If you were to build your dream car, what would the key requirement be? For the owner of this XB coupe, handling, build quality, good looks and power all tied for first place. The result is one of the most impressive vehicles ever to appear in NZV8.
I know what all the fans of American cars are thinking after looking at the previous page. It’s something along the line of, “Why would you do that to a Falcon, why not an American car?” It is a valid question. It’s also one you may not like the answer to.
The owner of this XB coupe, who has asked not to be named, has had more cars than most of us could ever dream of. The majority of them have been Mopars, although there’s been a large number of Fords both American and Australian in there too, and a couple of Chevs just for good measure.
Ever since he was a kid growing up in suburban New Zealand seeing people drive XB Falcons when they were new, he’s wanted one. He knew that if and when he got one, it would be turned into the car of his wildest dreams and it would be the one car he’d never sell.
Let It Begin
Around three years ago the desire to build the dream machine became too much, so he bit the bullet and bought the base vehicle, a ’74 XB coupe. After spending more than six months in a panel shop undergoing ‘repairs’, the body was taken to get dip-stripped. When the bog fell out to reveal the lack of metal underneath, he wasn’t a happy man. The momentum had begun, though, and the desire to have his dream was stronger than ever, so he decided that rather than be depressed about it, he’d find another — hopefully better — shell and do it all again. But this time there was only one business the car would go to to make sure it was done right — and by right, we mean well beyond and above expectations.
That shop was Matamata Panelworks, where over the next 12 months the car went from stock, beaten up and a touch rusty to one of the highest level builds ever seen in New Zealand.
When asked why he chose the big one-stop-shop in the small town, his answer was compelling. “I’d seen their work, I knew what they could do, and I’d talked to some other people who’d had cars built there, as well as respected car builders who hadn’t had their builds done there, and no one could fault them.
“I went in and saw them and mentioned what I wanted to do, and they understood my ideas and refined them to take it to the next level. It’s turned out just as I’d hoped, but really it’s 10 times better.
I could never have imagined it to be as good as it is.”
Even though we’d seen the car in the build on many occasions, neither could we. The end result of Panelworks’ hard slog is breathtaking, and that’s before you see the photos of it as a shell, or realise those rear quarter panels are hand-formed from a sheet of flat panel steel.
Like the scratch-built rear quarters, a lot has gone into this build that you’d never pick up, or at least wouldn’t see at first glance. Just some of those items are related to the sheet-metal work.
The brief was that the car had to handle like a late-model one, so the front inner guards, which look stock, are customised for greater steering lock and to allow the big 18×10-inch Volk Racing wheels to fit without fear of scrubbing. Likewise, the rear end has been mini-tubbed.
The entire cabin and boot floors have been scratch-built to allow a custom tube chassis to sit beneath them as well as the large exhausts, yet the car has not lost any ground clearance. There are functional bends in the floorpan everywhere you look: if it’s not for the exhaust and suspension it’s for the diff and fuel coolers or the transmission tunnel. The tunnel itself isn’t steel, rather it’s a thick layer of Kevlar underneath a perfectly finished gloss carbon fibre top, and it’s removable to allow access to the trans.
As Good As It Gets
With that amount of workmanship and detail going into the floorpan alone, it soon becomes apparent just how modified and highly finished the XB is.
The suspension is another case in point. The latest RRS gear has been used including steering rack, struts and hubs, along with Total Control lower arms and radius rods. These have been paired with Kmac adjustable sway bars and Nolathane bushes for a steering and front suspension package like no other, especially when combined with the custom underfloor bracing.
At the rear end, a custom four-link and Watts linkage in partnership with Koni shocks and RRS springs help to keep the custom diff housing in place.
At this stage we should point out that the owner also has a couple of GT-R Skylines, the Japanese-built supercars, and knows what it takes to get one around a race track quickly. So when it came to setting up the suspension, a high benchmark had been set. It’s one that has been achieved.
This follows over to the driveline, where the gearbox — a Richmond six-speed manual — is also a serious piece of track-ready yet streetable hardware.
Backing up the ’box is a Strange alloy diff centre with 3.55:1 ratio and Moser axles.
