XA Phase IV [Archive] - Biante Model Cars - Australian Diecast Collectors Forum

bayden

14-10-2002, 08:31 PM

Wombat. My memory might be failing me now, but at the time of the development of the Phase 4 I was just strating my mechanic apprenticeship at a Melbourne Ford dealer. As a teenager, I couldn't wait to see the next generation 'Supercar'.
I personally blame one Evan Green for starting the 'Supercar' scare. Evan was a motoring writer for some magazine and got on the bandwagon and not only pushed it along, but fitted a V8 and drove the pants off it, in an attempt to get the government of the day to ban production of these 'Supercars'.
Manily Ford and Holden were well into production of their next generation of muscle cars. Once the media stirred up public reaction, the manufacturers pulled the plug on the cars for fear of new car sales reprisals.
Anyway, my opinion, and my opinion only, Evan Green has a lot to answer for.

Moffat Fan

14-10-2002, 08:38 PM

"SoupedupSydneytaxilookalike"

ferrari fan, thats a rich comming from a guy who used to race an HQ HOLDEN!

wombat

14-10-2002, 08:55 PM

Bayden. The articles that Terrine reffered me to certainly projected the same sentiment. A new writer seeking a big story to make a name for himself. A great pity in the result.

I can't believe that Ferrari cannot see the historical beauty of the XA Phase IV. The articles say that the Moffat car had to be raised to drive on the road after it was secreted to Queensland when the furore started. Must have started out lowered.

Possibly the greatest muscle car of them all - ugly? No way!

Dave

Graeme

19-10-2002, 02:37 PM

I was checking out some old car mags and came about a story by Graham Smith produced for Unique Cars April 2000 issue celebrating Ford's 75th anniversary in Australia.

I've read Four on the Floor's article about David Bowden's red car which was originally delivered to Keith Goodall. The other two race prepared red cars went to John Goss and Bruce Hodgson.

One other XA GT sedan painted Calypso Green was the only car of the four officially build plated as a GTHO, and was effectively the only road registered prototype.

There was also one red two door GT hardtop (described by then team manager Howard Marsden as a "half" car) prepared for Bib Stillwell which featured Phase 4 components.

I recall that there was discussion about these cars on previous Biante forums.

Graeme

19-10-2002, 02:59 PM

Scan back to page seven of the Biante Forum to find subject heading "Phase 4 XA GTHO Hardtop" dated 22nd September 2002.

There you will find two pages of contributions relating to the XA GTHO's.

Graeme

19-10-2002, 03:05 PM

Further back to 14th August 2002, you will find earlier threads of discussion on the same topic, "Phase 4 XA GT Hardtop".

SWRT

19-10-2002, 07:15 PM

Just infront of the Sydney motor show near harbourside is the NSW GT Falcon club.
Today I saw them and one of the cars there was a phase 4 right up beside a XA GT,I notices 4 differances
*1-there was an ariel on the back of the phase 4
*2-the phase 4 was in vermillion orange,the only XA to have it
*3-No GT badge on the back of the phase 4 but on the XA GT
*4-Speakers in the XA GT's back seats but not in phase 4

Esses

19-10-2002, 09:02 PM

Don't have the pleasure of visiting the Motor Show, but I agree absolutely about Evan Green. Apart from the Phase 4, there was the Charger & can you imagine how a 5-litre XU1 would've gone around Bathurst? I have a Magazine interview with one P.Brock on the development & testing of the XU1 V8 & he raves about it.

