80s Aussie Ford Turbo Six Rocketship! Dick Johnson Grand Prix Turbo XE Falcon.
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- čas přidán 25. 09. 2020
- We feature and drive this extremely rare Dick Johnson Grand Prix Turbo Ford Falcon, believed to be one of only 43 examples ever produced back in the period of 1982/83! Combining the ever-reliable Ford 250 Crossflow six with a healthy sized turbocharger, along with various body and mechanical upgrades, these special edition Falcons bearing famous Australian Racer Dick Johnson's name were an absolute rocketship.
At Master of Machines, we love cars, in fact, we love anything with wheels or an engine, from American Muscle Cars to Australian Muscle Cars, Race Cars and Classic Cars of all kinds and even Barn Finds. If it's fast, powerful, restored or hidden away in hibernation then we'll cover it, and in most cases, we'll even drive them! - Auta a dopravní prostředky
The Turbo six banger of the 80s is an absolute dream.
Brings back memories, I had a turbocharged 250 crossflow in my XF. It had twin 175 CD stromberg carbies and what I believe were an original Dick Johnson cast iron exhaust manifold. Those were the days!!
The grandfather of the mighty turbo Barra !
The history of this car, and the work put into it blows me away. Thanks Glen for showcasing Dick's awesome car.
Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
My name is Matt and I worked for CDT building those Dick Johnson turbo Falcons in Bayswater Victoria.
You are a true Australian hero. I thank you.
Hi Matt. Were they only built in 3 colours? Were any built from ESPs, or only falcon GL’s?
@@turbo250falcon9 white, red and blue, and all falcon gl's.
I’ve seen a few blue ones in person, I know of 3 red ones and of a white one. They say the break down was 36 blue, 6 red and 1 white.
Matt thanks man
Lest we forget
I was an apprentice motor mechanic. I wanted to T3 Garrett turbo my XA 250 coupe because I knew how well those long stroked 250 turbo....but couldn't afford it. Great article, thank you
Had an XE ute in nz 20 years ago. On lpg had 300km on it, 3 on the tree. Bench seat. Kids loved squashing in and cruising. Not fast but the torque made it easy to drive. Only 2 gear changes made it okd school cool. No power steering but of a beast to park. Sold it for 2k in 2008. Had an xb sedan when i lived in oz early 90s. Full of rust, drove it on lot of outback roads unbreakable
I drove a XE Fairmont Ghia turbo in the late 80's. It had the dealer fitted A.I.T. turbo kit, very torquey thing.
I am a huge fan of Dick Johnson’s Falcons this Grand Prix Turbo is gorgeous ❤️
I had the 250 TE cortina back in the day and I certainly understood the torque in this engine :) Freshened up with custom twin SU sidedrafts, modified aluminium head (from a XE falcon i believe) and many other mods and with four on the floor this car was an incredible powerhouse
I remember them days, there would always be some smart-ass in a Gemini wanting to race 😂
@@samsneed7172 Lol. Before they were fooly sick bro.
Same I had a TF Cortina with a four barrel holly 250 crossflow, It was a rocket.
Love it - so good to see an actual road test of this car, I often wondered what one of these Grand Prix would be like, thank for enlightening me.
I can't believe I've never seen or heard of this beautiful falcon before.. What a work of art..
Amazing car wonderfully shown by you ,.... Onya mate!
Car just looks right from every angle.
When I was an apprentice Mechanic in the mid 80s one of the other guys at trade school in Richmond had a 302 silver ESP stolen from the car park and never got it back to my recollection....poor guy was just Devo......He must of had well off parents to have a car like that in 1986 at 18 or 19 years of age.....ahhh the old days
That's a cool XE...I remember working on an 86 XF Fairmont 6 pack 5 speed with twin turbos and engineered with no cat back in the mid 90's...It had a very big plenum with an intercooler in it...Never seen another.
Loved the in-gear wheels spins !
I remember walking home from school in the early 90s, everyday this guy in a yellow 351 xd with globe wheels would be parked waiting for his kids. Id wait just to hear him take off down the street and watch the shaker moving about. Such a tuff car.
I used to drive a black xd ute 351 toploader and 9in back in the 90s was made fun....
Love the history, the connection to DJ, the car is sensational reminds me of the Buick Grand National. What an episode, well done! I had no idea this car existed but then I'm a Valiant man:)
I didn't know about these Falcons until now and really wished I had. Thanks for the education.
