FirstMate’s (old man’s) 1973 XA Falcon ute barn find

[FirstMate]

Hi all,

This will be an intermittent/limited series as it’s not mine, but had a wee Christmas treat that was worth sharing. Travelled home for the break and the old man let slip he’d been offered a 1973 XA Falcon ute. A well-known daily driver in town with the previous owner, it’d been parked in a barn by his son in the mid 2000s, with the rego on hold. Old man has a matching set of an XR8 and XR6 ELs - he and current owner got talking and he offered it up. A day or two after arriving in town we went for a look to plan pickup:

 

 

 

 

 

[FirstMate]

Discuss:

 

[FirstMate]

Came back a couple of days later for pickup. Thought mate was bringing his car trailer but he arrived with a recovery truck from work. Was handy - found brakes were seized on a rear wheel. Winch made short work of it, and was out in daylight after 15+ years.

Was a nice moment following it home too - one of the previous owners’ mates was waiting at an intersection as it went past. We saw him do a double take and point it out to his dog in the passengers seat….

[FirstMate]

Bit slow on this but will work through some more updates.

Small mishap getting it off the truck - the rear brake drum was seized and it took a good 30m to get loose. Once free the truck was realigned with the driveway, and an oversight on chock placement saw the now free-rolling ute collect the truck deck handrail:

After a couple of beers and an afternoon tinkering, this earlier setback was forgotten when we got it running. Ran sweet for something that had sat for so long - was a happy runner after the first fire, with no smoke etc.