Phase 4 XA GT Hardtop

[Nick Short]

Has anyone seen (in any magazine, photo, TV show) the 2 door Phase 4 Hardtop that Howard Marsden (I think) mentioned in an interview some time ago? He said that "Four and a half" Phase 4s had been built, the 3 red race cars, one green road car, and an unofficial 2 door that Bib Stilwell had persuaded him to build with all the Phase 4 bits. The rarest Falcon of them all? Any info gratefully received.....

[terrine]

i think David Bowden (finance guru) has one in alan moffat livery in his extensive 1:1 collection...never raced of course.
he is on the sunshine coast queensland but i am unable to find any details sorry

[Donny05]

www.fouronthefloor.com.au/garage/phase4.html

You should be able to find the info you're after here.

Cheers, Jason :)

[terrine]

thanks for that link
.......now i have wiped the drool of the keyboard

[oldxr]

I think from memory they were coded RPO 38 and there was more than 1 built, i think it was a case of dumping all the left over phase 4 bits from the unbuilt sedans into the coupes, giving them a obscure code to hide them in the options list to get rid of them on the quiet. you can pick them by the ears on the sump.
cheers:D

[ET351]

Typo?

Yes, you're right oldxr, but it was RPO 83.

How about a 1:18 of that Phase IV, Admin?

Cheers, ET351

[Nick Short]

No, the car mentioned was definitely a Phase 4 hardtop, built at the same time as the other 4, which is distinct from the later RPO 83, which was an XA GT upgrade to make it raceable. David Bowden's Phase 4 is a sedan, as were the other 3 Phase 4s officially built. So the mystery continues....

[Nick Short]

To clarify things further, the interview was in a "Unique Cars" feature on all the GTHO Falcons. Howard Marsden said that "four and a half" cars were built in 1972, the "four" being the official Phase 4s, and the "half" being a Phase 4 hardtop built as a favour for Bib Stilwell (and presumably as his personal car). The later (1973) RPO 83 added the 780 Holley, Phase 3 exhaust manifold, a baffled sump and a heat shield for the hydraulics, but was otherwise standard XA GT, although some were fitted with rear discs. This was produced in reasonable numbers (but sold without fanfare, hidden amongst "ordinary" XA GTs), sufficient to homologate it for racing, and is definitely not the "half" car referred to by Marsden.
So maybe Stilwell would have the answer as to where this very desirable car would be now, if it still exists.....

[drof]

Hope this does'nt bore you.

MEMORANDUM: ALL REGIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGERS
October 2 1973, CSD 1875/73

SUBJECT: GT FALCON FITTED WITH RP0 83

Approximately 3 weeks ago, our company produced a number of GT Falcon which varied slightly in specification from the normal XAGT which has been recieved by dealers in the past. the variances covered under option 83 are as follows:

CABURETTER- The carburetter fitted to these vehicles is the same as the Phase III XY GT carburetter, with the same exception of the idle and fast idle speed specification. these are now as follows:
Holly 780 CFM
Ide R.P.M 800
Fast Idle
R.P.M 2800
EXHAUST MANIFOLD- The vehicles are fitted with extractor type exhaust manifolds, the same type as fitted to the XY Phase III GT.

CLUTCH SLAVE CYLINDER HYDRAULIC PIPE- This pipe on these vehicles is fitted with an armour plate tube to prevent heat damage from the exhaust system.


Apart from the abovementioned changes, all the vehicles are identical with the normal 351 GT which does not carry option 83. the initial timing on the engine remains at 6 degrees BTDC.
For your further information, we have attached a list of each vehicle produced which is defined by serial number, sido, model, Dealer Code and date off Final Line. If you should encounter any Dealer enquiries on these vehicles, the specifications remain the same as normal XAGT vehicles with the exception of those items listed above.

The carburetter specifications may be found in the XY Phase III GT Workshop Manual Supplement.

