Wayne Draper and XB 427 hardtops

[Silver Ghia]

Just letting you know that in this months Aust. Muscle Car magazine there is an excellent article on Wayne Draper who was a designer with Ford during the '70's and '80's. The article goes on for several pages.

I read in awe about his and his mates XB 351 hardtops and what they did to them, including fitting 427 big block engines in both of them. With 3-1/2 inch side pipes and 10 x 15 inch rear wheels with mickey Thompsons, they could easily wheelspin in second and third gears. Couldn't do what they did these days!

Suggest you have a look at this AMM Issue 30, I've had my nose into it most of the time since I picked up my copy yesterday, still havent finished reading.

[nugget378]

It can still be done,Im doing a 427 in an XA sedan,its a smallblock though,and should have a little more power.
Quite a few coupes with big blocks on this very forum.
Sounds like an interesting read,Ill have to get a copy..

[nb_351]

got the issue the night before it came out... my dad delivers them... brilliant read, ive got every issue, 2 copies of some of them... the best read out there...

[Bossxr8]

Would have been pretty cool to be able to wheel your car into the factory and have them fit a big block for you for nothing just because they have a few spare.

[chich]

Originally Posted by nugget378

It can still be done,Im doing a 427 in an XA sedan,its a smallblock though,and should have a little more power.
Quite a few coupes with big blocks on this very forum.
Sounds like an interesting read,Ill have to get a copy..

Please make sure you post a few pics and videos for us to drool over when you're done! At one stage I was thinking about buying back dads old XA sedan (which also brought me home from the hospital when i was born) but figured sinking $60-odd thousand building it to a decent standard at 24yo wasn't the smartest thing to do. For some reason i'm sort-of keen to see what i missed out on :

[paulie0735]

For years I told people about a black falcon coupe that was parked in a car yard near the Gowrie railway station in Nth Fawkner (suburb near the ford factory) I used to walk past every afternoon after school and stare in wonder at this black beast with 427 stickers, side pipes and huge gold mags. For years nobody believed me but I knew what I had seen and yep, it now seems I wasn't seeing things. very cool!!

[nugget378]

Originally Posted by chich

Please make sure you post a few pics and videos for us to drool over when you're done! At one stage I was thinking about buying back dads XA old sedan (which also brought me home from the hospital when i was born) but figured sinking $60-odd thousand building it to a decent standard at 24yo wasn't the smartest thing to do. For some reason i'm sort-of keen to see what i missed out on :

Few pics in clevo tech,thread title "going to war"
Only early days in the build yet..