I'd always liked the 2
door Falcons. I had a BMW Coupe which was costing me too
much to run (especially since I had just smashed it into
the back of my girlfriends mums BMW and wasn't insured!)
So I went looking for a old, beat up car that wouldn't
cost me anything to insure and was cheap to run. The only
problem was that I couldn't bring myself to buy a boring
Datsun or Toyota or the like. So I went looking for an
old Falcon. Initially I had set my mind on a XT or XR
(like my dad had and what I had grown up with) but I soon
found there wasn't much around. Then I started looking at
XP's and the like. I didn't think I could afford a 2 door
so I went looking at sedans…every weekend I went out
searching. Everyone seemed to be asking too much, I had
about $4000 to spend and all I found was rubbish and
clowns. I was on my way home after telling a guy that
"He was dreaming" when I decided to take a look
at a 2 door that was advertised in the AGE for $6000. I
stopped at a phonebox and rang the number and as it was
on my way home I decided to drop in. It was owned by a
girl in Toorak who had just got a company car and wanted
to get rid of it. She took me for a ride and then I went
over the car to have a closer look. There was rust
through the passenger door and also the floor, so I made
a big deal of that, then to my suprise she offered to
take me down to the local panel beaters to get a quote on
fixing it. After getting the quote (she was a bit
suprised at how much it was) I made an offer of $5000
there and then , outside the panel beaters. She said OK
straight away ( I immediately thought you idiot, you
should have offered less!). 
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Melbourne,
Victoria
At that stage it had just been
re-sprayed and re-upholstered, and had the original motor
in it. All the interior metal work was rusted. I took it
to a panel beater friend who welded the floor fixed the
rust and painted the interior for $500. Since then its
had 2 motors in it and a new transmission. Currently it
has a 250 2v with Teflon valve seals, ¾ race cam, 350
Holley, thermo fan and extractors. It's been lowered and
now has custom '14 weld wheels, a 10 stacker Sony CD
player, central locking and remote boot release, and has
been re-carpeted throughout. It still leaks water onto my
right shoe in the winter, which is pretty irritating, to
the point where I would put a freezer bag over my foot.
Now that all very well, but its hard to look cool getting
out of you pride and joy wearing a suit with a freezer
bag over your foot. Or telling your dumbfounded
girlfriend "Do not say a word" the first time
she saw me do it.
Its towed ski boats, other cars,
splattered me with oil at 2am in the morning, been
sideways, been hit by a 4 wheel drive (he ran up my boot
- I was stationary and I bent his bullbar back into his
bonnet…ahhh yes), taken me to the snow, got bogged
on a ladies front lawn, and looked cool doing it all.
I love my
XM………….Now the XP - well that's
another story…………..
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