R.S.O'Neal
Product Supervisor
Customer Service Officer


Here also is some more facts I dug up.
As said before there are only 2 surviving cars left today David Bowden from Brisbane has one and the other is believed to in the Bathurst area close to it's spiritual home. The other 2 racers were destroyed. One by Bruce Hodgson a rally driver. The car was modified for ralling, and then was rallied into the ground, it is said that this car no longer exists but nice that it lived in anger. The 3rd car was destroyed in a road accident.
As to these Hard top questions we could be getting confused with the XA GT Special which was the offical Ford name for the RPO 83 (Regular Production Option) Cars. they made 250 of these cars of which some were Hardtops.
So in my opinion these XA GT Specials are Phase 4's because they got all the parts destined for the official Phase 4's and were produced in accordance with the Homogalation rules at the time,ie only 250 were made, the number of cars to be made to race at Bathurst. The only difference is there is no official factory records of the Phase 4.

Regards and good reading

Dave from Kiwiland!!

[Nick Short]

Once again I quote from Howard Marsden; "four and a half cars were built in 1972". The "half" was a hardtop built as a favour for Bib Stilwell, and IS NOT the following year's (1973) RPO 83 run of modified XA GTs. These also (despite what the legends say) were not even close to Phase 4 specs, despite a few modifications from standard. As Ford themselves state in the bulletin, the RPO 83s are "identical with the normal...GT", other than a few changes necessary to get round the homologation requirements. Many even had very non-Phase 4 rear drums!

So the fact remains (as stated in Unique Cars by the Team Manager at the time) that in addition to the 4 SEDANS built in 1972, a HARDTOP was built with genuine Phase 4 specs for Bib Stilwell, and that is the car I am talking about, not the RPO 83, which was an Option on the standard XA GT.

[drof]

The only other info I can dig up goes as follows:"The Phase 4 was reality," Howard Marsdan said "We ordered 200 sets of car parts. They arrived at Broadmedows and we went to work on the race cars. We built three red four-door race cars and the company built the first pre-production prototype"It is this pre-production car that they believe lives in the Bathurst area.
Another fact dug up is another of the Phase 4's, the one with the least preperation went to John Goss, who assembled the car for road use. This car had the roll cage fitted but no fire extinguisher system, and sported the racing motor and 36 gallon tank. It had no work done on the suspension, but of the 3 race cars, it was the newest and cleanest. It was at the time of this article owned by a car dealer in Armindale Hills and had done about 4000 miles.
The company made production Phase 4(same as above mentioned) was owned at this article by a Sydney Dentist, and came fitted with factory fitted electric windows, sliding sunroof and under dash air conditioning. It had about 80000 miles on the clock and had been painted Irridescent Green. The car at the time was being rebuilt and will go back to it's original colour Lime Green.
The car presently owned by David Bowden was orignally sold to Keith Goodall a Townsville car dealer. Dave 1st saw it in 1972, complete with dump pipes out the side and numbers on the doors(This is thought to be the one Allan Moffat was going to use in 1972 and had the No 1 on the door after he had won the Touring car title in 1971) It took Dave 12 months to buy the Phase 4, in the end Dave bought one of Kieth's car yards and the car more or less became part of the deal.
The car was stolen in 1975 and after being driven to Darwin, ended up in Brisbane where it was drag-raced until the motor finally cried 'enough' at about 8000 rpm and threw a leg out of bed.Dave bought the car back in 1980 and this is when he started to rebuild her.Dave's car was the only Phase 4 made up to race specifications, it had a full race motor, onboard fire extinguisher system, rear panhead rod and trick suspension.

SorryNick still no info on your Hardtop but I will keep on looking through all my books and magazines.

Regards

Dave from Kiwiland!!

[Nick Short]

Cheers, Kiwi Dave! I was beginning to think this was going round in circles! I'm glad someone got the idea that I know the difference between a Phase 4 and an RPO 83!
I guess Messrs Marsden or Stilwell are the blokes to ask as it was Marsden who made the intriguing (and frustratingly not followed up) comment in Unique Cars, and Stilwell who asked for, and got, the one-off hardtop.
Very interesting info on the history of Moffat's Phase 4, and I'd love to know more about the "publicity shy" dentist's car!

