TradeUniqueCars.com.au 71tacho wound past 3500rpm.
Judged against purely logical criteria, an X A is the best
Falcon GT to own and an RPO83 is the best X A. The XY with
its evocative ‘shaker’ air-intake is the more recognisable car
but an older design and today more expensive than an X A.
The preceding GTs aren’t as fast or well balanced as the X A
and have no show of accommodating the massive wheel/
tyre packages that easily fit beneath the hardtop’s bloated
wheel-arches.
The X A sat on a wider track than the XY but used the
same 2819mm wheelbase. The sedan was marginally lower
than an XY but when the X A hardtop arrived it shaved
almost 60mm off the height of a four-door. Weight was
similar without any discernible effect on body rigidity.
In fact the X A hardtop was said to be the quieter car due
to improved rear body rigidity and additional sound
deadening.
Top speed from a basic X A GT sedan was 203km/h, with
210km/h available from the more aero-effective hardtop.
That was predicted to increase by 15km/h for the RPO83
two-door, with race-kitted versions able to top 270km/h.
There, finally, was your ‘160mph super car’.
The steering without assistance required effort at lower
speeds and only 39 of the RPO83-equipped GTs had power
steering as an option. Once on the move though the throttle
could be effectively used to help steer the car. Disc brakes
that found their way under the rear end of an odd few RPOs
were never homologated for use in the X A however.
GT Falcon researcher Mark Barraclough who has
exhaustively documented the X A GT and its RPO83 option
pack confirms that there were indeed 250 cars built and not
the 259 previously believed to have existed. All of them left
Ford’s production line during August 1973 and most would
have reached dealers and possibly have been delivered
to owners well before the RPO83 Memorandum (dated 2
October) was even sent.
“Most had sat on the line for six weeks during a strike
but by August cars were being completed and sent on their
way,” Mark confirmed. “Not all GTs built during August
1973 will have RPO equipment and not all cars that camewith non-standard parts were RPOs, some were not even
GTs.
“Because components fitted to RPO83 cars were being
homologated for racing the build numbers had to be
recorded and that is the best way to authenticate one of
t he s e c a r s .”
Mark confirmed that Yellow Glow and Polar W hite were
among the most common RPO83 colours, with black one of
the rarest and these are the colours carried by our two and
four-door examples of the RPO83.
Owner of both these magnificent and significant Fords
is Perry Bitsakis, whose Muscle Car Warehouse business is
located in the southern Sydney suburb of Kogarah. Perry
since the age of 18 has owned performance models and our“ALL OF THEM LEFT FORD’S PRODUCTION
LINE DURING AUGUST 1973”
ABOVE The cockpit
was light years
ahead of the XY.