Wheels Australia – August 2019

FORD FALCON XR GT

IN

DETAIL

9 1962

INDY 500 WINNER RODGER

WARD WAS AWARDED THE

FIRST ‘CUSTOMER’ AVANTI

R3 VERSIONS BUILT,

WITH MODS BY

GRANATELLI RACING

AVANTIS BUILT

IN 1962-’63

TSONE-TWO VICTORY AT BATHURST

ONDEBUT IN 1967 WOULD GIVE RISE

TOA V8 FOUR-DOOR DYNASTY

OVERALL LENGTH,

IN MILLIMETRES

46434889

EURO VISION
Initial 1963 Avantis had round headlights, ’64s
square-framed. European themes abounded,
including asymmetric bonnet hump, offset front
badge, grille-less nose and Italian rear, sporty
instrumentation, front bucket seats, front
hydraulic disc brakes, anti-roll bars (leaf-spring
rear) and optional LSD. Kerb weight was 1404kg.

JET-PROPELLED

TheR1 version’s Jet Thrust (10.25:1 compression,

solidlifters, four-barrel Carter carbs, dual exhaust)

made 179kW at 5000rpm/380Nm at 4200rpm

(0-100km/h 8.6sec via a three-speed auto; three/

four-speed manuals were offered). Supercharged

R2swith a 0.3 bar boost made 215kW/411Nm.

TheR3 had a 300kW 5.0-litre blown V8.

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