[Nick Short]

Another odd legend that I have heard (other than things like "the Phase 4 is a myth" etc) is that Falcon XC Cobras only came with 5.8s, and some were built with red stripes instead of blue! I have a 5.8, but the president of the club has a 4.9, and he has been told at car shows (by passers-by) that his car isn't genuine because it isn't a 5.8! These things happen over here in Pommy land as well - "magic" carbies that were fitted to some cars secretly to give them huge power and amazing fuel economy, famous race teams that set up a "mule" race car in an ordinary car's body, then lost it and then some unsuspecting soul buys this car with a 1.3 badge, only to find that it's got F1 performance, etc........Anybody hear any other crackers like that?

[mustang1966]

I have seen 2 of the 3 Phase 4 Falcons. One is David Bowden’s car, the other is here in Sydney and I am unsure of the collector’s name. Both are Red in colour. They are also not tagged as GTHO Falcons.

The Calypso Green Phase 4 was sold in Sydney to a Dentist. This guys lives out in the Western Suburbs and I know of a person (GT Club) that has seen this car and as you may guess it rarely see the light of day. From what I understand this car is tagged as a GTHO. So I guess the only true factory Phase 4 GTHO.

I believe the 4th car was written off whilst been used as a rally car.

the 1/2 Coupe well who knows.

As other people have stated the RPO83 was a GT Falcon with all the extra little bits and pieces from the Phase 4 project.


The Bathurst globe wheels off the Phase 4 were given to Phase 3 owners so they could be used at Bathurst.

[drof]

Nick, I have found the magazine Unique Trader that you are referring to about the Hardtop. Bob Stillwal has alot of explaining to do.
As far as the 5.8 goes without investigating (and I will) could it be possible that they could be referring to the Cobra Option 97?
I will post any info I get on this model. For your info as you have a Cobra youself that the colour of the car is not painted White with Blue stripes but painted but painted Blue with White stripes.

Reagrds

Dave from Kiwiland!!

[drof]

Found the info on the Cobra Nick, it's another long one.

The Cobra was the mastermind of Edsel Ford on Detachment to Ford Australia from the US and was a way to get rid of the 400 Hardtop Body Shells that were soon going to be obsolete. The Cobra was limited to a production run of 400 (with each car's number between 001 and 400 recorded on a glove box-mounted badge).
The first 30 cars were the "Bathurst" model, thesecar's featured, Scheel seats, 5.8 litre V8, 4 speed manual box, a hood scoop, tranmission oil cooling system, twin thermatic fans, large capacity radiator,spring tower reinforcement plates, spring tower brace and a twin fanbelt system in other words, a few bits and pieces to make going racing a bit easier.
The normal Cobra's lacked the special bits but were available with either the 5.8 litre engine or the 4.9 with manual or automatic gearboxes. Because of the effects of emmission controls the claimed power was down to 217 bhp (162kw) for the 5.8, despite four barrel carb's. The 4.9 was claimed at 202 bhp (151kw).
All the Cobra's were given niceties as four wheel discs, limited slip diff, Globe "Bathurst" alloy wheels, laminated windscreen, driving lights, spoilers, air scoops, and were available with power windows, power steering and air conditioning if required.

Hopes this clears the air

Regards

Dave from Kiwiland!!

[drof]

Heres another strange car that I found while looking up info on the Cobra.

Ford South Africa's version of the Sierra.

