What the heck is that!!!???

So of course most of us have seen The Road Warrior and Mad Max, right? What were those big muscle cars they were hot-rodding around in? What's that?..Torinos? Yeah, they were Customized Torinos.... okay, Vanna has some great party gifts and a copy of our homegame for your efforts. Those Australian Falcons are from Australia and they are based on nothing we have over here. We were recently visited by one of these rare cars and it's owner John Lantz.

This particular Falcon is an XB GT sedan in Mulberry Metallic. It is an actual factory GT with special grill, stripes and a 351C 4V. How come we never got GT 4-doors? The owner, John, had brought this car over in November and it was in good shape except for the brakes. It has a PBR brake system that is made in Australia. Kind of rare on this side of the world. When he took it to the local Mustang shop, they said it'd be $320.00 for a set of brake shoes, so we decided waiting for a set from Australia at $60.00 was a bit better deal.

Looks like the previous owner got his use out of the brake pads, no? I was quite surprised that the Caliper Pistons hadn't fallen out! An interesting note about these calipers: They are held on with 2 bolts and safety wire. Much of this car is the same way underneath. The roads in Australia are a bit rougher than we have here in the U.S.A., so the designers made sure bolts would stay in, subframes wouldn't pull away from unibody, etc.

No Way! Lookit that, it's got the same wheels as a Stroppe Baja Bronco. See, cool vehicles have slot mags - and you thought I was joking. If you're not careful, you'll learn something every day! Best part about these wheels is that they are "Speedy" brand and say so on the center cap. Too cool. Oh yeah, 14x7.

Here's that 351C. Not a bit of smog equipment, ye-haaa! ..oh dang, it's a '74, huh. No worries, John is on that one and if he can't slip it by somehow as a Torino mill or such, he's gonna drop it off for a smog-legal EFI swap like we did on our 5.0 powered Volvo. All but aircleaner is stock here.

Here's what the car looks like with new brake pads in it. Huh..sorta looks the same..did I get dirty for nothing? Oh yeah, it stops really well now and that guy behind the wheel is smiling.