Cliff's 5.0 EFi V8 XF: 

part 1 of 2

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There's one thing for certain - thanks to Ford's decision to build the XF Falcon minus the V8 (doh!) Falcons like this one aren't exactly thick on the ground.  And when they are, they are more likely to be a slightly tricked up XD or XE wearing the late model front and rear.  Not so this little black (or silver) sheep...  

Surprisingly, Cliff had no allegiances prior to the purchase of this sensational beast - "I could have gone either way.  The Ford thing has really grown on me since then."  - Sounds good to us!  Says Cliff about his thoughts on the XF's status: "It's not really a full on show car, as I still drive it and have fun - I just try to keep it as neat and clean as possible."

Left: Who could have ever imagined Cliff's car once looked like this?  That was 1997... Cliff first laid eyes on his silver beauty back in 97' - back then it only had 82,000 km on it and was a bog stock manual S-pack with the 4.1 litre (250ci) straight six, all in next to perfect condition.  Early on in the piece he had decided that an XF was to be the ride of choice for his first set of wheels.

Yet all was not smooth sailing - with the dealer giving him the run around over the first XF Falcon he looked at and then selling it before Cliff could get in a bid.  

As you can imagine, he was far from impressed.  Fortunately the salesperson realised his error and did much better the second time round - ultimately selling Cliff the Falcon for $1500 under it's sticker price - quite a bargain considering it's condition at the time - "I don't even think we got 500mtrs and Dad an I both new what a gold mine we had come across.  - The thing was practically brand new!"

Cliff tells the hardest part in those days was insurance - especially as he was under 21.  "I nearly lost it one day - with a mate driving at Phillip Island (I was in the car behind) when he got it sideways and hit a rock launching the back of the car into the air about 3ft (I'm not exaggerating either!!!)."  As you can imagine, Cliff wasn't too happy to see his pride and joy involved in antics of this sort...

Above: How many XF's do you see in this condition now-days?

"After replacing the wheel he buckled, it was back to its original beauty.  I must say this car is as strong as an Ox.  I had all the suspension, rails, supports etc checked out and they were all fine.  Lucky I suppose."  - Yeah I'll say!

But Cliff's run of bad luck wasn't over..."I then had a truck side swipe me at about 50km/Hr when he locked up in the wet.  Arrrggghhhhh!!!!!  It took out the whole drivers side from the front door back.  That was seven days before Christmas but Stylerod managed to get it done for me with time to spare."  Thank God for a good panel beater eh?

Through all this Cliff has admirably kept the stock Ford colour - "Silver Grey" and he rightly points out it still looks great - despite all those years although "it is very hard to match".  In fact most of the car still wears it's factory coat - although Cliff had the roof painted when he was having the body kit fitted and some vandals forced a respray of the bonnet and front guards...

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Stezza:

While performance mods were out of the question for the first few years (due to insurance), playing with the other sound generating equipment was ok - so you can guess what received attention first?   Starting with a pair of cheap 6 x 9's for the rear parcel shelf, they were quickly superseded by a Boss Amp and 7 x 10's.  Next came a Jaycar 10 inch sub with associated amp making a noticeable difference, but "lacking a lot of punch".   To celebrate two and a half years of ownership Cliff added central locking and an alarm unit, also building the boot out and decking the lot out with carpet.  "I didn't think it was too bad, but I soon realised how much I had learned when I did it the second time.  - An 100% improvement!"

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The next lesson learnt came in the form of a new graphic equalizer complete with internal cross-over complimenting the over-used amp for dramatic results.  - Followed closely by tweeters and an amp dedicated to the front speakers only.  

And that's the way the XF remained for quite a while - until Cliff came across the ultimate second hand buy - twin 12" subs, Kicker amp and subbie box from a mate's, mate's goldfish's uncle...   Left: Number plate describes it perfectly...

Not wanting to let any part of the build down, SAAS avenger seats were fitted with the rest of the interior trimmed to match them.  At the time of writing, the door trims had been done twice already and needed to be redone again as they "keep coming loose from the moulded arm rest" (maybe they were glued with Firestone glue?). A custom 16mm parcel shelf was created to provide a firm base for the 7" x 10" speakers. The dash and centre console are still original, but the 'truck' steering wheel has been replaced with a SAAS sports wheel.

For six months Cliff drove his XF without the interior using only the driver's seat and with no door trims while he sourced and had a trimmer re-do the interior in a matching colour scheme.  Needless to say the onset of winter helped encourage Cliff to re-install the comfy bits quick-smart - although apparently not quick enough, as a number of frosty cold days had to be 'endured' in the bare steel interior of this particular Falc.

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To ask Cliff a question click HERE!    CLICK HERE to go to part 2

And with that you're just about ready to go onto PART 2...

CLICK HERE to go to part 2

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