Nick Short

20-10-2002, 01:32 AM

In the current Unique Cars the star letter is a reply to my letter in the previous issue, and it may be a tantalising bit of evidence about the Phase 4 hardtop. Certainly it fits in with what Howard Marsden said, although it should be said that "the guy in Queensland" who Bib Stillwell thought owned the hardtop is not David Bowden (although it must be one of the few cars he doesn't own!). All other emails to me generated by my letter have been along the lines of "I had an XA GT with all the Phase 4 bits, but I sold it" or "Haven't you heard of the RPO 83 - that's what the Phase 4 was"..... So not much help there! As I said in previous threads, Mark Oastler is busy researching the hardtop (and the 4 sedans) for a future issue of Australian Muscle Car, so hopefully that'll kill all these extra Phase 4s that seem to be everywhere!

mustang1966

20-10-2002, 09:47 AM

Nick I saw the reply to your letter in Unique cars. How many people here watched Bathurst on TV and saw the the piece Oastler gave on the Phase 4. Did he say something about 3 Phase 4's built. I guess this debate could go on forever.

I enjoyed the story on the XY GS falcons. Very nice car and it's nice to know our bronze wine GS is some kind of minor classic car.

Graeme

20-10-2002, 02:41 PM

Just been reading a Wheels magazine publication from 1987, titled MUSCLE CARS No.2. It contains reprints of past magazine articles, and one story from Steve Cropley stood out regarding the XA Falcon GT Special as engineered by John Goss in 1973.

The article states that John's sponsor, NSW dealer McLeod Ford was retailing more GT's than any other dealer, and that 250 of the "GT Special" hardtop were to be built without any public fanfare and to be retailed at the same price as a regular GT Hardtop, ie $4,857.00. This car is the RPO ( Regular Production Option ) 83 referred to by Nick Short and others on the Biante Forum.

Apparently, the Special was fitted with some of the parts designated originally for the Phase IV - such as the 780 Holley - but significantly, none of the internal engine mods or the modified oil sump. It seems the exercise was a little like that of Holden's HX Monaro LE, a method of marketing away excess parts stock, with particular mention made of Holley carburettors and extractor exhaust headers which had apparently been stockpiled by Ford as part of Phase IV ambitions.

It was also stated that the GT Special " didn't have the much vaunted four wheel disc brakes fitted to the Landau, though it could have done with them". (For those of you who don't recall the Landau, it was Ford Australia's luxury coupe, effectively an LTD in a modified Hartop body).

From what I can remember, the XA sedans were released to the public in or about April 1972 and the Hardtops later in the year around about September 1972. On that basis alone, I would assume that Phase IV development was only carried out on the four known sedans, one being a road going machine and the other three race intended. If the development had carried on, who knows where it would have lead ....perhaps the Hardtop would have spearheaded a Phase V GTHO ??

Nick Short

20-10-2002, 08:33 PM

Mustang1966, I didn't see the Oastler piece on TV, but what he said to me was that, in addition to the 3 red race sedans and one green road sedan, there was definitely a hardtop built. Just the one, and he was trying to track down its whereabouts or at least its history if it no longer existed! Even to those who don't believe the hardtop existed there were always 4 GTHO Phase 4s, so I'm not sure why he would have said 3???

Thanks Graeme for the RPO 83 info! It was definitely the original Motor article stating the RPO 83 "had all the bolt-on bits from the...Phase 4" that started the confusion, as later articles like yours clearly show that "bolt-on" is the important thing, ie no special race internals carried over from the Phase 4. This isn't to denigrate the RPO 83, I love 'em, but that changed race regs gave rise to a car much nearer road spec than the Phase 4 was.

SWRT

22-10-2002, 06:07 PM

HO in GTHO originally meant High output but for insurance reasons it they changed it to Handling option.

Graeme

24-10-2002, 02:00 PM

I've been doing more historical reading about the Australian automotive scene in 1972 and came across more information on the original proposals for the XA GTHO Phase IV.

As none of this information comes with Ford factory confirmation, it may not be completely accurate, so make of it what you will.
Motoring journalists were notorious for their "scoops" in the 1960's and 70's !!