I can't stand these Falcons from the 80's, but this has got to be as cool as they get! What a rad piece of Australian car history!
having a brain fade mate they where great
@@donaldthomson8965 his eyes are drawn on, all you gotta do is look.around at all.of the plastic garbage on the roads today
Awesome video on great Aussie ingenuity to solve a problem
I love your car reviews and insights Glenn, Keep Up the great work mate!
Adam , thanks so much! Glad you’re enjoying it. Be sure to subscribe as I have a much more to come and a huge year planned for 2021.
These were such a leap ahead in design and handling from what was the norm in the seventies
The 80's and 90's had the best looking cars in my opinion. Everything modern looks like a copycat of eachother.
🔥💯👊🏿👍🏿
I`m still a bit of a fan of the 60`s and 70`s , i miss my little 289 XR, that was a good car , XY`s my all time fav of the early henrys , also quite liked the XD`s , back then we had the police contract and i always had a woody jumping into an XD V8 interceptor , not that fast by todays standards or probably even the turbo six , but still a good no fuss quick cruiser .
So were the 80s... Ford XD and cortina are basically adapted from the Granada
@@donthitmeimwoozy yes sir 💯
Late 60s would have to be about the pinnacle of the muscle car era?
No pollution crap
I remember when Dick bought a turbo Falcon to demo to Ford New Zealand. I was lucky enough to be taken for a ride, It was a crude beast the was full turbo or nothing. Later at lunch in the staff cafe Dick sarcastically commented that it was the only thing he had ever gotten for free from Fords
Wow. I had no idea these beasts existed.
Thanks for sharing Glen
i didn't even know they existed.
Yeah The Bridgie Eagers were the heroes of the tyres for a bit,my first experience with a V8 LJ was a guy who lived round the corner I was about 10 or 11 so about 1978/79,black 2 Door with a 253,600 Holley,Aussie box( what else 😁) stock banjo diff,he did blow heaps of centres and broke plenty of axles, he bought it from a crazy Ultra Tune mecho,stoved it so redid it in silver like an XU-1 still v8,had a reddish velvet interior haha remember it was late 70s V8 LJs were almost unheard of ....cool time
As a kid in the 80s , the letters V8 and Turbo were eye catching. I remember my dad owned an XD panel van that he put headers and cams on, even the old 4.1 without a turbo in the early 8s wasn’t slow for its time :) this car with a Turbo 4.1 would have insulted most cars back then! Torque is king :). low down punch is so much fun!
Yep, I was going to buy an exa turbo in the 90s , just didn’t have enough money to get a good one :) I did however buy my dream turbo AWD pocket rocket Nissan GTIR, that was fun :) now I’ve gone electric and the torque is phenomenal, but I’d love an old XD !
@@jestronixhanderson9898 I'd love to drive a gtir, just driving the pulsar was fun
I have an XE Wagon with a 351.. Rare as Rockin horse shit... Love em
That’s so sick
Glenn, your videos are fantastic. Your enthusiasm is contagious. Thank you for finding these gems.
My pleasure Craig! Thanks so much for your support, it truly means a lot.
I didnt even know they did a turbo at all. If they mass produced those, the vl turbos certainly would have had a fitting partner in the turbo camp.
How can a generation of Aussie blokes not know these things existed.....anyway I was into my Holdens back then.
I owned a XE wagon with a 250 crossflow turbo designed by Mike Vine out of QLD.
14.9 is modest
With a c4 and 2.75 diff 13.1 reliable.
Was a very fast car.
i picked up a 1983 zk fairlane with same set up, 250 injected mike vine turbo set up, c4 stage 2 shift kit, injec tune aftermarket computer, last regod 2007 , cant wait to get it finnished and back on the road
Absolutely amazing machine. My first car was an 1983 XE S pac Falcon, how I loved it, I truly wish I still had it.
This is a ripper Six. yes it would be great to see it as a Demo 5 lap race around Bathurst by the owner. Dick Johnson is a legend.
Thanks Glenn. It just so happens it was tuned to be able to do the quarter mile at 14.9 seconds, the exact time that a Brock VH Group3 Commodore of the same eara could cover a quarter mile. I agree with some of the other comments, Ford did nothing, it was blokes like DJ or Wayne Draper who loved the product so much they tried to keep it alive.
Very nice, Glen you are very lucky to drive such nice cars.
