XK Falcon Barn Find & Suzuki RE5 Rotary Bike Restoration: Classic Restos - Series 42
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- čas přidán 13. 09. 2024
- Motoring enthusiasts have a fascination with barn finds; the excitement of the discovery of an old classic and the restoration story that follows.
Owner Darren tells the story of his barn find a 1960 XK Falcon, discovered in the backrooms of a parts supplier in NSW. The XK Falcon was considered futuristic with its sleek new shape when launched, leaving other manufacturers languishing with their 1950 designs. The XK was marketed as 'trim, taut and terrific' and set the styling benchmark for future cars. Darren was ecstatic to have secured such an iconic marque but was confronted with a 3-week time-frame to get it ready for the 'Early Falcon Nationals' at Nagambie. It came up a treat. It's a great story and makes you wonder just how many other classics are still out there, waiting to be discovered.
Not quite a barn find, but a restoration project by retired bike enthusiast, Ross. A very rare 1975 Suzuki RE5 500cc Rotary motorcycle. Reportedly only 5,000 were produced worldwide with only 50-100 destined for Australia. With such limited numbers and a lack of parts supply, Ross had to build many of the bike's components to manufacture spec himself - but that's the thing that gives him the most enjoyment. These bikes were considered exotic at the time, and many didn't understand the principles of rotary engines. As Ross puts it, if you can come to grips with a rotary car engine, you can apply it to rotary bike engines. He was lucky to have a helpful sidekick, a handy mate who worked with Mazda during the rotary engine phase of manufacturing.
Thanks Fletch. Good to see some bikes 👍
Hindsight is a lovely word if we knew back then what we know now we had friends with a dairy farm and they had all these old Falcons is paddock bashers in the early 70s good episode Fletch on the bike as well
I rode an RE5 from Surfers Paradise International Raceway to South Brisbane and loved it. There was no vibration at all and it was a delight to ride. Didn’t smoke like this one either!
That's a nice honest old thing...I almost bought an XP Wagon in '75 until I drove it..The 5 turns lock to lock did it..I bought an EK for $200 and that's where I became a Holden guy..Love your work Fletch.
My father said the same thing, he said the Falcon floated all over the road, so he bought a new EK Holden.
That's me, retired, restoring, and riding, great show.
Fantastic episode Fletch. Love the XK Falcon. Have one myself. In need of restoration though. Was my first car in 1986 and still have her tucked away, waiting for the day for me to get stuck in to do some work.
God forbid that beautiful vehicle being in the middle of a bushfire 🤭 Great informative video I enjoyed it immensely thank you Shannons and thank you fletch 👏👏👍🙋♂️🇦🇺
Very early build XK Falcon. Looks great in black .
That art deco concave grille is a great looking styling feature
So much more modern looking than any contemporary 1960 model car especially compared to the fifties style carryover of Australian cars like the FB Holden, Morris Major and Chrysler Royal---all very mid fifties in style and flavour .
Incredible find
I love the old school dash and steering wheel look they should start using that look again
Love it. We had a 144 XP Wagon
The XM Falcon was '' The go '' Way ahead of It's time '' . And that body Styling of the Coupe still stands today as Classic
I like the Utes more
Falcons are just beautiful drivers cars , I had one Holden a HQ and it was so front end heaven that you needed to be Arnold Swatzenegga to turn it , since selling that I've had three Falcons and have the last model made a masterpiece of simplistic engineering and as cheap to run as a small 4 cylinder as it LPG .
here for the RE5
Pretty sure there is one in the motor museum at Birdwood
Suzuki detuned the R5 so much that they were slow. Buyers lost interest.
had a ride on the first RE5 to hit OZ,
A big heavy lump which failed to surpass any of the other sporty bikes of that era.
Power dropped off suddenly at 7000 rpm and flat out in 5th was a windy {big bars] 165 km.
Great bike for backfires using the kill switch he he he.
@@craigbrown7956 did the same trick turning off the ignition in my rotary car until i blew the muffler off! It was very loud...like a gun shot, lol.
Wasn't there a rotary engined motorbike from Holland some years ago? Think it was made by a company called Van Veen and probably hand - built in limited numbers.
Wow! Thanks.
my first car back in1980 was a black xk deluxe 144 fordomatic white walls with chrome falcon on bonnet . wish I still had it
Never seen a more accessible oil filter on a motorcycle!
