We’ve all got stories about meeting our heroes, and they often end badly. But Rob Gorgievski picked the right kind of hero in Frank Marchese, coming away with an enduring friendship and a big-power, show-quality XW Falcon to boot.

First published in the July 2024 issue of Street Machine

In fact, this juicy GT replica began as Frank’s personal project. “I bought the shell during COVID as a project from the back of a shed,” he explains. “The car had been used as a donor over the past 20 years.” Despite its pillaged status, what remained was straight and dry, offering a perfect blank canvas.

Meanwhile, Rob was on the hunt for a Candy Apple Red XW. “I actually found a completed car in Melbourne a few years back, but the owner wasn’t interested in selling it,” he says. “I thought, ‘We’ll do it ourselves with our own driveline and tweaks.’” In a little slice of destiny, Joe Gauci of Profab Motorsport Fabrications had caught wind of Frank’s project and tipped off Rob.

“I called Frank just shy of two years ago and flew down to Melbourne,” Rob says. “He picked us up from the airport and I was a bit starstruck being next to him; I’ve idolised the guy since I was little! The car was in primer at that stage, and he was going to restore it to factory specs with a 351, Top Loader and black interior.”

Rob had been building the XW in his head for the past 30 years, and his vision never involved a mild driveline. “It’s always nice to have factory power, but I was dealing with Frank and Dandy Engines,” he says. The 434-cuber was built by Frank along with his son, Simon. The Clevo block holds an X2i crank and rods with Bullet pistons, and the top wears an intake and heads by Scott Cook, aka SCM Engine Developments. These faithfully replicate OEM Falcon GT stuff but are hewn from aluminium, with options for 3V or 4V porting – a perfect match for Rob and Frank’s goal of big power in a factory package.

“It puts out just shy of 700hp,” Rob says. “On the second dyno pull, we hit 670hp and decided to pull back, as the intention for the car was always the street rather than the track, especially as we’re running 14-inch GT five-slots! There was heaps more timing in there, but we hit a mark where it already exceeded what I wanted – the original brief was between 550hp and 600hp.” Rob admits he might send the car down the track in the future, but for now he’s sticking to family duties, show and street. “The power is there, though,” he points out.

While it doesn’t quite feel right to call such a visually loud car a sleeper, it’s about as close to the concept as possible, with detail right down to the concours-correct fasteners and production-line stencilling throughout the engine bay and underneath. “That’s the word we used as we put the brief together,” Rob says. “Factory looks front-to-back, but it had to be snappy and angry and put smiles on faces when you put your foot down.”

Getting a naked car to this standard on such a short timeline speaks to the talents of everybody involved, including Rob and Jeremy Guljas at Automotive Creations Custom & Restoration, who handled the paint and panel while Frank built the car around it. “I’m still scratching my head as to how Frank did it in the time he did, because he’s pretty busy on and off the track,” Rob laughs. “The jaws all dropped when it came together.”

Candy Apple Red paint was always the goal, but making a high-grade car look better than new takes finesse. “Rob from Automotive Creations would send us colour samples every couple of weeks – it was hard picking the colour from home and not being in Geelong as he was doing it, but we got it sorted on the third or fourth sample,” Rob says. “He took a little bit of pink out, put a bit of white in and got us the depth we were after, and when the sun hit the colour, the vibrance was there.”

Paired with Reflective Orange striping and a Parchment interior, it nails the aggressive 70s muscle car vibe and more than lives up to the AGROJG plates.

The result is something that goes beyond Frank’s well-known chops as an engine builder and drag racer, which makes the car even more special to Rob. “A lot of people will go to him for race packages and race cars, going from the street into the drag scene,” he says. “We wanted to do a car that was a bit of both, so I think Frank grabbed that and ran with it.”

With accolades including Top 60 and Top Factory Production Muscle Car at Street Machine Summernats 36, Best Modified Muscle at MotorEx 22, and Runner-Up Modified Street Machine Sedan at the Sydney Hot Rod & Custom Auto Expo, Frank and his assembled team have well and truly proven themselves. “I sent the trophies down to Frank, and I think he still can’t believe it,” Rob says.

“We didn’t go into MotorEx or the Sydney Hot Rod & Custom show with expectations to win, and it keeps winning awards!” Rob marvels. “It just goes to show that Frank is the master of whatever he touches. He’s the man.”

ROBERT GORGIEVSKI
1970 FORD XW FALCON

THANKS
Frank, Bella, Veronica & Simon Marchese; Rob & Jeremy at Automotive Creations; Frank Murgana; Lou Iudica at Dandy Engines; Ben at GT Shop; Michael & George at Motorstyle Automotive; Mark Goode; the team at Profab Motorsport Fabrications; Fred at Protrans; Mikey Abela at Auto-Tek; Richard at Active Auto Elec; Sam Green Restoration Services; Scott at AKS Towing; A.A Vinney’s Chrome; Grand Tourer. Frank would like to thank Rob, Melissa, Samuel, Kate and Charlotte Gorgievski for embarking on the journey with him and Dandy Engines.