The question you’re probably asking by now is: what powers the sinister black machine? The answer is not what you may expect (okay, if you’ve seen the pics, then maybe you will).
An aftermarket 351 Windsor block that now displaces 408 cubic inches is filled with a stroker crank, H-beam rods, 11.5:1 forged pistons and a Lunati roller camshaft. It’s an impressive package, though you could say that it’s overshadowed by the top end, both figuratively and literally.
The Victor Jr heads are high-flowing items, as is the single plane manifold attached to them, but it’s the 1000cfm EFI Hardware throttle body setup that really sets this engine apart.
Those with mega memory may remember the motor as the same one that once resided in Andy Etchell’s EB Falcon race car we featured back in issue 24. The fuel system is all new though, apart from the injectors, which are soon to be replaced with higher flowing items to allow for even more power.
Feeding the fuel through from the 130-litre boot-mounted cell are a duo of Aeromotive pumps, a billet fuel filter, an Aeromotive regulator and an Aeromotive digital pump controller.
With no form of forced induction besides the carbon fibre airbox, the car has made an impressive 550hp at the rear wheels on the dyno. After going for a ride in it, we can assure you it’s not just the power that’s impressive, but the sound exiting the twin three-inch exhausts too. It’s loud enough to scare small children and angry enough to let all bystanders know that the motor isn’t your average 351. However, it’s not over the top; albiet very reminiscent of a V8 Supercar. With each press of the Wilwood clutch pedal and movement of the Hurst shifter, this thought is further reinforced.
That Wilwood pedal box also controls the pressure sent to the Brembo four-pot callipers front and rear. The red callipers and red anodised hats are the only external sign of colour on the vehicle, since the rest is the deepest, darkest PPG black you could ever imagine, flawlessly applied by Matakana Paintworks.
Black as Black as Black
Getting the lines right on a black car is imperative, and the Panelworks team has got it bang on. Even the untrained eye will soon pick up just how straight and reflective the exterior is, but chances are at first glance one of the coolest touches will go unnoticed. A close inspection of the front and rear bumpers reveals that they aren’t painted black but are in fact carbon fibre. Each one is about the same weight as this magazine: and make the exterior completely out of the ordinary. The same material has been used to create new wing mirrors and a new rear spoiler.
Only GT fans will notice that the rear wing is a few centimetres taller than stock, the pedestals it sits on hand-made by Panelworks’ Ian Kenyon, who was responsible for the majority of the car’s bodywork. There’s about three days’ work in each to get them looking right. It’s a small touch but one that adds, almost imperceptibly, to the the vehicle’s stance.
The carbon continues inside, and doesn’t stop at the aforementioned removable trans tunnel. Keeping with the street race theme, the dash panel, which now sits inside a leather-trimmed dashboard, is also beautifully finished in carbon fibre. Great care has been taken to ensure the dash follows the original lines and houses the original light switches and even a coin tray, yet there’s no doubt it’s very much an aftermarket piece.
The MoTeC digital dash now takes care of all gauge requirements and feeds a never-ending stream of information from the MoTeC ECU.
A touch rarely seen in a street car is the inbuilt fire suppression system. However, taking into account the amount of time and money that has been invested in the XB, it makes perfect sense and leaves us wondering why people don’t install such systems more often.
Another cool interior touch (excuse the pun) is the touchscreen head unit that works in conjunction with a rear-view camera mounted where the boot lock would usually reside. With the screen housed in the glovebox, it was a bit out of reach from the driver’s seat, so the Panelworks team devised a motorised hinge system that sees it swing outwards towards the driver.
So there you have it: one man’s dream to build his ultimate car has resulted in exactly that. It’s not only his ultimate car, of course. We’re going to guess he’s created what would be a dream car for many people, not just here in New Zealand but also abroad. As far as we’re concerned it stacks up with the best vehicles America or Australia have to offer.
Not a bad result for a panel shop in small town rural New Zealand, is it?
Words: Todd Wylie Photos: Adam Croy
For more photos and full specifications, visit the NZV8 website.