XC Sundowner Resto EP.1 — The Good, the Rough & the Rest

TL;DR — the roof’s coming off… and that’s only the beginning.
This is the first deep dive on my genuine XC Falcon Sundowner project. With all the bolt-on panels stripped off, I’m documenting the van exactly as it sits before I start the long road to a full restoration.

I’ve now stripped off all the bolt-on bits — fenders, bonnet, doors, and tailgates — and over the next year I’ll work through restoring each one individually. It’ll be at least a year before I can get the body up on a rotisserie to strip it completely and begin the long process of a full restoration.

But for posterity, I thought it’d be worth taking a closer look at where this build really begins — and sharing a bit more about the car itself.

Firstly, while it probably came along about 12 months earlier than I’d planned, the fact that this is a genuine XC Falcon Sundowner with its matching-numbers 302 V8 block meant I couldn’t really say no. These things are seriously rare!

Both the outer and inner plenums will need a fair bit of work. No surprises there — the upper plenum looks repairable, and once I’ve removed it, I’m hoping the inner section will be patchable too.

I believe a previous owner had plans to turn it into a drag car — yep, you read that right — and they’ve cut out the engine subframe crossmember to fit a larger motor. Since I’ll be rebuilding the original matching-numbers engine, I’ll likely need to find a donor car to replace the missing subframe. Not ideal, but definitely fixable.

On the plus side, the floors are solid, as are the firewall, A-pillar reinforcement panels, and — importantly — the torque boxes. These are usually Swiss cheese on old Falcons, so finding them intact is a big win.

The bonnet, doors, and tailgate all look saveable — though the upper tailgate is borderline. Still, given how rare the fold-down and lift-up combo is, I’ve really got no choice but to save it.

Now, onto the “stop kidding yourself” department.
The drip rails are completely shot. I had grand visions of fixing them in sections without taking the roof off, but let’s be honest — the only way to do it properly is to remove the roof, repair any rust along the sides, completely rebuild the drip rails, and then stitch it all back together. Scared much?!

Same story at the back. The lift-up tailgate surround is absolutely knackered, so I’ll need to pull it apart as much as possible and rebuild each layer separately. Yep, scared!

Thankfully, while there are some ugly holes where the quarter panels meet the van sides, I’m quietly confident I’ll be able to cut and patch those — along with the countless other rusty bits in the sills, quarters, and pretty much everywhere else.

As for paint, interior, running gear, and all the shiny bits — I’ll let future Dave worry about that.

Tags:
XC Falcon Sundowner, XC Sundowner restoration, Ford Falcon XC

#XCSundowner #FordFalconXC #RestorationSeries