Some things were just meant to be.

Ashley and Craig Larsen, Brothers and co-owners of Bridgestone Select Tyre & Auto in Coopers Plains, were looking for a special vehicle for their business – something to turn heads – and were thinking along the lines of a Mustang.

But when they saw this 1963 Ford Falcon XL ute for sale, they knew it was the one.

After all, what are the chances of finding a vehicle in just the right shade of orange to match Bridgestone’s own hue, that wasn’t far from home, and was ripe for turning into a one-of-a-kind project?

About three years ago, the brothers, both self-avowed Ford fans, discovered the ute for sale in Wynnum and decided it was too good to pass up.

“If it wasn’t orange, we wouldn’t have it. It’d be a ’73 Mustang,” laughed Ashley. “We weren’t particularly looking for a Falcon of this era but when we saw this in that shade, it had to be.”

The ute had been subject to a partial restoration and modifications, but the ute as it is today is a far cry from when it first arrived at Coopers Plains, as head mechanic Simon Britton-Wagenknecht explained.

“The ute had all the pinstriping shaved, and the tailgate shaved and deleted, and it was not a bad job either although there was a fair amount of rust,” he said.

“It had a 250 Crossflow on gas in it with a standard diff and a four-speed manual gearbox.

“The diff gave up the ghost so we ordered a Falcon 9-inch diff from the Castlemaine Rod Shop in Victoria to strengthen it up and in the process of waiting for that to arrive decided to cut out the rust.

“That ended up taking the better part of two years! The more we cut out the more we found.”

During that process it was decided the front end needed strengthening so the Castlemaine Rod Shop was called again in for an all-new double wishbone front end with disc brakes.
“Originally we were going to go with a turbo six Barra engine but when we were doing the suspension and chassis set-up a Boss 290 V8 with a manual transmission behind it came our way. We decided to shoehorn that in,” Simon explained

Shoehorned is right. While Falcons of this era are often recipients of sixes like the Barra, or smaller V8s like the Windsor, the bigger Boss simply doesn’t fit. At least, not easily.
“As we’d redone the front end, the shock towers had been repositioned so it made fitting the Barra possible but not easy. The shock towers on the XL come inwards so you can’t fit a big V8 like the Boss with its 90-degree cylinder heads,” said Simon.

“So all suspension went outbound and lower, we cut out the now obsolete shock towers, moved the firewall back, pumped up the transmission tunnel and lifted the existing ‘bump’ on the bonnet slightly, all to accommodate the Boss.

“The bonnet mod is pretty subtle. You wouldn’t notice it if you didn’t know. And that was the whole idea with this vehicle, it doesn’t give away what’s underneath.”
In fact, that was a big part of the underlying brief from Craig and Ashley.

“We wanted something that obviously looks a bit out of the ordinary but is still in line with what the XL looks like. We didn’t want anything sticking out of the bonnet or the like,” said Craig. “And it had to be street legal and safe so we can use it not only for promotional purposes – at shows and events – but also on the road, even to drop customers off at work while their own vehicles are in our workshop.”

Frankly, what’s under the skin of this ute is amazing, not only for the components but also for the skill and lateral thinking Craig and the workshop team used to create it.

For example, getting that sizeable V8 into a space it shouldn’t fit into required some clever solutions.

“It has a BA brake booster and master cylinder but there was no room for that cylinder, so I flipped it upside down and created a remote reservoir,” said Simon.

“No-one, including a brake specialist, knew if it would work, but it did.

“Every brake line was custom built by me, and they are all double flared and are banjo lines.”

The ute has power steering, disc brakes all round and a T56 five-speed transmission from a BA XR8, as well as a custom tail-shaft fabricated by Hardy Spicer at Darra.

Another local firm, Extreme Engineering at Archerfield, did the exhaust work, creating custom headers to fit the tight space available, as well as a custom fuel tank with surge cell.

The wiring harness, sourced from a BA, was sorted by the Castlemaine Rod Shop, who deleted the unneeded items including the ABS and traction control. This process created a new puzzle for Simon to solve.

“The speedo in modern cars isn’t connected to the gearbox, it comes from the ABS wheel speed sensors. So no ABS means no speedo,” he said.

“I had to work out a way to get a speed reading for the Dakota digital dash we’ve installed. My solution was a GPS module that’s plugged into the dash.

“We also installed a tacho box that talks to the digital dash too.”

The digital display is contained within the original dash and includes all displays, even the high and low beam indicators, which are still operated by the original floor-mounted foot switch.

Other hi-tech items include a proximity key, keyless start. and remote start so you can fire up the mighty Boss from outside the ute.

There’s coil-over suspension front and rear, with a custom triangulated falling rear end designed by Simon.

And for a Bridgestone business’ ute, what else would be on the road than their own rubber – 295/30R18s on the rear creating 11 inches of rubber each side, and 205/40R18s on the front as there’s not a lot of room between the engine bay and guards.

The Foose Legend rims work well with the XL too, updating the look without looking at all out of place.

Keeping it looking like a ’63 is the retention of the ute’s bench seat, albeit with four-point racing harnesses on both sides.

While the ute is now on the road, there’s still a few things to be done, including a Varex mufflers system with custom set-up under the dash to make it loud or quiet, and it’s likely a tonneau cover will be added too.

“We wanted to get a few kilometres on it and see how it all goes, so we will be doing a few more things as we go,” said Simon.

The result so far, after three years and, the brothers estimate, around 500 man-hours and about $50,000, is literally a one-of-a-kind vehicle.

“There’s no other street registered ’63 XL ute with a Boss in it that we’ve been able to find,” said Ashley.

“It is a real showcase for Simon and the team to display the level of work they can do,” added Craig. “You would usually go to a custom specialist for this kind of work, to create this kind of vehicle. But it was all done in house by the same guys who will service your family car.

“There’s no workshop manual for this kind of project and the job Simon and the guys have done is incredible.”

Original source: Motor Trader E-Magazine (Aug 2019)

10 Aug 2019