First up, Ford needed to make at least 200 identical cars to have them comply with racing regulations and be entered for the Bathurst event. It was rumoured that an initial batch of 100 GT Phase IV intended cars were prepared on the Broadmeadows production line in late June 1972 and that a further 100 cars were to be assembled in the last week of July 1972. If true, these ordinary looking XA GT's would all be four door sedans, as the Hardtop and utes were not yet in production at that time.

One journalist was given access to Ford's Special Vehicles Development Centre and in converstion with manager Howard
Marsden, extracted Phase IV specifications as follows :

WHEELS: Globe brand alloys 15"x7", to improve handling and brake performance and to allow better quality/performance of
racing tyres.

BRAKES: Same disc/drum arrangement as for Phase III, however front airdam/spoiler removed to aid air flow to brakes.

SUSPENSION: Neutral handling intended by removal of rear sway bar and coincident reduction in diameter of front sway bar.

ENGINE: Revised cylinder heads for better breathing, with slightly
reduced compression. Better torque band in operation with peak torque at 3600rpm. Peak bhp (not quoted) at 5600rpm. Changes to conrod bolts for reliability, and new style exhaust headers feature along with a slimline radiator fan and a twin point distributor. Cam and carbie specs remain as per Phase III.
Significant reshaping of the oil sump increase capacity by three pints and assist cooling and address surge. Again, removal of the front airdam was figured to assist cooling of the engine oil, with air travelling over the new sump "ears". A heavy duty ( aircon option ) radiator was also specified.

DRIVELINE: Standard XA GT manual gearbox driving to a positive lock "Detroit Locker" differential of 3.0:1 ratio. Overall gearing allows better power/weight ratio to Phase III, with in gears speeds quoted as 54mph in 1st, 76mph in 2nd, 111mph in 3rd, and 151mph in top gear.

With electronic rev limiter (6200rpm) removed, it was estimated that a Phase IV could run to 7000rpm and a top speed approaching 170mph.

BODY CHANGES: Apart from the alloy wheels, it was intended that both front and rear spoilers be removed on the Phase IV, the front for cooling reasons and the rear because it was ineffective.
Also, due to the wheel/tyre choices, the normal GT wheelarch mouldings were to be deleted.

Sounds like quite a car for 1972 !!!

Nick Short

25-10-2002, 02:44 AM

Graeme, I saw that 1972 article on the Phase 4 which mentioned 100 already having been built! No idea where that came from, unless it was Ford spinning a line to the journo! It seems unlikely in the extreme that 90-odd completed Phase 4s were shipped off to the crusher, unless they were stripped and the parts sold to all the people who have written to me telling me of their "sleeper" XAs with full Phase 4 spec....

Graeme

31-10-2002, 08:06 AM

Message to Nick Short:

I don't know whether you still have contact with Mark Oastler, but I've just today discovered a twenty page magazine story on the Phase IV.

It was published in 1987 in a premiere issue magazine titled "Super Ford", a proposed quarterly at the time.

I'm posting a new thread on the Biante site covering the good bits in this story ....you might like to tell Mark to check out the magazine if he hasn't already done so. The author of the story and editor of the magazine was John Wright, who also contributed stories to Wheels magazine in those days.

brchi17

31-10-2002, 11:05 AM

Judging by the number of posts in this thread, maybe there might be a chance of a 1:18 / 1:43 model comming of this car. I know there might have only been 4 built, but a model would be fantasic.

I also hear Ford is still working on a Supercharged version of the 5.4Ltr DOHC V8, with a possible release in aprox 12months time(give or take a little). Could this mean the GTHO is just around the corner ????

Nick Short

01-11-2002, 05:34 AM

Graeme, yes, checked out your other thread - that's the sort of info I always prefer; contemporary road tests and interviews, and well-researched articles, rather than rehashed stories by lazy journos in boy racer mags that just repeat the same errors and misinformation! Plenty of those over here in the UK......
Even in the case of original source material you'll get statements like "100 Phase 4s already built", so it's not infallible!
I'm still in contact with Mark Oastler (about an unrelated matter), but I've heard nothing more about his Phase 4 research. He has worked on Unique Cars amongst others, and can get to "source" (ie David Bowden, Allan Moffat etc), so whatever the fruits of his labours should be pretty accurate. I hope!

frosty

20-12-2002, 03:42 PM

Guys,

I have just received my issue of the latest Australian Muscle Car magazine.

