One month ago, we spotted a rather rare 1978 Ford Falcon XC Cobra 302 surface for auction at Bring a Trailer, which is notable for a number of reasons. For starters, this version of the Falcon was never sold in the U.S., and this particular example was imported into the country some time ago from Australia. It’s also one of the rarest of such Ford Falcon variants, as this one is number 349 of just 400 XC Cobras produced for the Australian market in total, and it’s one of 199 equipped with the 302 cubic-inch V8. However, that same 1978 Ford Falcon XC Cobra 302 is now back on the auction block just a few weeks after we first spotted it.
The quite rare Ford Falcon XC Cobra 302 has surfaced for sale yet again on Bring a Trailer, as it failed to meet its rather lofty reserve price after being bid all the way up to $83,000 the last go-round. With five days left in the current auction, this machine has already been bid up to $57,500, and it’s being sold with no reserve – meaning that this time, it will in fact find a new home, one way or the other.
The Shelby-inspired special edition model was created by Ford to celebrate Allan Moffat and Colin Bond’s 1-2 finish at the 1977 Bathurst 1000, and it also represented the final iteration of the two-door hardtop Falcon. All 400 examples were finished in Sno White paint with Bold Blue and Light Blue lower bodywork and over-the-top stripes.
This particular example is quite nice on the outside as well as inside, where it features black cloth seats with blue stripes, air conditioning, a push-button radio, and three-point seatbelts up front. Power comes from the aforementioned 302 V8, which is fitted with an Edelbrock four-barrel carburetor, an Edelbrock Performer intake manifold, and a custom cam from Wade Camshafts, along with long-tube headers and a dual exhaust. It’s mated to a three-speed automatic transmission and limited-slip rear differential, rounding out a pretty nifty – and seldomly seen – package, especially in the U.S.
Comments
Since Jim Farley loves BaT, he should buy it for research purposes.
As a 66 year old I remember when new and couldn’t give them away. They were slow softly sprung and thirty due to adr 27 a throttling the engine. Car magazines were not kind and the reason they had the 400 special edition was to get rid of left over bodies. Hindsight, a wonderful thing
I’m pretty sure that was called a Mustang II in the states …
Nothing like a Mustang11 from the US!! it was designed and developed in Australia with either 351 or 302 Australian built Cleveland V8 engines , the 302 Cleveland was unique to Australia as in this example, Australia further developed the Cleveland and were fitted to a range of Australian built vehicles from the early seventies into the 1980’s and into Aussie Falcons, Fairmonts, Fairlanes, LTD’s, F-100 pick-ups etc whereby the US standardised on the Windsor small blocks, Australia even supplied the majority of Cleveland V8’s to De-Tomaso for the De-Tomaso Pantera after the US stopped building the Cleveland engines so most of these cars sold in the US are more than likely powered by our Aussie built Cleveland’s!