started hunting for an expert car-cancer curer and soon found Neil Wilkinson in the central Victorian town of Maldon. Neil had already done a beautiful job of repairing Martin’s boss’s Sandman, so the XB and the boat-load of parts Martin had gathered were duly handed over and the resto commenced.

Neil is an absolute gun when it comes to chopping up rotten metal and replacing it with fresh shiny stuff, so even the mammoth job of reviving the coupe didn’t faze him. “Neil just performed magic with the car,” Martin says. “The whole thing was cut into a million pieces; you could almost walk through it.”

Since the XB had more holes in it than the average cheese grater, Neil had to replace or repair the radiator support, lower A-pillars, sills, boot floor, quarters, parcel shelf, tail-light panel and more. With the tinworm eradicated, he got to work straightening everything in preparation for a coat of jam. “We couldn’t find anything that was painted the original orange until Neil removed the quarter vents, and when he stripped the car back, we found about 15 layers of paint!” Martin laughs.

Not only is Neil a dab hand with the MIG and grinder, but he can also wield a spray gun with the best of ’em. It took 11 litres of PPG Tango Orange to cover the GS from tip to toe, and even though it was sprayed in a small shed, the result looks simply spectacular in the sun.

Soon, the XB was back in Martin’s garage, and the reconstruction began. Mick at MJ’s Classic Garage screwed together a warm 351 Clevo to replace the tired original, along with rebuilding the nine-inch and supplying the refreshed C10. Being a GS, the coupe already had disc brakes at all four corners, and Martin had the factory suspension put back together with all new bushes but at a more appropriate altitude. Helping the Clevo breathe is a set of Competition Engines four-into-ones and a twin three-inch stainless exhaust, the entirety of which has been ceramic coated.

Considering how much work was involved, it boggles the mind to think that Martin’s coupe went from a naturally lightened lump better suited to garden art to a sparkling trophy-winner in just nine months. “It’s picked up trophies at Showcars Melbourne, Geelong All Ford Day, Cranbourne Ford Day and the Sandown V8s,” he says. “I take it for weekend drives with the family and display it at car shows with my grandson, Ash, who will inherit it someday.” You’ve got a bloody lucky grandson there, Martin!

MARTIN MICALLEF
1975 FORD XB FALCON GS

THANKS
Neil Wilkinson for all the bodywork and the pics taken along the way; Mick at MJ’s Classic Garage for
the mechanical work; Luke at Rusty Ford Wreckers for the body parts; Charlie at C&N Vehicle Trimming for the headlining; Wally’s Auto Upholstery for the interior; all my mates for helping me put the car back together; my grandson Ash, who is looking forward to one day inheriting the beast.