My friend has the same falcon. But it's a blown 347 dart block.
Beautiful car. I wonder how much it’s worth.
It was quite a ground breaker for Ford. My father, upon his arrival (returning from England) bought one in 1963. (I was just coming on 2 years of age). It also was a 2 speed Fordomatic sedan, with the 144 cu. in. engine. It served the family well for about 2 years, and was traded for a Wolseley 24/80 Mk. 1 manual. It was about the same engine capacity (2.4 litres, (about 144 cu. in)), but a little slimmer in width. Ford Australia wanted to compete with General Motors Holdens, and decided to use the American Falcon design over the British (Zephyr) design for a family car. They performed well for cruising at 50-55 miles per hour.
At 8:00 , the ad slogan "Trim, Taut , Terrific ! "came with the 1962 or 1963 XL Falcon as per the illustration. Unless used earlier. Had the jigsaw puzzle and Dads brochures, but not the car being very young at the time.
Wondering if this wasn't (originally) sourced out of Western Australia? I used to drive Canning Highway near Wireless Hill a fair bit and spotted this same combination red/black XK under a carport with a cardboard sign on the dashboard "No this car is not for sale". Drove by it many many times and have definitely noticed it gone from there over the past couple of years so it would be really interesting to know if this is the car and it made it east. Maybe an FYI if the owner wasn't too sure of its background? In any case what a sweet car. Cheers.
Yep had quite a few from the sixties l have had the majority of models from utes wagons, sedans up to my fg XR6 which l will keep as there is no large rear wheel drive sedan to replace them unless you buy euro shit, l think my brother was one of the 1st to install a 289 V8 in an xk in 1966 from a smashed compact fair lane, it was quite quick as it was slightly warmed over with a wade cam, 4 barrel & extractors etc and when l got my xk & licence in around 1970 l installed a 221ci (3.6 litre from an XW) with the 3 speed auto and it got down the road pretty well too, l have also been in 2 incidents with the front end collapsing in my old mans xk wagon and later in a friends xk due to the piss weak ball joints that they had as they were ok for USA roads but could not handle the roads of Australia, l think the fix by Ford Australia was to use heavier ball joints out of the compact fair lanes and this also was the reason that we went alone from the USA in that we did not adopt their design of the new body pressings and designed our unique XM models and spend the $$ on engineering durability into them with the XP’s, but that black one is a find and a half! Good on him for getting it, l’m sure it will be looked after, l think the Suzuki rotary used the same frame, wheels etc as the 750 water bottle, don’t forget Norton also built a rotary along with that European one.
Alright , I've owned a couple of early Falcons AND the Mercury iteration, THE Comet .
THIS car has 3 point seat belts ! Is this a modification required by your insurance company / region or a personal preference ?
Fine interview !
The car was made without them but in about 1970ish seat belts became mandatory in the front seat in Australia. I am sure these would have been added about then to comply with Australian law.
Didn't the first Falcons come into Australia virtually built? My 1968 F350 has the same white steering wheel.
They were all Australian built
Nice resto. but from memory the seat pattern is incorrect.
Rotors don't have rings they have apex seals
Had to ask the wife......hahaha!!!
well I guess if you damage it the suncorp assessors will do you over
Hi there, that's concerning to hear. If your claim is with us, please email social@shannons.com.au with your full name, claim number, and date of birth (for ID purposes) so we can look into what's happened. - Maddy
@@ShannonsInsurance who assesses the cars?
Surprising to hear...rubbish.
Lets get this out in the open now.
Who assesses the cars?
It depends on the location and type of damage that has occurred. We are part of the Suncorp Group, so in certain situations they will be Suncorp assessors. For more help with your claim, please send an email to social@shannons.com.au or call 13 46 46. - Maddy
@@ShannonsInsurance no, let us have it out in public.
My classic car gets assessed by the same assessors that assess your smash and bash where fixed price repairs are performed at high turnover rapid repair shops...correct?
Ensure you are trueful
I see that you have now retired from conversation. A root canal without anesthetic?
They’re sheds in Australia, barns are American.
"Centre of the hood..." Really? We're not in America -- it's a bonnet!
A Fletch when you come into Michigan let me know please send me an email we like to hook up with you guys I love to take you around
Ride to
Nice. Boring but nice.