HUGH WESTPHALEN – GT History

I joined the Falcon GT Club of SA in January 1997 with a view to getting advice on purchasing my first ever Falcon GT. I have always been a fan of the XYGT, especially the Electric Blue colour, so that’s what I was hoping to find. The first event I attended was the 1997 GT Nationals in Geelong where I was introduced to a club member who lived in Port Augusta, & he had an Electric Blue XYGT auto that he might sell me if we could agree on a price. I would have preferred a manual, but elected to have a look at the car the following weekend & see how it looked. After a quick drive & a discussion on the $$’s it was mine! The drive back to Adelaide was one of the best I have ever had.

Over the next 3 years I progressively restored the car until mid-2000 when I got an offer I couldn’t refuse from a guy who lived in Alice Springs, & so with considerable trepidation I sold the car & started to look for my dream car, an Electric Blue Phase 3 XYGTHO. I could not believe it but less than 1 month later I had found what I wanted from a GTHO enthusiast in Melbourne, & the car was mine. After going through the restoration process of my previous GT, I decided to keep the HO in its present very tidy state & just enjoy it for what it was. We had an absolute ball in that car over the next 6 years, then around mid-2006 I again got an offer to sell the car. So with retirement looming & the desire to get seriously into caravanning, I decided to let the car go, but not before seeking out yet another Electric Blue XYGT which was owned by another club member who rarely used the car as he had an XWGTHO that he preferred to drive. This XY was also an auto, so it was back to square one for me, which I was quite happy about after dealing with a cranky HO & top loader for the last 6 years.

Again this XY was very presentable, but just needed a few mechanical upgrades which were carried out, & it gave excellent service for the next 8 years. In early 2014 it was announced that Ford would no longer produce any GT’s, & that the FGGT Mk2 Boss 335 would be the last GT to be made. So the decision again was made to sell the XY & get one of the last FGGT’s before they disappeared forever. In May 2014 the XY went to a new owner, & I took delivery of a new Kinetic Blue FGGT Boss 335.

My obsession with blue Falcon GT’s continues..