OT- Australian couple ordered to repay $108,000 for selling fake Ford Falcon XW GT

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: OT- Australian couple ordered to repay $108,000 for selling fake Ford Falcon XW GT
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Constantine in Melbourne, Australia on Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - 08:41 pm:

Article from Hemmings, see:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/06/12/australian-couple-ordered-to-repay -108000-for-selling-fake-ford-falcon-xw-gt/

Note to sellers of cloned collector cars: Not only do you have to worry about facing criminal charges for misrepresenting a cloned car, but there’s also the very real possibility of having to answer to a civil lawsuit should you get caught. And if you lose, as in the recent case of an Australian couple sued for selling a faked car, you may even have to refund the difference between a real and fake car to the unlucky buyer.

Late last year, Judge Clive Wall in the District Court in Southport, Queensland, ordered Joanne and Geoff De Rome of Gold Coast to pay AUS $108,394.04 (about U.S. $107,200) to Daniel Sammut, a Sydney-based graphic designer who bought (what was advertised as) a 1969 Ford Falcon XW GT from the De Romes. According to the lawsuit that Sammut brought against the couple, they had bought the car in July 2006 for $18,000, then in the fall of 2007 advertised it for sale as a matching numbers all-original Falcon XW GT for $143,000. Sammut answered the ad, flew to inspect the Falcon in person (twice, the second time with his paint and body guy to inspect the car for rust), and checked the Falcon’s VIN against Ford of Australia’s records to make sure it was a legitimate car. Once the VIN checked out, he negotiated a sale price of $90,000 with the De Romes in October of that year and trailered it back to Sydney.

Built in 1969 and 1970, the Falcon XW remained based on the U.S. Ford Falcon, but had been extensively re-engineered for Australia and New Zealand. Base versions could be had with six-cylinders or 302-cu.in. V-8s, while the high-performance GT version added racing stripes, an offset hood scoop and a 291hp 351 Windsor V-8. Of the more than 105,000 XW Falcons that Ford built, 2,287 were GTs, and it was the GT that enjoyed rising prices among Australian collector car enthusiasts in the pre-recession 2000s.

Two years later, when Sammut attempted to sell the car, it came to light that the Falcon was not an authentic GT. Instead, somebody had taken a non-GT 1970 Falcon XW and replaced its firewall-mounted VIN with one from a 1969 Falcon XW GT (JG33JC37792); a later X-ray examination of the firewall showed that the area around the VIN tag had been cut and welded back together. Who exactly performed the cloning work remains undetermined; the De Romes claimed they did nothing to the car while they owned it save for an engine rebuild and camshaft replacement. According to expert testimony given to the court, a non-GT Falcon XW is worth between AUS $10,000 and AUS $15,000, compared to the current value of a Falcon XW GT, about AUS $65,000 to AUS $70,000.

Sammut, who apparently was unable to sell the Falcon or bought it back when it was revealed to be a fake, held on to the car and sued the De Romes for breach of contract, asking for the difference in value between what he paid for the car and its current value. Adding in the expenses he incurred traveling to see the car and towing it to Sydney as well as interest on the amount for those two years and court costs totaled AUS $108,394.04. The De Romes – who the judge determined likely didn’t know the car was a clone – appealed the ruling, but abruptly withdrew that appeal late last week.

It’s believed the De Romes have less than a month to file civil suit against previous owners of the Falcon for misrepresenting it to them before the statute of limitations runs out.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bede Cordes, New Zealand on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 02:28 am:

I have never been able to work out why GT's go for such silly money in the first place...

XY

when you could get a Fairmont with optional equipment...

Fairmont

Regards,
Bede


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kerry van Ekeren (Australia) on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 02:33 am:

It's the GT HO's that bring the big bucks, the GT's are just wana-be HO's


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Stroud on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 02:45 am:

The GT's bring that much, and they are a four door? WOW! Dave


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Alex Brown on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 02:58 am:

Shakers are up around $500-$750K now!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kerry van Ekeren (Australia) on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 03:07 am:

Back in 1971, the GT HO phase 111 was the worlds fastest production car, 1857 built with only about 100 still around, at auction they can bring up to a million dollars.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Chantrell - Adelaide, Australia on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 04:25 am:

Give me an XC coupe any day of the week! Mind you a LE Monaro would be nice too...