Nice car mate l own an xe interceptor 351 had it 30 years always loved there appearance. Did a ground up restoration on it just after l bought it and it still gets compliments when its out. Built october 1982 so one of the last of the great muscle cars off the line.
Great to see you kept it!
Nice to see a Holden HK Premier in Silver Mink, tucked away... With a 186 badge on the guard!
Awesome video. I remember buying a car magazine and reading about it as "the 1983 gtho" baby I wanted one, and a 351 ESP too. Oh memories. :-)
I had an XE ESP back in the day. Loved it.
Was only suggesting last week you feature some XDs or Es and here they are...and then some! Good on you Glenn...you've done it again!
Yeah mate - can't help thinking "what if" had Dick gone down the route of homologating the Grand Prix. And considering how bulletproof that old 250 workhorse was it would only have been a matter of turning up the wick if she wasn't keeping up with the opposition on race day! But as you said he was still a relative battler back then and so he never had the factory backup or influence over Ford that Brocky had with Holden.
Seeing how hard that Grand Prix went made me think twice about replacing the 250 in my XD with a Clevo...but only for a brief moment hah!
Cheers Glenn...legend!
Thought of you when I uploaded this and glad you jumped on it. We'll be featuring more of his XD and XE collection sooner than later too. Yes, I reckon these cars would have been a powerhouse in Group A race trim, it's a big engine and cubes plus a big snail hanging off the side usually ends up being a positive. But, it'd be damn hard to match factory support with all the R&D side of things. :-)
@@GlennEverittMasterofMachines yeah Glenn I had an inckling you might have been. Good on you. And yes...old mate had quite a few of the breed stacked up in his shed. And I'm a V8 man but I can't help but be impressed with the DJ GP. Never gave them a lot of thought at the time. But this guy saw their potential as a collector's car. Thanks Glenn.
Glenn Everitt - Master of Machines - I remember seeing this ep on ch31. Effing awesome. Thanks mate. 👍🏻
@@GlennEverittMasterofMachines it would have made a fairly ordinary Group A car would have been in the 5500cc and over weight class with 13" wide tyres and a min weight of 1400kg so even if it had bulk grunt it would have chewed through tyres and brakes and in endurance races would have needed loads of fuel stops for fuel.
My Dad had a XD S-PACK. Before he died he said I could have it. But my sisters and thier lawyer had other ideas. So for the next 12 months I drove past the local wreckers and saw the body sitting on top of a stack of cars. That cut deep. Needless to say I have’nt spoken to them for nearly 20yrs. However, my dream was a roll cage and a turbo in that red XD. Seeing this I can still dream and remember. I have the memories. They dont have a brother. Thanks for the vid. Gotta love that long stroke, torquey 4.1ltr. Cheers. 👍🏻
I don't know how people can go. against their fathers or mother's wishes concerning those things... I don't know if there's a word for it' all the best brozi
RIP me - thanks bro. 👍🏻
What a shame.... :-(
Glenn Everitt - Master of Machines - thanks Glenn. It is what it is.
Families mate - I can relate to that.
Well Glen you were spot on. I just watched 1983 round of ATC at Wonaroo. Dick Johnson was quoted by commentary that he was hoping to shed 176 kgs of weight for the XE by running a turbo six next year.....another great call by you
Thanks mate! Such great days and awesome childhood motorsport memories from that era. Thanks for sharing that. I most likely would have watched that same round as a 13 year old on TV, as we never missed them.
Cheers blokes Top Job 👌
I bleed blue, and never knew that these Grand Prix models were Turboed!!! OMG! Its taken me near 30 years to learn this. The only other thing they forgot to improve on the Grand Prix was the steering wheel!!!! They needed a smaller sporty wheel to make it at least feel better in your hand, unlike the standard bus sized stock steering wheel they had, exact to the base model GL XE Falcon of the same year. The Fairmont ghia got a nicer steering wheel! I think they missed a trick Dicky & FoMoCo, but overall, what a silent beast!
THANKYOU
My friend had a 1986 Ford Sierra XR4x4 with the Turbo Technics conversion, and it was one hell of a car.
Cheers Glenn good to see you again working out there on your car CZcams channel.
From Bill
Ex busnutter
Gotta love an XE. As a young fella in Brisbane I drove cabs as a second job. Once the last of the Kingswood's and Valiant's got pensioned off the XD and XE were the weapon of choice for cabbies. The bloody things never stopped. The door handles were next to useless, but they still drove well with 400,000 plus kays on them.
