Every car circle has their holy grail. The Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda. The Chevrolet Chevelle LS-6. The AMX/3. Ferrari 250 GTO. Lamborghini Miura. They are the cars that have made the transition from transportation to treasure, and the prices reflect as such. Million-dollar Plymouths that brand-new were seen as throwaway cars. You get the idea. Only a few have held their legacy from the moment they came into being, and recently one broke the record and a milestone when it sold at auction. The car is a 1971 Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III, the kind of car that would send politicians running with soiled undergarments for fear that a fast car would be the ultimate downfall of current society. It’s quintessentially Australian, a four-door sedan packing a romping V8 and enough attitude to make you wonder what kind of family would use this as daily transportation. It’s a beast, one of 300 built, and it’s fresh with just over 13,000 miles on the clock. 
And it’s damn expensive. Recently sold at a Lloyds auction, this Track Red Falcon hammered out for AUD $1.3 million dollars (appx. $760,000 in U.S. dollars), making it the first Australian car to hammer for over a million and making this example the most expensive Australian-built car to date. It didn’t hurt that a famous Aussie cricket player owned the car for some time, but what gets us is it’s showroom fresh look. 13,000 miles over nearly fifty years? Seems like a tragedy to us. Rare or not, valuable or not, this car needs to be exercised every now and then, and a bit more than 277 miles a year.
Not bad for a taxi, hey
yeh had a laugh at 300 made. Probably true, theres probs more like 10 times that running around now! The amount of poverty packs and Fairmonts that got GT bits is astounding, pretty hard to find a non `GT’ XY on the roads. Add to that the models before it XR, XT, XW – and the coupes and sedans after it XA, XB and XC, and there are still a very healthy amount of Falcons still kicking about – and the prices cant help but get dragged upward whenever a HO gets sold! I have a 73 XB coupe, $1,200 6 cyl car when I bought it, now a 351 4 speed and I get offered stupid money for it..
Although not an Aussie, I am a big Falcon fan. The 300 refers the the GTHO Phase 3. There were thousands of GTs made, the “phase 3” part is what makes this so rare.
The pics show 20868, not 13,000 miles. Big difference unless those are kilometers. But the face says MPH.
Australia went from imperial to metric in 75 so a 71 car showed MPH.
Tarted up Fairmont with a crate motor. All Aussie? No way. Over rated when new, and overpriced now.
How is it now all Aussie? Car was only built, designed and sold in Australia. Just curious how its not all Aussie. The Clevo isn’t common anywhere else but Aussie too.
Built and sold in Australia? Yes, not designed here though, the first fully Aussie designed Falcon didn’t arrive until 1979.
Then you have to realise the MD of Ford Australia at the time was Bill Brown, and the guy running Ford’s racing efforts, which spawned the GTHO, was Al Turner.
And the GTHO was mastered on the track by a Canadian called Alan Moffat.
Oh and the engines were crate engines from the US, with some being abit more special than others.
Over rated when new? I’m guessing you’ve never driven a 351 XY.
I feel a lot of emotion and anti-GT sentiment here… own a Commodore SS do we?
Don’t worry, the WAAAAmbulance is on it’s way…