It has approx 20 pages on the Phase 4.

I haven't read it yet, just flicked through it and it looks very interesting.

Buy the mag, it is $6.95 or NZ$ 7.95

Nick Short

20-12-2002, 06:10 PM

Excellent! Although I've got a subscription, I'll get my mag about 3 weeks after you guys, as I think it comes by steamboat. Looking forward to it.

BadBilly

20-12-2002, 07:20 PM

You might be lucky Nick I believe there is a couple of Phase four steam boats still doing the runs;)

SWRT

20-12-2002, 08:46 PM

Frosty,are you saying muscle car issue 5 is out now?
I'II check the newsagent tomorrow.

frosty

21-12-2002, 04:22 AM

SWRT,

I subscribe to the Australian Muscle Car Magazine

It is published by Chevron Publishing,NSW
02 9476-3199 ask for Sue.
the subscription was $46 per year for 4 issues, but next year 2003 it is going bimonthly (6 issues a year). price unknown.

Chevron Publishing is the company which publishes the Bathurst Great Race books and other Motor Sport books, VHS andDVDs.

Back to your question SWRT, it arrived in the mail yesterday.

SWRT

21-12-2002, 10:05 AM

Hopefully a Australian muscle car VHS/DVD is on the way soon from them.

Nick Short

23-12-2002, 10:02 PM

It's a relief to finally get my copy of Australian Muscle Car and read that I hadn't imagined the Phase IV hardtop! Now I'd just like to see the thing....

Nick Short

24-12-2002, 02:57 AM

Another thing that was interesting was that the 3rd race GTHO, although "written off" in a road accident, still existed as a bodyshell. So all 4 Phase IVs still exist, plus the hardtop, apparently!

intercooled

24-12-2002, 07:04 AM

Got my Issue Five today too, Nick.
We don't seem to be that far behind in time delay.

All the best

frosty

24-12-2002, 12:46 PM

Nick and Intercooled,

I received my AMC magazine in Friday's mail in Melbourne and you guys received it in the UK in Monday's mail.

That's not bad for the Australian and British Post.

I hope you enjoyed the mag, I did.

SWRT

24-12-2002, 02:46 PM

I can't find AMC #5 anywere in Hornsby were Chervon is based.

Graeme

24-12-2002, 09:41 PM

I also haven't found the latest AMC magazine on the newsagent shelves in Perth.

It looks like Chevron is kind enough to treat their subscribers properly by ensuring they get the magazine before the retailers.
I remember in the past with some of my subscriptions, when I'd see my magazine on the shelf and want it badly, but still have to wait for the mailman to deliver.

Would some kind Forum soul please spill the beans on the mystical Phase IV Hardtop !!!

Nick Short

25-12-2002, 04:04 AM

Graeme, assuming you haven't already got your copy, Howard Marsden confirmed the hardtop was built as a special order for Bib Stillwell. It was white, to his best recollection, and went down the production line, so had a GT compliance plate, but had the "full house" Phase IV engine and handling gear fitted. He said that he was told 3 or 4 years ago, by "senior people in the Victorian branch of the Falcon GT Owners' Club" that it had recently been found and was being rebuilt. However he'd heard nothing since. Marsden also cleared up some of the confusion over the parts left over after the cancellation; the order from above was to sell as much as possible back to the US or "local hotshots" (I assume he means racers). What they couldn't sell they put down the production line piecemeal or scrapped. So some of the eared sumps (the ears based on 2 halves of a lawnmower petrol tank!) found their way onto Fairlanes etc, and the Holleys and a few other bits went to the RPO 83.