Funny, you know, as a motor mechanic in my younger days I replaced hundreds of XF door handles! Bloody things. lol.
@@GlennEverittMasterofMachines LOL. Yeah I know mate. Yellow cabs eventually printed little stickers for the door handles that said "lift to open". Perfect, just the thing for somebody at 1 am with somebody totally legless that can't even see the frigging door.
Yep door handles, squeaky upper control arms, leaking rocker cover and timing case gaskets but they would just go forever. We thrashed one for an hour one day with no oil filter on it to see how long before it detonated. After doing donuts without any oil because it just pumped out where the filter used to sit. After everyone took turns at thrashing it senseless we concluded that it wouldn't detonate. My brother parked it and out of curiosity because I was a mechanic I lifted the bonnet to have a listen to it knocking and curiosity as to why this engine was still going an hour later and said to my brother give it a rev as I lent forward over the engine listening to it's gremlins when it let go. It punched a hole through the side of the block and near took my head off. The cast and bits of rod went out of the engine at 45 degrees so as to miss the bonnet and just missing my head but that engine it a hiding second to none
@@MegaROCKY001 LOL. Great engines for sure. The Hemi and slant six Valiant engines went forever as well, couldn't kill them plus they had heaps of V8 type grunt.
Haha I must be one of the lucky ones. I replaced drivers door handle on my xe about a year ago for the first time ever. We talking original and its been in the family since the 90's
all Falcon sixes are all about the torque....why they pull like a train...my 2008 FG XR6 (N/A) shocks me how strong she pulls every time ...they are truly a great engine...match it up with the ZF 6 speed and an absolute joy to drive every day..Same thing with the AU Futura I also have re the SOHC Intech ...same traits...legend engines ..
Glenn, great video mate...In Sydney back in the day my ole man Greg used to go to Besons Turbo Centre in Sefton...well didnt Ian Benson and Super Guru Turbo monster Dennis send these bad boys, we had a XD and then the 1st blue printed XF, and mate let me tell you I had brown pants for years as a kid driving with the ole man back in the day......We were ecstatic when Ford Australia took it on board to factory build Turbos and did the BA Turbo and today I'm loving my FG and you know something I agree with you, I still think it could be quite possible for the ole XD / XF would give the FG a run for it money.
Fantastic video, thanks for sharing.
Great car, had an XD and lived on the coast......rusted out too the extent that the wiper motor tore itself out .
Made me go back thru my photo collection. I have a picture of one of these in this exact same colour from a motor show in Brisbane in 1988 I was at. Only difference is it has the rear seat headrests are in it.
Worked in the industry for years, owned a CDT Gemini , never ever knew of these from Jim F at CDT, need to do homework, great article
That Gemini would of handled alright
These cars were made from turbo kits, designed / sold by AIT which was owned / created by man named David Inall.
Nice collection!!!
What a piece of art
I worked for a turbo center back in the day, putting turbos on XE/XF, fastest cars on the street at the time, put a few on Cortina 6 as well)) - Quarter was 12s manual, 13s auto
We're they're intercooled? Interesting.
Mad...Were the cortina's much quicker
Oooh man.. would've loved a Cortina turbocharged.. Awesome buddy
Funny seeing this upload after I saw one of these at a cars & coffee meet this morning in Brisbane
I had no idea this existed! Great now I have another's car I can't afford to lust after :D
Owned by a baby boomer who hoards wealth
That’s a great video mate, I really enjoyed it.
Glad you enjoyed it
Had a XE X pak Was a great car wished I had the knowledge and money to have turboed it back then
Love this stuff Glenn. Also remeber it from 74ME. Would be great to see a ZLFairlane, FE LTD, or XF Ghia. Looking forward to you're new content.
Great find and story Glenn ! Maybe an idea for another part of your top show would be to Pitt these classics against the newer counter parts and just see how good these things would of stacked up .Keep em coming mate and be safe .
Absolutely Gorgeous 💙💙💙
That's awesome, it's like the first Barra ! 👍👌
Wow , what a monster ❤️😍
That car is awesome ! I couldn't own it cause I couldn't stop myself I'd drive the wheels off .
In the early 80s, AVO built a twin turbo 351 XE Falcon.
Apparently any more than 2000rpm in any gear, resulted in wheelspin..
