THIS lime-green XA Falcon Superbird hardtop has been in the Giankos family since brand new. It was Paul Giankos’s first car. He travelled from Shepparton to Sleeman Ford in Fawkner, Melbourne to purchase it back in 1973, and when he and his wife had kids, it became the family car, driven everywhere by Mum and Dad. Unfortunately one night Paul lost control of the car near the family home, crashed it into a ditch and rolled it onto its roof.

The damage was considerable, but repairable. However, the family decided not to fix it – the repair work would have cost more than what the car was worth – so it was parked up and left on the farm.

Paul had countless offers from people wanting to buy the XA, but young Tommy Giankos (just 12 years old at the time) refused to let his dad sell it, as he wanted to restore it back to the car he grew up in.

Twenty-five-odd years passed, and as more and more people found out about the car, parts started to go missing off it. So before anything else got pinched, Tommy dragged the XA from where it had sat for years and got the ball rolling. It took almost five years to finish the job, and for the final 12 months Tommy kept progress a secret so he could surprise his parents with the finished product.

A couple of months ago Tommy was finally able to drive the completed car to his parents’ home, and their reaction was priceless! Tommy documented the day and pieced together this little YouTube video to show the history of the car and how much the restoration meant to his father.

The car was unveiled at Springnats last month to a warm reception.