Nick Short

25-12-2002, 04:11 AM

And yes, Frosty, I thought the mag was the best yet! Graeme, as well as the most in-depth converage I've seen on the Phase IV, there was also a very nice Wild Violet XB GT hardtop, with a 429!

frosty

25-12-2002, 05:29 AM

Guys,

FYI.

The magazine hit the newsagencies in CBD Melbourne yesterday (24th Dec).

PS. Santa bought me the Moffat Twinset...
I am now a very happy chappy...

hot351

26-12-2002, 04:25 AM

Originally posted by Nick Short
And yes, Frosty, I thought the mag was the best yet! Graeme, as well as the most in-depth converage I've seen on the Phase IV, there was also a very nice Wild Violet XB GT hardtop, with a 429!

Nick, this falcon is owned by Reed Herman from Minnesota, USA. The car was not a genuine GT but has been restored and modified to better than new with the 429. It is not Wild Violet but a metallic blue and silver with an 82 Mustang hood scoop. I spoke on the phone to Reed just yesterday and will be catching up with him in Dearborn Michigan next June. I have been promised a drive of his Beast!!

Hot 351

Nick Short

27-12-2002, 04:30 AM

Hot351, I'll get my optician's appointment sorted...

redss350

28-12-2002, 09:09 PM

HAS ANY ONE GOT THE ISSUE 1 AND ISSUE 2 OF THE MAGAZINE FOR SALE I MISSED THE FIRST TWO ISSUES.

wombat

29-12-2002, 05:19 PM

Nick

I found it incredible that Ford just used up the good stuff willy nilly down the production line. It makes a mockery of the RPO 83 specs - they were fitted with good bits randomly!!

I am suspicious of the hardtop though. If the production boys were told to get rid of the phase 4 gear and did so on a random basis, how come they were able to come up with the whole box and dice some months down the track of the phase 4's being abandoned? How was it possible that the still mysterious hardtop was able to be fitted with the race motor, let alone the other stuff.

Marsdens comments are also out of whack on a time basis. He recalls the white(??) hardtop going down the line very soon after the phase 4 program was halted (late June - early July), but the fact is that the hardtop was not released until Aug/Sept. Perhaps a prototype hardtop on a production line of sedans?? Doesn't make logical sense to me.

I guess we will never know unless the history of this vehicle can be traced. And as it didn't have a HO compliance plate from the production line, verification will be just about impossible. I wonder if Bowden or someone else has tried to track this car?

Good mag, though.

Graeme

29-12-2002, 07:24 PM

I finally tracked down AMC #5 - must do the subscription !!

I agree with the Wombat in that the story is not complete.

That one Hardtop is an interesting item; I know that RPO83 was basically a feature of selected XAGT Hardtops which therefore suggests that many of the Phase IV bits sat around awaiting the corporate decision process. If that was the case, then I accept that Stillwell got himself a special Hardtop.

The Calypso Green XA GTHO was supposedly a pre-production test bed according to AMC, but in the same text it states the car was a specific order request from a Ford (Dealer?) Sales Manager who wanted an HO in a Fairmont type spec.
This car is my main interest item; it is the only one we know of with proper compliance. If it was a specific order car, why did it take six/seven months after manufacture to be delivered/invoiced to Jack Brabham Ford, and where did the car spend it's interim life ??

Nick Short

30-12-2002, 04:06 AM

Wombat, the date discrepancy of the hardtop might be explained when you realise that the XA sedan (and probably wagon) was designed in 1968, while the XW was still a current model and before even the XY was released. The hardtop would have been certainly a reality by the time of the Phase IVs, as they would have had to build production prototypes prior to the model release.

wombat

30-12-2002, 10:33 PM

Thanks Nick

Although...... Don't you reckon that Ford might have done its prototypes way before the launch? If design was 1968, why would they wait til two months shy of release to put another proto down the line.

