There was a pretty broad mix of cars, though the proliferation
of XW/XYs and FGs was immediately obvious. Some cars were
clearly show ponies with beyond-factory levels of finish that rarely
feel the tarmac under their tyres. Others were battle-scarred daily
drivers, proudly displaying the years of love and abuse heaped
upon them by a succession of owners. There were restored
Model Ts and As, customs, exotics, giant trucks, drag monsters
and track weapons, all sharing the same turf.
AFD has grown so large in the past couple of years that the old
management team have solicited the help of the Geelong Revival
group. Just how big did this year’s event get? “There were 1440-
odd cars entered and we’d printed 4000 at-the-gate tickets, but
they were all gone by 12 o’clock!” said Geelong Revival and AFD
head honcho Nick Heath. “We had to keep opening up new car
parks for all the spectators.”
At day’s end, with trophies being handed out to deserving
winners and the sea of displayed cars steadily shrinking, we
grabbed our gear and hit the road for the long trip home.
Reminders of the show appeared in the traffic the whole way – a
Zephyr here, a few GTs there. Now I just have to wait for next
year’s pilgrimage with the thousands of other faithful who kneel
at the altar of Ford.
At least this time I didn’t need the jumper. s~ A ~
Simon Piper’s mad little ’82
Laser is a bit of a handful on
the road and at the track.
The original motor has been
swapped out for a built B6D with
Carrillo rods, custom forged
pistons, big cams, oversized
valves and a lot of port work. A
quartet of Kawasaki ZX6R carbs
sit on a homemade manifold,
but there’s a bigger set ready
to go on soon. Simon races
it in the Victorian Hillclimb
Championship, and took the
class win at Geelong Revival last
year with a 43sec run
~ B ~
Deb and Mal Margetts have
been showing their immaculate
Tickford T3 TS50 at AFD for
many years now. Their hard
work has resulted in a pile
of Best Tickford AU trophies,
though it was knocked off the
top spot this year by Chazz
Hart’s custom TE50. The T ismostly standard aside from
the colour-matched Blueprint
engine accents, but it’s been
detailed to the nth degree~ C ~
Here’s something you don’t
see every day – a genuine XA
GT with P-plates on it! James
Moretti is the young fella who
owns and cruises this lovely car,
but his father Paul is the one
who restored it a few years ago.
“I wanted it to be factory,” Paul
said. “You know – shit gaps,
really peely paint and things
that don’t fit properly!”~ D ~
It was a real treat to see the
Giankos XA Superbird on show
at the AFD. The car was bought
new by Paul Giankos in 1973, but
then crashed in the early 90s.
Paul’s son Tommy was just 12 at
the time of the crash, and was
later the driving force behind the
spectacular restorationTHE CARS QUEUING TO ENTER STRETCHED ALL THE WAY BACK
TO THE WAURN PONDS EXIT – 1.5KM OF FORDS!
Prior to making the long trek to Lake
Gairdner to race at DLRA Speed Week,
Norm Hardinge brought his stunning
Lincoln V12-powered ’34 Ford coupe to
the AFD. We haven’t seen the car for a
while and were blown away at how low-
slung it is all over again!ALALALALLLLLLLL DADADAAYYYYYY
~ 2
018 ~