The XY Falcon GTHO Phase III is widely revered as the most desirable and consistently expensive Australian muscle car ever built and today a rebodied 1971 example in Electric Blue has sold at auction with Collecting Cars, fetching $350,000 before buyers’ premium.

While rebodied, the GTHO is a fully restored machine back to original specs. Some will debate if any rebodied car can really be the car that it was, but the practice is common in classic car circles, giving new life to important cars that would otherwise be lost.

It’s one of just 11 GTHOs to come in both Electric Blue with the black interior trim, similar in spec to another Electric Blue Phase III that sold for $1.15 million in February 2021.

That same year a Phase III in Yellow Glo sold for $1.3million, but we should note that was during the peak of the Covid-induced boom in the enthusiast car market. With the economy now in very different place to that of three years ago, and this sale is a good barometer of where we are at.

As a comparison, a rebodied Phase III in Vermillion Fire fetched $451,000 at Shannons in March 2023.

Just last week another low volume, highly coveted Australian muscle car in the 2017 HSV GTSR W1 went up for bidding with Collecting Cars, finding a new home for $350,888 before premiums.