Homegrown Falcons, plus American and British models flocked to the annual All Ford Day at Sydney Dragway, Eastern Creek, Australia on 28 July.
Organised by the Combined Ford Clubs of New South Wales, the event brought together classics ranging from Model Ts and As, through to Flathead V8s amd small Dagenham sidevalves, plus Mustangs, Galaxies, Thunderbirds, Cortinas, Anglias, Capris and the rest – even stretching to commercials.
Race replicas were popular, too, and included a ’77 Bathurst-winning Falcon XC, as driven by Allan Moffat and Jacky Ickx, and a ’72 Falcon GTHO Phase 4 commemorating the car used by Fred Gibson.
A copy of the Eggenberger Sierra RS500 also made an appearance. The original was driven to victory by Steve Soper and Pierre Dieudonne in the 1987 Aussie enduro, only to be disqualified for a technical infringement.
Of the Brits, sidevalve Ford Tens and Anglias, often bodied as open tourers for the local market, were out in force and there was even a rare Y-type roadster. Later on, 105E Anglias, plus Mk1 and MkII Cortinas gathered, with Allan Randle’s immaculately restored Crayford GT convertible a highlight.
An older attraction was John Hunter’s 1926 Model T tourer. A lot of the vintage cars were on conditional historic registration, but John’s unrestored T is on full NSW ‘rego’ and used regularly in traffic and on longer runs – belying its barn-find appearance.
Of course, Mustangs were out in number including rarer Boss 302 and Mach 1 variants, but the ‘ute’ conversion of Bob Williamson’s stood out as unique.
The Thunderbirds always put on a fine display, particularly as the classic ’50s and ’60s models came in such a bright array of colours.
Another standout American was the ’67 Lincoln Continental Coupe that was for sale and seemed a bargain at just $25k.
