00:03Sleek, mean and green.
00:14What's the fastest I've gone in this car?
00:16Am I allowed to say that on camera?
00:20I'm a law-abiding citizen and I do the speed limit.
00:23I'll leave it at that.
00:24My name's Tommy Jankos. This is my Ford 1973 XA Falcon Superbird hardtop.
00:31You wouldn't know to look at it, but this rare classic has a unique history
00:36and has brought many a grown man to tears.
00:40The Ford car is a dying piece of history in the Australian landscape
00:44with the cars not being built anymore.
00:47You wouldn't think that the car's over 40 years old.
00:50It's 46 years old this year.
00:51The way they designed things back then and the way they had things styled
00:55are way ahead of their time.
00:57Just the sleek look and being as low as it is and everything else.
00:59This Ford is an iconic car, especially in terms of the landscape
01:03in regards to the history of the coupe.
01:05Very rare.
01:05There's not many hardtops left.
01:10I love the way when the windows are down that it's all nice and open here.
01:14And you can see everything from outside and people can see inside the car.
01:18It's just fantastic.
01:19This car was bought brand new by my father.
01:21I remember growing up in it as a kid, sitting in the back seat,
01:25until the time when, I think it was 1988,
01:28and Dad rolled the car into a ditch in an accident.
01:34Pretty much wrote the car off.
01:35It was my favourite car and I always knew that that was going to be my car one day.
01:39After the crash, the car was left to rot on the family farm for over 20 years.
01:44I started getting a bit worried, thinking if it stays there for much longer,
01:47there's probably going to be much of the car left.
01:50I drive it once as a kid and I remember we had a really long driveway at home
01:53and I sat on my mum's lap and I was holding this very steering wheel.
02:06As far as the whole restoration was concerned, I wanted to keep everything original.
02:10We started stripping the car down, took the engine out.
02:14The roof was complete right off, so I had to buy another shell, place the original roof that was on
02:19the car,
02:20re-touched doors, put new guards on.
02:23We pretty much copied the same pattern plan in regards to the way the interior was.
02:27It took five and a half years.
02:29It's pretty much a dream come true to think that I could drive this car now
02:33when growing up I thought I'd never drive it again after what happened.
02:36And dreams like this don't come cheap.
02:38When I started the restoration, I didn't really have a figure in my head about how much it would cost.
02:43It was pretty much do or die. I didn't really care.
02:47Probably cost a bit more than what I expected.
02:50With the end result and everything, it cost me over $100,000 Australian.
02:55Job complete.
02:56It was time for Tommy to surprise his parents.
03:05I've made a lot of grown men cry when they've heard of the story
03:08and my dad and mum seeing the car after it was rebuilt.
03:25It makes me feel happy that I've made them happy.
03:28So, it's a good story all around.
03:42I always look forward to getting in this car and driving it.
03:45And it always makes me think back to when I was a kid.
03:48And sitting in the back seat just like my son does now.
03:52I wanted to enjoy being able to drive the car.
03:54It's something that I always wanted to do as a child.
03:57And I want to be able to pass that down to my son as well when he gets a bit
04:00older.
04:00It will give me a lot of happiness and joy as well watching him drive the car and keeping it
04:04in the family.
04:04In the family.
04:07In the family.
04:08In the family.
04:09In the family.
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