Developed and engineered during 1984 the Sierra XR8 as it was called, uses a non-pollution Cleveland 302(4.9l) V8 developing 220 bhp (164 kw) at 4800 rpm through a 780 cfm Holley Four Barrel carburetter.Transmission is a close ratio 5 speed gearbox (with direct fourth and overdrive fifth) from a current Ford Mustang. This provides the car with a 235 km/h (146 mph) top speed and 0-100 km/h (63 mph) acceleration of 6.3 seconds.
The installation of the V8 (which is 100 mm longer than the standard V6) necessitated some modification of the Sierra's front end including moving the radiator 50mm forward, the installation of twin electric cooling fans and a large capacity radiator, and a new crossmember and revised nose profile.
Ventilated discs are fitted front and rear, the front suspension is of the McPherson strut type with Bilstein inserts while the rear is independant semi-trailing arm with coil springs and Bilstein shocks. The interior is completed with a high level of interior trim with Scheel seats and a "bi-plane" rear spoiler. Dry the SierraXR8 weighs 1263 kg, great power to weight ratio.
In competion trim the engine was tuned to produce 320 bhp(239 kw) at 5500 rpm. a Borg-Warner T5 gearbox was fitted along with a ZF limited slip diff.
Only 250 Sierra XR8's were built, and all were white with subtle "Ford Blue" striping and accenting.

Amazing what cars were built, see what others I can dig up.

Regards

Dave from Kiwiland!!

[Nick Short]

Cheers Dave. I actually have a 5.8 Cobra here in the UK, but I've heard all sorts of nonsense regarding them, and your info is pretty much the definitive description. No red stripes, no side scoops, no XB side repeaters (I've seen or heard all of these in my time, partly from people trying to explain away the differences between their car, usually an XB-based Cobra lookalike, and the real thing!)

Regarding the SA Sierra, there was actually one of those for sale over here a while ago! Very nice car.....Another less well known Sierra was the German XR4Ti, badged as a Merkur. It had a turbocharged engine, predating the Sierra RS Cosworth, in a Sierra hatchback body. I don't know much more about it, but I'm guessing it was a turboed version of our UK XR4i, powered by a 2.8 V6. Never seen a model of it anywhere.

[XR6WGN]

Something sticks in the back of my mind re the elusive GTHO 4 coupe. Now, i am 40 (but not yet suffering from alziemers) and living in Adelaide. When i was a V8 luving, dreamer kind of high school kid, I used to stop off in all the car yards on my way home. I can still remember seeing a XA coupe, Dark Dark Green or Black, plastic 3 piece rear spoiler (an earlier version of the Cobra's) and written on that spoiler was "FALCON GTHO Phase 4" We have a Stillwell Ford here in Adelaide and that car had one of their stickers on the back window.

I know that car yard has long gone, there is now a funeral home on the site, but I have read all those stories re the Phase 4's and I sometimes think of that coupe - was it a Genny or a dressed up GS - Who Knows!!!!

Paul B
XR6WGN

[Nick Short]

Cheers Paul! Very tantalising! It sounds just as likely to have been the genuine article, as who would try to pretend a GS was a Phase 4 and expect to get away with it? I have a mate in Adelaide, so I'll get him to look into it - he's spotted a yellow race XC hardtop up near the Port and always keeps his eyes and ears open for interesting stuff. In fact Adelaide seems to be a hotbed of that kind of thing - I was working lates at Coca-Cola on Port Road in '94 and I was walking home along Fitzroy Terrace when I was passed at speed by a competition Porsche 935, flames spouting from its exhausts. I heard it long before it appeared, and I could hear it long after it tore off up Main North Road!

The thing with this Phase 4 story is that it isn't just some of your usual "pub talk" or urban legend, this was Howard Marsden talking in Unique Cars about a one-off Phase 4 hardtop that nobody seems to know anything about!

[XR6WGN]

"This was Howard Marsden talking in Unique Cars about a one-off Phase 4 hardtop that nobody seems to know anything about!"

If this coupe was an ID plated XA GTHO Ph4 and went down the line then I would think Ford somewhere would have a record of it - even the XW GTHO built with the 427 for Bill Bourke was verified by Ford.

Now if this machine was built at Lot 6, Mahoneys Rd, Thomastown (where they built the three red racers) this machine would of gone out the back door with no verification. If in fact this happened I would imagine the current owner would only think he had an XAGT with Ph4 bits - ie RPO83.

Oh to work at Ford's back in those days and have the hindsight to continually have a camera around your neck.