I still dunno..... I'm hoping that one day someone will come forward and declare "I bought that car from Stillwell and sold it in 19xx to John Citizen blah blah".

We know fellas that Trev has talked of a 1:18 of the phase 4. I would probably lean towards Bowdens XA-1, although I agree with Graeme that a one only compliance plated HO road car is unique (I think). I haven't ever heard of another production line car that is a one only (and I exclude any of the one-offs built for Ford or Holden bosses or race cars here. Even the mysterious hardtop was not compliance plated a HO). Therefore a model of the car would be great - but the article seems to confirm that the calypso green car wont be tarted around, even for Trevor.

Happy new year to both of you phase 4 nuts, especially to you Nick, coz 2003 wont come around until we from the land of sun and surf have commenced treatment for our hangovers.

Dave

frosty

05-03-2003, 07:12 AM

Nick,
Congratulations your letter appears in the latest Australian Muscle Car magazine issue 6.

Nick Short

05-03-2003, 10:18 PM

Just got my copy today, and I was surprised it was in there as that wasn't the idea of writing in. One point - the letter wasn't referring to anyone on this forum, but heaps of experts who emailed me after my letter about the Phase IV in Unique Cars...

Thanks for the season's greetings, Wombat - I wasn't ignoring you, I just didn't see the post for some reason.....Better late than never. It would be nice to see the green road car as a model, and I wonder what the legalities would be if Biante chose to model it without the owner's consent. I'm sure they wouldn't do that, but I can't see him having intellectual property rights over a car that was sold to the public (even if it was the only one!).

wesley charles

08-03-2003, 07:11 PM

I live in Queensland just outside Gatton, and parked in a shed that has chicken wire and long grass in front of it beside a big Queenslander on the Warrago Highway near Forest hill, is a Redy /orange XA FALCON GT HARDTOP RPO 83/ phase 4
First of all this car has been in the district since the early to middle 70's .
I know it very well being a Ford nut from the age of 10 up to today, owning a GT XA Falcon, genuine GT-HO PHASE I and building a Track Red XY GT- HO PHASE 3 replica at the same time plus building GT falcon utilities and painting GT-HO's for a living
Do you know that the town of Gatton was home to 6 phase 3 GT-HO's at the same time.2x Vermillion fire, 1 x Track red, 1x Eletric Blue, and 1x Yellow Glow, the Yellow Ochre one came a few years latter, all GT-HO's not GT'S
There is only one left and it was in my shed about 6 months ago ,the yellow ochre one with black trim. H for Engine L for trans B for trim, Model 18138 and JG33JG, He is a close friend and can't drive it, he is in a wheel chair. been offered $ 90 000 for it
Back to the Phase 4
I can't say weather it was brought new or not from the local Falconer Ford Dealer in Gatton but I do know who owns it and it is still the same person who did when I was at High school.
This car has Globe wheels , Detroit locker diff, baffled eared sump. choke, rear sway bars, penard bars, front and rear spoilers, 31 spline close ratio gearbox and cut out box. I KNOW I used to see it every time it was in town or at the Ford dealer for a service , I Worked next door at the panel shop and at lunch I would go and look at this thing they called the phase 4 Hard top plus the other GT-HOs when they came in for a service or when they were down the street
This car has a black stripe down the side of it running at a angel up the rear 1/4 , half way up the rear window different from any of John Goss's XA GT Horn cars, it does have black around the guards but not on the bonnet, it has always been like this since it was brought in 1973 so who ever orded it from the factory or not, it should be easily identified if it was the Hard top that you are looking for.
Rod Watts who serviced the car regularly at the Falconer Ford Dealership when it was still registered knows every detail of the car.
Every thing on it and in it is Phase 4 even the engine block, holly carby ,camshaft grind and conrods, it is defiantly a RPO 83 and may be another Phase 4 Hardtop .
Rod would know if it was brought new from here,I should ask him the next time I'm in town when all my kids are off my hands and I have enough money saved up to by another GT to take to him to tune up.

