Australian V8 icon turns up in an unusual place

The United States of America’s 25 year car import rule prevents vehicles sold overseas from being brought to its shores before turning more than a quarter of a century old, but the rolling nature of the law means more models become available every year.

While most who are interested in importing cars look to Japan or Europe, one person decided to bring over one of Australia’s most controversial motoring icons - the AU Ford Falcon.

A sales flop at the time thanks to its ‘New Edge’ styling, a harder design to swallow compared to the VT Holden Commodore, the AU Falcon has become something of a cult classic, partly due to the sheer volume which have ended up staying alive.

However, not every one left over is an ex-taxi or police car, with this example listed on US website Cars and Bids being a Falcon XR8, fitted with a 5.0-litre Windsor V8, a five-speed manual transmission and a rear limited-slip differential.

Based in North Carolina, this 1998 model is one of the first AU Falcon XR8s, as it took until 2000 for the Series II to launch. Finished in Hot Chili Red, it’s also fitted with wheels from a Falcon FG Mk2 XR6.

According to the listing, it has been fitted with Koni shocks all round, as well as lowered, Australian-made King Springs. The odometer is just about to clock over 200,000km, a relatively low reading for a 27-year old car.

At the time of writing, bidding is up to US$10,000 (A$15,400), though the auction is due to end this weekend, by which time its price is expected to increase. On some Australian car classified sites, equivalent AU XR8s are listed for about $15,000 to $20,000.