Visiting Aussie street machiners are often jealous of how good the Kiwis have it when it comes to New Zealand’s liberal registration rules and how gently they are policed. Blown, tubbed and even bonnetless streeters are left to cruise in peace, provided the driver is well behaved.

First published in the August 2024 issue of Street Machine

Justin Walker’s ’65 Falcon Sprint is a perfect example of what can be done in the Shaky Isles. Justin took a strip-only, eight-second bruiser and – after a stack of work – got it legally registered to prowl the streets, complete with a ladder-bar rear, fat rubber and a crank-mounted ProCharger.

Justin already had some runs on the board in the tough street-car department before this Sprint, including his street-legal, chopped, tubbed and blown Ford Galaxie (SM, Apr ’21). But when he came across this Falcon for sale, he found himself intrigued by the possibilities: “I could see it was a good race car, but I thought it would make an even cooler street car, even if it was missing a bunch of stuff required for rego such as wipers and headlights,” he says. Thankfully, many of the Sprint’s components are interchangeable with Mustang items from the same era, so sourcing them wasn’t too difficult – it’s just that there were a lot of ’em to source!

The car’s previous owner had run a best of 8.3 seconds at around 170mph before the crank-driven F-2 ProCharger started making unhealthy noises and was pulled to be repaired. What Justin didn’t know when he purchased the car was that the ProCharger noises were masking a much bigger issue: the flexplate bolts of the 430-cube Dart-based Windsor had sheared, leaving the torque converter holding the whole shooting match together. Justin holds no grudges against the seller, though; he knows full well that on a car like this, shit happens!

It soon became apparent that the whole rotating assembly needed to be replaced, so Justin had local engine builder Steve Hildred screw together a new combo with Ross pistons and Scat forged rods, along with the freshly repaired Scat crank. While the heads were off, it became apparent that they’d been victims of a home porting job, so they were swapped out for some new AFR items.

One thing that didn’t need changing was the ProCharger, which makes itself known through a giant bellmouth in the front bumper. Converting the set-up from race to street took a bit of fabrication work, but nothing that Justin couldn’t handle himself in his Taranaki-based home workshop. That included moving the passenger-floor-mounted intercooler to the back seat area and re-plumbing the boot-mounted ice tank, all to ensure that a passenger seat could still be fitted.

New Zealand has a large but fair book of certification requirements, so Justin methodically worked his way through it, ticking off items as he went. One of the biggest jobs was remanufacturing the double A-arm front end, including TIG-welding and crack-testing things – a long, laborious process. Having previously been converted to rack-and-pinion, the Sprint’s existing steering set-up was given a thorough inspection and deemed up to scratch once a new collapsible column had been fitted.

The ladder-bar rear end received the same treatment, and the QA1 coil-overs were adjusted to bring the car down to a more acceptable ride height. That made building the street-friendly three-inch exhaust system a touch harder, but Justin was able to get it all in there and keep it off the ground – and within the required decibel limits!

Moving on to the interior, Justin repaired the previously butchered trans tunnel and remounted the Cheetah SCS shifter for the reverse-pattern, transbraked ATI gearbox. Sadly, when he got the trans back into the car, he discovered that it too had seen better days and needed to be torn down for a full rebuild. Fortunately, the nine-inch rear end and 35-spline Moser axles were okay and remain untouched.

Justin wasn’t a fan of was the older, Thunderbolt-style bonnet scoop, so to get a more modern look, he replaced it with his own much more subtle version that still clears the Wilson elbow and 125mm throttlebody. Besides the new bonnet and the bumpers, the rest of the car is all steel, and other than a coat of custom yellow paint, it looks exactly as Ford intended, including that cool side trim.

The Sprint is now entirely street legal in NZ, and Justin says it’s a weapon. The manually shifted trans and high power-to-weight ratio mean that he needs to be on his game every time he hops behind the wheel. Of course, he could just drive it sensibly, but thanks to the ProCharger’s addictive song every time it comes on boost, it’s pretty hard not to give in to temptation now and again.

Justin’s not had a chance to race it yet, but given the car ran low eights with a motor that was on its last legs, there’s every chance seven-second passes are in the Sprint’s future!

While that sounds like Blue Oval perfection to us, Justin has more street car madness planned, including a 600ci, manual XW Falcon ute. God bless New Zealand!

JUSTIN WALKER
1965 FORD FALCON SPRINT

THANKS
My wife Brooke for her ongoing support; my son Luka for his help.