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By kep NZ on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 04:43 am:

i thought they were all crashed eventually? Maybe the only surviving ones are clones made from crashed parts.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bede Cordes, New Zealand on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 05:22 am:

Fella's,

I just had to post the lower picture as I thought I should put a pic up so our American cousins could see what we were talking about, and when I googled XYGT HO pictures, the Fairmont was below the HO picture above !

David, there were some nice Falcons over at the Clipsal 500 this year...

I just love the little symbol of the "Superoo".

roo

Regards,
Bede


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rob Patterson (Aust) on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 05:47 am:

Like you Bede, I just cant understand why they bring such big money.
Having said that, I once owned a HK 327 GTS Monaro, body number 44. Would I still like to own it or what?
The young guy I sold it to, died while wrapping it around a tree. I guess most of these so called Aussie muscle cars met similar fates, hence the high price the remainder fetch now.
Rob


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bede Cordes, New Zealand on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 05:55 am:

Rob you are right. My Dad used to have a C-type Daimler Dart before I was born, and after he sold it, the buyer drove it straight up the back of a truck on the Kilmog (which is the hills north of Dunedin you might have drove over a while ago) in heavy fog. The Dart had a fibreglass body, say no more.

Better stop posting here, the off topic police might be coming !

Regards,
Bede


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chris Martin on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 05:58 am:

Where did this Australian fairy tale about the GT HO being the fastest anything start. Yeah, sure it was fast and noisy, but the "fastest production car"?
Whether measured by top speed or acceleration?
Think not buddy.
Even Ferrari and Lamborghini could lay claim to be 'production cars' by then, not to mention cheaper models from Jaguar etc.
Fastest four door as often claimed?
Nope. Try a Mercedes 300SEL 6.3.
Fastest Australian production car in 1971?
Maybe we can give you that, if the Monaro guys don't have any objection and assuming Bolwell were not in production at that time.
Still does not explain the silly money paid at auction.
If I wanted a fast Ford, I would prefer an XA or XC Cobra Coupe from the mid seventies, but even then only at Mustang money.
Chris M.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rob Patterson (Aust) on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 06:01 am:

I think Kerry meant fastest 4 door production sedan.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Alex Brown on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 06:11 am:

We have to be careful-one could say $10-$20-$60K on a T is SILLY money.... how many are left in the world and what sort of crazy prices do we pay for them? :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Stokes on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 07:00 am:

A few facts about the GTHO, which everyone may find interesting, and might help the US readers understand the Aussie excitement.
During the sixties, the Bathurst race developed into a high-profile test of a manufacturers product. Following Ford's success at Le Mans they were keen to capitalise at other appropriate venues around the world. By the late sixties, GM-H (Holden) developed the 2-door Monaro version of the 4-door Kingswood/Belmont sedan, and put it on the race track to make an impression.
Win on Sunday. Sell om Monday.
Chrysler Australia also developed a 2-door car, bur Ford resisted doing the same and did not believe the Aussie market wanted a 2-door car. So Ford developed their 4-door Falcon as their representative on the race trace track.
The Falcon was released in three set-ups. First was the standard production car, aimed at families and travellers. The next was a GT version. The third was the GT with a 'handling option' - the GTHO. This car didn't have to slow down to go around a corner! The GTHO was only built in sufficient numbers to meet the homologation requirements to race at Bathurst. I think the qualifying number was 300 but, going by a figure given above, they must've built more than just the minimum requirement.
GM-H made some impressive in-roads at Bathurst with their Monaro and Ford struggled to keep up. But, by 1971, Ford had built a 4-door rocketship - the Phase 3 GTHO, based on the XY Falcon pictured above. These Falcons were almost identical to the Falcons that the US had also produced.
Ford won the 1971 Bathurst race in an impressive if not outrageous fashion. They were up against stiff competition, especially from the small, lightweight GM-H XU1 Toranas, and the Chrysler Valiant Charger. The larger Falcon 351 V-8 'Shaker' (so called because the air cleaner protruding through the bonnet shook) thundered past the lot of them.
I've never driven a GTHO but I've seen them race and they just look like speed and power! They seem to almost twist with torque accelerating out of a corner and the pick-up is massive. To this day they are an impressive sight.
Following the 1971 event the competition amongst the manufacturers increased and the racecar development continued...
And then it happened.
Remembering that the manufacturers needed to make available on the open market 300 examples of their Bathurst cars, these cars were sold to anyone. My understanding is that some kids in a Valiant Charger killed themselves when they lost control of one in Sydney. When it looked as though nothing was going to come of these deaths, an MP took up the case and demanded a change to the rules. He won. No longer would the manufacturers be able to build these heavy grunt machines and release them to the public.
That explains why the GTHO is so valuable now. It is the very last of the great Aussie Bathurst rocketships.
And yes, one went for more than A$1 million a few years ago. The Bathurst Monaros and Toranas and Chargers have never gone for that sort of money.
I saw one in North Canterbury about 4 years ago (near Waipara) - it had travelled just 30,000 miles and I think it is a one owner. Some of you may know the car I refer to - it had been valued at around NZ$1M before the motor was stolen from it.
David Chantrell - back in 1979 I worked at McLeod Ford in Rochdale, Sydney. The new XD Falcon was hot! We had trouble selling the left-over XCs. I recall we had one of the Edsel Ford-inspired 'Cobra' XC Coupes that was marked down to around $4,500 - and still it wouldn't sell! We also had a most unusual 'Cobra' 4-door XC Falcon automatic (I've never heard of another to this day) and I preferred driving that to the Coupe because of the extra vision. How silly I was.
PS when the end came for the Bathurst rocketships, Ford had developed the Phase 4 GTHO, based upon the Aussie-designed XA Falcon. All the Phase 4 speed and handling parts were distributed randomly over the GT range, making those cars the RPO Falcons (I cannot recall what RPO stands for!) but those RPO cars are now considered valuable. But none of those cars have a full set of Phase 4 parts - I think most have a maximum of three components. Others may know more about that?
Best wishes
John Stokes


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Anthony Bennett on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 10:44 am:

John,

RPO stands for "Regular Production Option" As far as I know they called them that so as to raise no suspiscion, there was nothing special about them you see, other than being a bloody fast car!

I have an XY ute that will show a clean set of heels to a GT but that's what you get for a few more cubes and 30+ years of development;)

What we have found with the ute is that it's a bit floppy. Doing a torsional rigidity test showed round 100mm of deflection in the body between the axles so that's a good indication as to why they look so tortured accelerating out of a corner. One of the interesting annecdotes on these cars was that they'll turn the RH indicator on when you launch them off the line...

Adding to the legend was this photo...

3
The most famous and requested image ever published by "wheels" mag. Taken on the Hume Highway between Melbourne and Sydney it shows a GTHO phase III at full noise. 6500rpm @ 140mph straight out of the box. Originally the magazine ran it as a cover photo but retouched the speedo to show a much lower speed... they were nervous about the reaction it would recieve so they calculated the same engine speed and claimed they were in third gear, not top!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dare - Just a little South West . on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 06:14 pm:

Is that about the time the Gummmit"( aka Government ), decided that big engines fast cars were not for us mere aussies ??
and the fuel crisis in the middle east too.

David.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bede Cordes, New Zealand on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 09:16 pm:

John,

that's brilliant. I enjoyed reading that. Sure sad to hear of that North Canterbury car.

Anthony, thanks for posting the pic above. I like the story of the indicator coming on.

