TICKLED PINK

ASHLEY BELL'S XA FAIRMONT WENT FROM GRANDPA-SPEC TO A WILD PLUM STUNNER IN UNDER 12 MONTHS!

- JACK HOULIHAN

WE LOVE a long-running muscle car rivalry. Ford diehards, for example, still argue over which model marked the peak of the third-generation Falcon - XA, XB or XC? W For Ashley Bell, it's XA all the way, which is why in 2021 she sold her XC to build this gorgeous, Summernats Top 60-certified XA Fairmont as a counterpart to the XB GS built and owned by her partner, Michael Stivala of Hoon Customs (SM, Apr '15). "Some people think it's Michael's car with a new paint scheme, which is funny," Ash says. "We wanted them to match, but I like XAs more, so we built my car as a GS to complement the XB!"

Ash and Michael spent about a month scouting for the perfect starting point for the project. "We were literally about to buy one in Sydney that was pretty good, but it was just a Falcon 500 six-cylinder," Ash says. "If it was going to be a sixcylinder we started with, I wanted it to be a factory Fairmont." A two-owner gem in Tasmania ticked all the boxes - a sixpot survivor still wearing its original Pottery Beige paint. "The car came with the original sales receipt, logbooks and handwritten notes of everything ever done to it," Ash grins. 

Body-wise, Ash reckons this XA was one of the straightest unrestored cars around. "It was pretty much rust-free; there were a couple of tiny specks, but you're never going to find one with nothing in it," she says. "So many people begged us to leave it alone or buy a rusty shell or project car. We didn't want something we were going to strip back and find a wreck underneath. We may have upset a few purists and past owners, but I think we've given the car the justice it deserves!"