First published in the January 2003 issue of Street Machine

When Michael Jones stood back and admired the sweet ’51 Ford twin spinner he’d just put the finishing touches to, he soon found he needed something new, another challenge. The builder/father/street machiner wandered around looking at XR-XY Falcons, because he liked ’em and figured a Fairmont would make a top daily driver for the missus while also giving him something to get his teeth into. He’d always liked those Falcons, but was put off by the prices being asked for crap cars. Meanwhile, Graham Webb at the Engine Centre landed a container of gear from the States, including a tired but straight 1967 Sport Coupe.

Ford in Oz never sold a two-door XR Falcon. Maybe the Blue Oval boys figured that the newly-released V8 was enough to get buyers excited or maybe they hadn’t sold enough XP coupes to justify the cost. Whatever the case, we missed out, which has made the idea of an XR coupe a desirable thing for Ford fans like Michael, who seized the opportunity, bought it, and his boredom buggered off.

“It was different, and it had a rust-free body so I thought why not?” Michael says. “It was a Futura and there were only about 8300 built, so it’s a pretty rare car. This car had factory air, factory steering, factory tinted glass, all that sort of thing. It was unique, you know.”

Trouble is, things got in the way. A mate was selling a GT Falcon, so Michael had to have it. And then he decided to build a house. Hey, we told you he likes to do stuff. The coupe sat in storage for four years before finally coming out for its two-and-a-half-year rebuild.

“All I did was pull the car into a million pieces,” Michael says. “Every nut and bolt has been out of it.”
Anyone can pull a car apart, but putting it back together is what sorts the wannabes from the been-there-done-that brigade. No worries where Michael’s concerned, but there were some interesting aspects of this build that make it stand out. Like the right-hand-drive conversion.

“A lot of people said to me I should just cut and shut it,” Michael says. “But that car had never been smashed. It was absolutely rust free everywhere. Those two-door coupes were made in Canada and the sills, the engine cross member, the radiator support panel and the tie rail are all galvanised from the factory. I didn’t want to start messing around with the sills and creating a rust problem, so I just left them alone and put a firewall in. It was a lot easier.”

He fitted a ZC Fairlane firewall and converted the US dash, which was subtly different from the Aussie equivalent, with its ducting and instruments, and pretty much mirrored the American original. The radio’s still in the dash, but there’s a CD player hidden in the glove box. He didn’t want to lose the power steering, either, so he made a jig that enabled him to adapt an XF ram-assisted set-up for the coupe.

The car’s interior was rooted. The roof lining hung in tatters and springs poked through the seats.
“I was looking for the original material for the inserts in the seats.” Michael says. “I cut up what was left from the originals and sent samples to some upholstery joints in America, and one replied saying they had a small amount left over, so I just bought the whole roll. It was just enough to do my seats. I was pretty lucky. I went to a bit of extra trouble to get stuff like that.”

Bolting a Toploader behind the engine is pretty cool, but Michael’s real coup here was finding and fitting a shifter with the stock reverse lockout included. He’s converted the transmission from the stock auto to manual and it’s exactly as if the car came out of the factory that way. Like, exactly.

As you mighta figured by now, Michael gets his kicks from grace, not grunt, so he was quite happy to simply freshen up the stock 289-cube donk. It ran, but was down on compression, so he ripped it apart and, with help from his mate Peter Wade, got away with just honing it and putting in a set of rings and new bearings. The only deviations were a Federal Mogul cam and a little head work, and a 625 Carter competition four-barrel carb.

“It’s fairly standard ’cos that’s how I like my cars,” Michael admits. “All the original stuff but a little bit lower, with a set of wheels and just tricked up a bit. Beautiful. That’s what I like, nothin’ ultra modern or anything like that. I just wanted it to be nice.”

Selby springs and front and rear sway bars went underneath without hassles but the rear springs were a pain in the arse. They came out of an XY that Michael had wrecked, but he had them in and out of the ’67 many times, swapping leaves in the process, until it all came good and left the Ford sitting a good two and a half inches lower than stock.

The rear window was smashed when Michael bought the coupe, and getting one with the original factory tint took four whole years. An importer rocked up with two doors and tinted rear glass, plus some scuff plates and other bits that he’d found in the US, and offered it to Michael for 200 bucks! Michael couldn’t hand over the money fast enough.

The most obvious in-your-face factors – the paint and wheels – were a piece of piss. Painter Trevor Davis and Michael mixed up the green, and after sussing out the look of many wheels, Michael liked the American Eagles – and you can see why. Set it off beautifully.

And now Michael’s so paranoid about shopping trolleys that the Falcon’s definitely not the wife’s everyday hack. And it’s become his favourite car, even more so than the Customline convertible he also owns.

“It’s a great car,” he enthuses. “I love it.”

But he doesn’t drive it. He’s too busy with a ’57 Chevy pick-up. And another house. And a Hemi-powered hotrod. Feel like an underachiever yet?

GARAGE DAYS

Michael’s built a few cars now and has a heap more lined up in the queue. So what has he learned after so many?

“Pay a little bit more money and get a good body, because good panel beaters are hard to get,” he says and bemoans the fact his loyal panel beater, Murian Zoldac, is having a rest from it.

Michael thumbs his nose at people who lament the value of a car compared to the cost of fixing it. “Big deal. What else would you be doing with your money? You’ve just gotta do what you wanna do. Don’t listen to people who say the car’s not worth it, or it’s only worth this much. If you wanna do it, don’t worry about the cost, just do it.”

Mate, good on ya. Blokes like you make me feel better about this bloody Dodge Phoenix of mine that cost me three and a half grand in work the other week…

“What year Dodge is it?” asks Michael, and then makes me really jealous by telling me about the Hemi-engined hotrod he’s got in the pipeline and the ’57 Chrysler Saratoga two-door he’s gunna get into soon. Cool.

MICHAEL JONES
1967 FORD FUTURA SPORTS COUPE