CRUISE Missile

THE SLEEK EXTERIOR OF THIS GENUINE XA GT CLOAKS A 670HP CORE

- CRAIG PARKER

WHEN he had to part with his 1972 XA GT some 20 years ago, Bill Kaglatzis promised himself he’d eventually get another one. “It was identical to this car,” says Bill of the one that got away. “Red Pepper, black interior, 351, auto. I sold it to start my business, BK Race Engines.”

Bill vividly remembers what eventually motivated him to fulfill that promise. “I was out getting an ice cream with my wife Dina and son Kosta,” he says. “A convoy of hotted-up cars drove past our Mazda 6: Monaros, Camaros and GT Falcons – it was instant depression! I decided then and there that I needed something that I could the take the whole family cruising in.”

Following a futile two-year search for a suitable donor car, Bill decided to approach good mate Nick Sutic about parting with his completely original XA GT.

“It was exactly the same as my old car,” says Bill. “Nick had owned it for 20 years, but it’d been parked for a long time. It was tough for Nick to sell – it took a mountain of persuasion to convince him to let it go. It was an honest car in pretty reasonable condition, and the build date is only two months apart [from my old one].

“I took it for a drive and stood on the throttle: Nothing! No tyre chirp, no pinning me into the seat – just Bat-signals blowing out the exhaust. There was no way I could drive it like was.”