The Ford Motor Company has done some strange things that you may or may not yet get to here about.
I donâ€™t know if it is legal to pass on his name but I know that he doesn't like anyone inquiring about it .

Graeme

09-03-2003, 08:47 PM

That's a heck of an interesting story Wesley and I hope you do follow it up - if you get the full story then be sure to let AMC magazine in on it.

Whatever you find, the car won't carry any Phase IV identification, but Nick Short will cry if it turns out to be something like the much talked about "Stillwell" hardtop.

As for the GT Specials or RPO83 as they are also known, I'm yet to confirm exactly how many were made, rumoured to be around 250, and of those, how many were sedans versus Hardtops, and whether all featured the same level of equipment. Long-standing myth has it that some featured the four wheel discs that were standardised with the XB GT, and thereby enabled the 1973 Bathurst cars to be thus equipped. The other part of the story goes that Ford argued that the Landau model was basically a Falcon Hardtop and thereby should be included in the numbers count for disc brake homologation.

The thing that still rankles me is the timeframe for XA GT variations development; why did it take so long to sort out the leftover Phase IV bits and the one complianced car, and what really did become of it all ? As far as I know, the GT Specials were produced only in late 1973, fully twelve-plus months after the death of the Phase IV program.

Nick Short

09-03-2003, 09:47 PM

Not just cry, but be on the next plane out! There are several hardtops that claim to be Phase IVs, and as we know, all but one have to be mistaken identities, not helped by a few that might or might not have leftover eared sumps, and owners who either deliberately or mistakenly promote their cars as "secret" Phase IVs.
As for numbers, a photo in the current AMC has 259 as the number of option 83s and I've seen that figure more than once so maybe there's something in it? I think it's more than a myth about 4 wheel discs on some of the production, but what's harder to verify is the rest of the spec, as you say, Graeme. Ford officially said that the differences between the RPO 83 and standard, non-optioned GT, were minimal, only those parts that were necessary for homologation under the new regs (like 780 Holley) being varied. However, it does seem that Ford made it up as they went along as regards bits and bobs, so a few non-spec bits may have found their way onto a few cars. But the time gap is as you say telling; certainly when I was pressing parts for Honda and Mg-Rover, if we had overproduced, the pressings were sold for scrap and written off. It's only sheet metal after all! It's the more complex things like the Detroit Lockers and Holleys that needed to be dealt with. And it seems the diffs went back to the US largely, and the Holleys went on the RPO 83. Without official Ford records it will be hard to establish exactly what happened, but then if we had the full story the speculation would end and I'd have to become obsessed with some other car's history. Production numbers of the Austin 1100, anyone?

chet

14-03-2003, 07:48 PM

As a long-time Hardtop owner and lover, I too would love to hear more about the "Holy Grail" of Hardtops- the Phase 4. If ever found it would surely outrank those taxicab-bodied Phase 4s we all know about, in both desirability and rarity. Lets all keep our eyes and ears (and minds) open. :p

V8superModelcar

14-03-2003, 10:05 PM

I've seen various reference about Bibs Red Phase 4 two door - I worked there at that time and drove the car several times. Never knowing what a peice of history I was driving, had to say, it was justanother car I worked on.
It was common place to have 10 - 20 GT's & HO's through the service dept per day.
The car was originally registered as BSS000 - Bibs personalised plates. It was sold and wasnt seen for some time. I remmber it coming back into the Used car dept as it was repossed.It had been knocked about and was quite rough - not sure where it went after that.
I have spoken at length with two ex lot 6 Ford Special Vehicles who worked on the original cars and they remmember it.
Thanks for reading this.
Regards Dale

There was also one red two door GT hardtop (described by then team manager Howard Marsden as a "half" car) prepared for Bib Stillwell which featured Phase 4 components.