It wasn’t on our 2025 hit list that we’d come across someone attempting to marry one of the most iconic Aussie Falcon shapes of all time to one of the most maligned generations of the badge, but New Zealander Andy Etchells is doing just that.

Andy’s wild project, dubbed BadRoo, is currently in the build at his shop, and involves him dropping the body of an XW sedan onto a Series III AU Falcon XR8 floorpan and driveline.

This isn’t the first time Andy has pulled a stunt like this. Back in 2015, we featured his previous mad creation, RadRoo, which saw him graft an XY body onto a V8 EF Falcon.

“We had a good AU XR8 220 Series III manual that had a small bit of damage in the rear guard, but everything else was mint,” says Andy of how the project got started, before explaining the relative simplicity of pairing the modern Falcon underpinnings with a much earlier shell.

“The wheelbases are within about 15mm of each other, and we got new XW sills and welded them to the top of the AU inner sill with a little filler piece that came around the AU sill, which attached nicely to the pinch weld underneath the AU, just like the XW would have,” he says. “It was too good to be true!”

Being a Series III XR8, the donor AU runs factory IRS, which Andy is keeping, along with the manual running gear.

Andy also intends to meld the classic XW interior features with the AU’s electronics where possible. “The AU climate controls will be integrated into the XW dash, along with the AU instrument cluster so that the wiring is all compatible,” he says.

All the AU ancillaries like electric windows, central locking, air con, ABS and so on will also remain, so although the finished car will look like an XW, it’ll feel and drive just like an AU.

As for the engine, Andy plans to reuse the Windsor V8 the AU was already rocking. “We dynoed it before we pulled it apart and were surprised when it put out 215kW [288hp] at the wheels,” Andy says of the Windsor. “So, someone before us must have put a mild cam in it.”

One thing that won’t be very AU-like at all is the rear-mounted turbocharger! “I had one spare from another project that didn’t follow through and thought this could be something different in the XW with low boost,” says Andy.

“I want the engine bay to look like it was semi-factory, as if it was a 2002 XW Falcon, so I didn’t want the turbo in the engine bay,” he continues. “I had read a lot about rear-mounting it; if sized right, it can be very efficient. Obviously, for a race car you wouldn’t do this – but at 5-6psi boost? Simple.”

And if you’re thinking that going to the trouble of rear-mounting a turbo for such a small amount of boost isn’t worth it, Andy has his reasons: “People have said that it’s a long way for the boost to travel, but it doesn’t run an intercooler, as temps are a lot lower, and this length is no different with pressure drop than if running an intercooler,” he says.

The boost pipe to the engine runs alongside of the driveshaft, crosses over to inside the sill and up into the front left-hand guard, then into the airbox in the engine bay, which also houses the blow-off valve. An electric oil scavenge pump will be used for the turbo to run oil back to the sump.

“The car will be a street car – no real big power, but good for a giggle!” says Andy. “We’re hoping to have it finished by the end of the year, and then it will need the final stage of certification before going on the road.”

While it might seem like an oddball idea, Andy says there’s plenty of people keen to have him do a similar switcheroo on their own cars. “I have another two lined up to do – a ’67 XR and another XW Falcon – the donor for one being a 2015 FG-X XR8 Falcon with a supercharged Coyote.”

We’ll check back with Andy as he makes more progress on BadRoo, but in the meantime, you can follow along with the build on his Instagram @falcon_innovations_nz.