HOTTER PROPERTY

SAM GAUCI’S TAKE ON THIS 1980S STREET MACHINING ICON STILL HAS ALL THE GOOD BITS IN THE RIGHT PLACES

- SIMON MAJOR

WHEN a young George Anthony spent his late teens and early 20s building up a once-beige XB Fairmont sedan into a lemon-yellow showstopper, little did he know the legacy he would create and how much of an impact this build would have on more than three decades of hot-car fans.

Its look was unmistakable – the Paul Bennett-applied bright yellow paint and graphics were highlighted by eight chrome injection stacks slicing through the bonnet and 14-inch-wide Center Lines stuffed under the McDonald Brothers tubbed and clipped rear. We featured the XB as Hot Property back in SM, June ’88, but within a few years it was sold and heading north to Queensland under the stewardship of local gearhead Mark Crane.

Mark bought the car as a roller, building a fresh Cleveland – albeit with the original Algon injection – before refining and detailing the rest of the car to the nth degree. Craney used the Fairmont as a rolling advertisement for his Clontarf-based mechanical workshop, polishing the Center Lines and adding magenta-colored highlights to balance the yellow paint and bring the build firmly into the 1990s.

The XB eventually returned south to new owners, losing the graphics for a solid yellow hue and living life at the drag strip where the tubs and ladder bars were put to best use. Sparse race concessions aren’t always the best outcome for a street/show car, and much of the glory box interior had been either removed for good or replaced with aluminium, including the seats and complete dash.

Fast-forward to 2016, and Victorian street machiner Sam Gauci was keen for a new Blue Oval-based project, the only prerequisites being that it be tubbed and able to be engineered for street use.