As the final days of the Ford Falcon approached, there was endless speculation that Ford Australia would decide to go out with a bang and bring back the GTHO badge for one last hit-out.

The Blue Oval boys had resisted the temptation all through the Tickford and FPV eras, citing that they didn’t want to get into a power war with HSV. The thought was that the end of local production might just be the opportunity to make it happen.

Alas, it was not to be. The closest thing we have to a modern-day GTHO is the Holy Grail package developed by Premcar for the FG-X XR8 and XR8 Sprint.

As it happens an XR8 Sprint-based Holy Grail has popped up for auction with Grays. It’s Sprint build number 457/750, and 064/100 given the Holy Grail treatment by Premcar.

But what exactly is a Holy Grail?

Premcar is a tuning and manufacturing company born out of a management buyout of Prodrive Engineering in 2012. Prodrive had been deeply involved in FPV’s engineering work and had held a controlling interest in FPV before Ford Australia’s in-house performance arm was wound up.

This included helping to develop the supercharged Miami V8 during the FPV days for the FG and later in the FG-X XR8 and XR8 Sprints.

All of which means that Premcar were well-placed to offer FG-X XR8 and Sprint owners the chance to turn their Falcons up to 11 with their Holy Grail package. With no FPV to turn to, it was the best way for FG-X owners to give their Falcons some extra performance and exclusivity while retaining OEM-style reliability with ADR certification.

This was no mere hot-up shop job, as Premcar’s Engineering Director, Bernie Quinn explained to the boys at Motor back in 2019:

“We’ve done all the ADR approval, so it’s completely certified, every part of the car. We’ve remade manifolds. We haven’t drilled holes in manifolds, we’ve re-tooled that whole intake manifold; that means making new casting tools and then machining the manifold.” The package is subjected to OEM levels of durability testing, including hot and cold climate evaluation, full power dyno runs, deep thermal shock and shaker rig vibration testing.”

The engine package cost $24K in 2019, and for that you got a revamped intercooler, intake and tune, bumping power up from 400kW/650Nm to 483kW/753Nm.

Other options for the Holy Grail included Shockworks suspension, Premcar rear trailing blades and 19-inch alloys that measured 10.5 inches wide in the rear with Michelin Pilot Sport 2 rubber.

This example here is an automatic, with just over 6800km. It really isn’t often one of these hits the market, with most stashed away in collections across the country. So if you want one, get bidding!