GLOW-UP

PAUL BRINCAT GIVES A FAMILY-HEIRLOOM XY FAIRMONT A 500HP BIRTHDAY

- CRAIG PARKER 

THE XY Fairmont you see on these pages has been in Paul Brincat’s family since 1973. “Mum and Dad brought me home from the hospital in it,” Paul recalls. “I even learnt to drive in it!”

Paul’s dad, Michael, really looked after the car, which included giving it a respray some years before passing it on to Paul around 1996. “Dad gave it to me for my 18th birthday,” he says. “I’ve always loved it. From the time I got it, I kept it garaged and looked after it. I even bought a shitbox to drive around in – I didn’t want to risk it.”

Eventually, though, Paul decided it was time to get the XY on the road via a full nut-and-bolt resto. Mind you, he’d been collecting parts for it for more than a decade.

During the build process, the paint remained the factory Nugget Gold and the Fairmont’s exterior molds were kept intact. “The body was absolutely mint,” says Paul. “The floors and sills are completely untouched; we didn’t have to put a single piece into it. It’s even still got the original body deadener; we just gave it a good clean.”

The original black Fairmont interior also stayed. Some may look at the dash and steering wheel and think ‘GT tribute’. Not really so. The GT and GTHO interiors were actually based on the Fairmont, hence their similarity. A couple of subtle differences include the Fairmont badge on the glovebox and the ‘F’ script in the woodgrain section of each door trim.