Cheers buddy

Paul B
XR6WGN

[biante1247]

OK from what I have read there has only been one phase 4 killed.
It was the one used for rallying but was not rallied to death. It was killed by a wayward commodore towing a caravan. The engine from this car had previously been removed and placed in a ski boat. I've heard reports that the wreck survived the crushers and that the wreck was purchased. Maybe this thing will one day rise from the ashes, lets hope so. The race cars were all painted in brambles red. The only production car, the phase 4 owned by the dentist was calipso green with a white interior. This is the rarest falcon there is as it is the only one that has HO stamped on the compliance plate. There has been a rumor going about the mystery phase 4 coupe for many years but unless that car had HO stamped on it somewhere it would be very hard if not impossible to track down.

Here's something else you might find of interest. My brother is a fireman and a ford freak like me. One day he got called to an accident on the highway. He found a XA sedan with no arse left on it. He popped the bonnet to make sure the battery was disconnected when he noticed the eared sump. That lead him to look at the 780 holley. He then went around the car and realised it was a factory sleeper. bent bathurst long range tank, nine inch with GT tramp rods, big radiator pretty much everything. The middle aged woman explained that it was all phase 4 running gear. Special order off the factory for her husband and all hidden in a stock body. I would like to know what happened that car.

Cheers.
Paul.

[Nick Short]

Mysteriouser and mysteriouser....Of course the race shop that built the Phase 4s had 200 sets of bits on order, so it's quite possible that odds and sods found their way out again! As for the Phase 4 hardtop built at the same time as the 4 sedans, if Howard Marsden said it was built then it becomes a bit more than just a rumour! You're right though, that if it didn't have the compliance plate to match it would be a job to identify it. Having said that, in the Unique Cars article it was stated that they just pulled XA bodies off the line to build up, and it didn't matter what it had on the compliance plate "as we knew what went into them". So maybe even the genuine ones had GT plates?

[motorsport]

The rumour going around WA is that a bloke that owns a construction company in Geralton (about 3.5 hours north of Perth) in WA has got (along with all the GT's) a genuine phase 4.

From the little I do know he recently purchased his phase 3 gtho from the president of the WA Ford GT club for $100 k. It was supposedly in better than new condition.

Maybe this is the missing Phase 4?

[wesley charles]

The phase 4 that was sold to Ron Hogsen was used for ralliying , But it couldn't of had a sadder end it was cleaned up by a holden commodore towing a caravan,
But hope is not all lost, I heard a few years ago that the shell though very badly damaged may one day be rebuilt, it was said to be stored at the ford motor factory at the time under assement , though fixing it retaining most of it's original body was a bit of a up hill battle so things were left up in the air.

RPO 83,s ,well one of them is stored in a shed 10 minutes down the road from where I live in the Lockyer Valley QLD.
The grass is growing over the shed entrance and the owner couldn't care less about it except that it's not for sale.
When I last saw it on the road about 15 years ago it had some rust in it then and it had never had any TLC
Its a Burnt Orange XA GT FALCON 2 door Hardtop with a black stripe along the waist line that sharply dives down drastically on the front guards and on the rear 1/4 panels it goes up wards at about 30 deg. It's not a John Goss Horn Car or a J G special, I know what they look like
This car was bought new at the local ford dealer in town and came with a manual choke , phase 3 rear spoiler , front spoiler, no black on bonnet , side scoops in 1/4's and had a 8000 rpm line taco, detroit locker diff and the big fuel tank, this car has a 780 holley , close ratio gear box, eletric cut out box , big front and rear sway bars, heavy front coils and rear springs and the best left to last a phase 4 engine which had the baffel ear sump.
A friend of mine who done all the servicing and mechanicals on this paticular car at that Ford Dealership can verify this car as a special orded XA GT Hardtop with all the phase 4 gear on it and inside the engine.
ANY MORE LIKE IT

[Nick Short]

I've contacted Unique Cars to see if they can shed any more light on the one genuine works-built Phase 4 hardtop that Howard Marsden mentioned, so we'll see what, if anything, comes of that! It may well be that, like the cars featured in the MIA section in AMC magazine, the car is long gone.