Makes you proud to be a Ford fan
Thanks guys

Bede


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Doug Partington on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 09:40 pm:

Having as a Country Australian Ford Dealer sales manager sold all types of Falcon GT's new from XR to XB I can assure you all that a Vermillion Fire GTHO Phase 3 took your breath away as the 351 tried to twist its way out of the engine bay. Compared to a standard GT the HO was a bit of a truck to drive the standard GT was a much nicer road car. The earlier cars XR & XT were great driver cars for the period, I could have owned my own brand new GTHO in 1971 for less than $4000.00 at staff price. What a dill I was. No doubt the greatest exponent of the big Falcons was the Canadian/Australian Alan Moffat who believe it or not is a big fan of the Model T. He told me of his school days in Canada when he drove a T coupe to high school and had to go to great lengths to keep it warm overnight. I visited the Lincoln plant at Wexford Detroit in the eighties and was chased everywhere by Ford staff seeking a Superoo badge. During the same period I had a Mustang drive car but it couldn't hold a candle to the big Aussie Ford.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Peter Borland. Bathurst. NSW. Australia. on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 10:13 pm:

G'day,
The production numbers required were 500 units as registered vehicles to qualify as " Production Touring Car" for their inclusion to race. Phase 4 Falcons, and the other "Super Cars" were discontinued with the stink from a few jounalists making the front page of the papers, Evan Green I believe was the most vocal and as such convinced the government of the time to pressure the big three manufacturers to give up their plans for their next generation of "Super Cars".
Holden had plans for a 308 cu.in LJ GTR XU2 Torana,
Ford the XA GTHO 400 cu.in Phase 4 Falcon and the Chrysler Charger 440 cu.in Magnum.
I believe there were four Falcons built to completion and went to race drivers, parts for the other planned cars were spread over the standard production run of the GT Falcon. It is said three Phase 4's survive to today, one is seen regularly on the Gold Coast in Queensland, the others are hidden away.
If you get to Bathurst for a visit, make trip to the National Motor Racing Museum at Mt. Panorama, well worth a visit.
'74 Fairlane 500
This is my Fairlane, it has the same spec's as the GT XB Falcon, only the wheel base is longer and is a bit heavier, goes as well as the GT without the cost.

Peter


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Stokes on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 10:54 pm:

Call me a train spotter Peter but your Fairlane has an accessory on it that I have only ever seen once - the front window quarter lights!
PS - nice looking trolley


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Peter Borland. Bathurst. NSW. Australia. on Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 11:09 pm:

G'day John,
You are right. I was alerted to the possible limited production run to which this car was part of by the Fairlane owners club at the All Ford Day at Sydney back in 2001. I have a letter of confirmation from Ford Australia as to the fact that it was part of a run of 500 car with this spec. They also had uprated suspension, dual exhaust, factory air conditioning hidden within the dash and other various inclusions exclusive to these cars. The car has not been restored and is as the picture shows. I am the second owner, and I will be keeping her and when I am too old to use her will give her to my son. He can drive me around in it!!

Peter


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By kep NZ on Friday, June 15, 2012 - 04:46 am:

i think there are more T's around than there are pre 1970 falcons. Or pre 1970 holdens that matter. Possibly more T's than there are real (pre 1980) falcons and holdens combined.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Stokes on Friday, June 15, 2012 - 05:23 am:

Peter,
That is fantastic.
I have a 60's Ford that I feel exactly the same about! It is low mileage, just as original as yours, and it will never be sold (touch wood) and it is also destined to go to my son.
John Stokes


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Joe Van Evera on Saturday, June 16, 2012 - 05:13 pm:

Hey Bede, I have a question for you. In the second photo you posted, it appears that the suspension has been raised 4 to 5 inches on both sides. Would this cause more of a shimmy at the rear end? If so, would it still be tolerable? Do you think it could cause other problems, like tailgating? (Inquiring minds want to know...........)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rob Patterson (Aust) on Saturday, June 16, 2012 - 05:44 pm:

(Inquiring minds want to know...........)

You know Bede,
I remember that era well, but I don't remember the factory offering accessories like that. Not even after market.
But I do remember being pulled over by the constabulary for not being in full control of the vehicle......if you know what I mean?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bede Cordes, New Zealand on Sunday, June 17, 2012 - 02:21 am:

Joe,

that's the very reason why the owner must have put the road cone out. It's identifying a "hazard", eh Rob ?

Bede


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Warwick Landy on Sunday, June 17, 2012 - 03:49 am:

http://rareshine.com/fpv-falcon-gt-live-the-legend-television-commercial/
You lovers of Ford early muscle will love this new TV add.Enjoy.
Warwick.


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