AVO also did a turbo 265 Hemi with EFI 😊
Best job! Keep up the content 🤙🏻
Thanks! Will do!
I want one now Cheers!!!!!
WOW! Seems awesome. I have never heard of this version and I grew up in the 80s, weird! And so very weird it didn't get a guernsey when the V8 engines were discontinued?!
Wow I’m in love 🙂💪🏼
The XD-XE looks unreal with the wheel arch flares, ordinary without out them.
Great commentary
So nice!
Maybe this video will give the E series falcon some popularity
The only EA Falcon that would have any value are the the Brock ones and the Mick Webb SVO ones + the one off EA 351-GT that Rousch Engineering built for Ford Australia (actually there were 4 made) which eventually went on to become the S-XR8 with the 302ci Windsor for EB.
Maybe the AVP ones also as they were made by ex HDT SV staff that did not go with Brock to Advantage International.
Nice
Heres a comment, back in 89 I knew I guy who owned a XF Panel van he exported it from Australia to NZ heres the best bit ...it was turbo charged and he reckons it was factory !
Mate I've missed your shows man and machine and this show were two of my favorites. Would love to see you do some more stuff on CZcams or something.
Thanks Mate, glad you found my new CZcams channel. We've got over 40 videos here so be sure to subscribe. Big year for 2021 all going well with a heap of new content coming your way. :-)
My old man had one of these in the 80s...
Awesome content indeed ! Mike Vine did I great kit back in the day to .
Yes, I remember seeing his ads in all the magazines back in the day. A very smart man apparently.
had a few drives of one of these back in the day, as glen says i would love to see one of these up against your xr6 turbo, it would blow the doors off it, so much for our modern engineering, real fun thing to drive, as we would say back then, it went like a sharp stick
My best friend has a RED grand prix... took me out one year for my birthday to do some skids in it.. they go like the clappers even the carby ones... and i used to drive a black xd 351 ute back in the old days... yeew
Fuel injection sucks. Carbs are heaps better
fantastic video Glenn, I also have a couple falcons signed by Dick Johnson, One of those Gradprix that the bloke said he may sell would look great in my collection.
I can always ask him for you! You can contact me via my website. :-) www.everforgemedia.com/
15 years ago we were being these for 200 with rego and burning them on the weekend
GiBBO5700 done that many times 👍
Haha yeah probably 15 years ago I scored an xd s pac for a bottle of wild turkey and half a pack of tobacco
i grew up with this car but it was a light blue and v6 i think. the rear part of this car looks so good.
Not V6 it would have been straight6
Imagine if the platform was allowed to mature. Intercooler, upgraded turbos, playing with timing, intake, exhaust, boost, destroke. Those 250 crossflows were a great motor.
Basically an XR6
A mate of mine told me years ago about these and that one of his mates had one. I told him it had to aftermarket and didn't believe him.
Wasn't I wrong!
Had a TD cortina in the late 80's, 6 cylinder auto and was an absolute burn out machine with a 4cyl diff made it quick too.
total recall 6cyl cortinas a were cool as,very underrated and underestimated,I was an apprentice mechanic in the mid 80s and we were always doing front pads and rotors on TD/TE 4.1s burn outs on call,lots of fun,like most cars then under braked
My parents had a 6cyl 2 door cortina in the 80s , drove in on the P,s here and there. ( Mums car so not often) but it did go hard. Very short gear Auto , 13 in wheels , only done about 170 , but got there easy. 👍. It would give most V8s of the day a hard time 0 to 100 plus. The good old days.
Xe's and Xf's are lightweight falcons compared to newer ones, very light. Makes sense a straight 6 turbo would be very quick.
There's one of these at the national auto museum here in Launceston, looks tough with the flares and wing!
Is that the museum that was previously at the (Waverly?) woolen mills?
That fords got my wheels on it
what are those wheels??? I feel like a set I bought ages ago (in bad condition) might be the same
That's right up my Ally
Imagine the same motor in a Cortina the ones that came out Factory with the 250 crossflow(TG?)... give the GTHO's a run for their money that's for sure... I'm in love
As a 70 years young bloke I wonder if any of you have had the pleasure (?) of being in a steel head 4•1 crossflow xc falcon fitted with a super charger. The one I punted around for a short while was a 36k mile station wagon.
Very interesting on the corners if you forgot about the supercharger. 😁.