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The driver of the highly-collectible Aussie classic – worth approximately $250,000 – tried to flee the scene before an onlooker hid the car’s keys and a citizen’s arrest was made.
The driver of a classic Ford Falcon GT – estimated to be worth around $250,000 – has been taken into custody after a wild crash on a suburban Melbourne street.
Footage from onlookers and published by Channel 7 shows the red 1969 XW Ford Falcon GT travelling at speed along the quiet streets of Carrum Downs, a suburb south of Melbourne, before the driver lost control.
The four-door sedan failed to make a corner, spinning across the road and mounting the gutter before hitting a tree as it flew backwards.
The red Ford ended up facing the other direction jammed up against the tree, with heavy damage on the passenger side and a smashed front windscreen, the burbling V8 engine coming to a sudden stop in a cloud of dust.
The driver made several failed attempts to restart the highly valuable classic and flee the scene, but one witness to the crash removed the keys from the car’s ignition – with the driver instead making a run for it on foot.
With a number of people having gathered after the Ford ended up on the wrong side of the road, the driver didn’t make it far – a citizen’s arrest was made before police were called to finish the job.
According to the Channel 7 report, the police also had to free several occupants left stranded in the damaged car after the driver’s escape attempt.
It’s believed the car wasn’t stolen, but was a relatively recent purchase by the driver after the previous owner had meticulously restored the 1969 Ford.
The XW Ford Falcon GT is one of the most prized Australian muscle cars as the high-performance flagship of the humble Falcon family sedan on sale in Australia at the time.
While you could buy one off the showroom floor for $5000 in 1969, typical XW Falcon GT prices now can be $250,000 and beyond, with ex-racing versions attracting more than $500,000 depending on their specific history.
Even if the car in the crash footage is not a genuine Falcon GT, given it's running non-standard wheels and has a customised bonnet, replicas – lower-spec Falcons built up to GT specs – still command prices of around $130,000 or more.
Featuring Ford’s now iconic 351-cubic inch (5.8-litre) V8 petrol engine taken from the Ford Mustang, it introduced the famous GTHO Phase I and Phase II packages designed to beat its arch-rival Holden at Bathurst.
Famous racing driver Allan Moffat won the first of his four Bathurst crowns at the wheel of an XW Falcon GTHO Phase II in October 1970, with Bruce McPhee coming second in another XW GT for a Ford one-two.
The win had broken a two-year stranglehold on the race by the Holden Monaro, which won on debut in 1968 and again in 1969, the latter with the larger 350-cubic inch (5.74-litre) Chevrolet V8 under the bonnet.
The XW Falcon GT was also the precursor to the next model – and most valuable Australian muscle car of all, with several changing hands for more than $1 million – the 1971 XY Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III.
