The 1973 XA Falcon Superbird Hardtop was, in its day, a colourful limited edition run of the two-door, but
in reality was a way for Ford to create a lightweight V8 coupe to meet CAMS racing homologation processes.
The weight of the Superbird was submitted as 1,320kg but the true GT Hardtops weighed anywhere from 1,450kg
to 1,580kg. Allan Moffat's racing XA GT RPO 83 coupe was often referred to as a "GT Superbird."
The original Superbird was a factory built XA Falcon GT Hardtop (reg.: LHA-614), designed by Ford
Product Planning Director Nick Bartolini to draw crowds at the 1973 Melbourne and Sydney International Motor
Shows. It was originally a Wild Violet (code: Z) coloured GT repainted overall Aluminium Silver finish with
large, bold orange bodyside Falcon bird decals. It carried globe wheels with a two-tone rough wool trimmed
interior. Aside from all the standard GT fittings, it also featured power steering, a laminated tinted band
windscreen, air conditioning, power windows, LHS exterior R/V mirror, the super fringe deluxe radio, front
spoiler and a long-range 36 gallon fuel tank.
The show car proved so popular that Ford decided to factory produce a limited edition run of Falcon 500
Hardtops under the 'Superbird' banner but with revised, smaller decals.
There was also dealer options for Superbird decal applications that retained the large decals of the show car.
While being genuine Superbird decals, any vehicle they were applied too did not, of course, make them one
of the 750 original XA Superbird factory builds.
The XA Falcon Superbird show car was an XA Falcon GT Hardtop with factory Globe Wheels.
The show car XA was Aluminium Silver with orange applied decals. The model seen in the photo
shoot is Jill Goodall who famously had a small role as a Bond girl in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).
An interior shot shows the rough wool styled seat trim, GT 4-spd manual
gearbox and the driver's door buttons for the electric windows.
Ford Photo Courtesy: Ross Vasse (www.theGTHOregister.com.au).
Aftermarket Ford dealers flyer promoting the Superbird decal application choices which
used the original large, head-turning full body-side show car type.
It is generally accepted that Ford produced a limited run of 750 XA Superbird coupes, although this figure maybe
slightly less. There was a bulk order of Falcon 500 Hardtops in March, 1973 and so the VIN numbers are all prefixed
with: JG65NM. The serial numbers are, according to present evidence, all between 80000 to 80800 and all cars have
the K - 8 cylinder vehicle code at the end of the VIN number. The compliance dates range from: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8/73
as the cars were built and delivered from March through to August, 1973.
The Superbirds were all built under Ford's RPO 77 - Special Value Package, the best feature being the factory
fitted 230hp 302ci V8 which came with either a 4-spd manual gearbox (200 builds) or the T-Bar automatic (550
builds) - obviously the auto being a far more popular buyer's choice. Interestingly, the Superbird came with a GT
dashboard (140mph speedo and 7k tacho), but retained the conventional 2-spoke Falcon steering wheel.
The Superbird logo on these production cars were toned down in size to a small Falcon bird decal on the rear
panels with another logo on the interior glove box door. On the front fenders there were no 'V8' badges and
the 'Falcon 500' badges instead had a '302' decal applied above a single 'Falcon' badge.
Australian Retail Prices:
XA Superbird (manual): $3,590.00
XA Superbird (auto): $3,735.00
A Ford sales advert for the XA Superbird promoting the factory fitted 302ci V8.
a
Automatic 3-spd T-Bar Floor Shift (Cruisomatic)
A Polar White coloured XA Superbird showing to good effect the small rear 'Superbird' Falcon decals and the '302' decals
on the front fenders - the 'Falcon' name remained as a badge. A 'Falcon 500' badge is on the rear panel and the rear
window louvers are part of the Superbird factory fit.
A Daily Telegraph newspaper advert from 4 May, 1973 promoting all the goodies.
