AN OLD Ford Falcon XA Superbird has been given a new life after one man restored the car to surprise his father. Tommy Giankos’ father, Paul, bought the XA Superbird in 1973 - it was his very first car. However after an accident wrote the car off, it sat idle on their family farm. It wasn’t until 2013 when Tommy decided to rebuild it to the surprise of his father. Industry experts estimate that the car has increased significantly in value after its $100,000 revamp, but the family has no plans to let go of it just yet. Tommy said: “It took five and a half years, but it's pretty much a dream come true to think that I can drive this car now, when growing up I thought I’d never drive it again after what happened.”
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MotorTranscript
00:00Sleek, mean, and green.
00:14What's the fastest I've gone in this car?
00:17Am 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.
00:25My name's Tommy Jankos.
00:26This 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 and has brought many a grown man to tears.
00:40The Ford car is a dying piece of history in the Australian landscape with 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 were way ahead of their time.
00:57Just the sleek look and being as low as it is and everything else.
01:00This Ford is an iconic car, especially in terms of the landscape in regards to the history of the coupe.
01:05Very rare. There's not many hardtops left.
01:11I love the way when the windows are down that it's all nice and open here and 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.
01:22I remember growing up in it as a kid, sitting in the back seat until the time when I think it was 1988 and Dad rolled the car into a ditch in an accident.
01:34Pretty much wrote the car off.
01:36It 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, there's probably not going to be much to the car left.
01:50I drive it once as a kid and I remember we had a really long driveway at home and I sat on my mum's lap and I was holding this very steering wheel.
02:07As far as the whole restoration was concerned, I wanted to keep everything original.
02:11We started stripping the car down, took the engine out.
02:14The roof was complete right off so I had to buy another shell, replace the original roof that was on the car, reattach doors, put new guards on.
02:23We pretty much copied the same pattern plan in regards to the way the interior was.
02:28It took five and a half years.
02:30It's pretty much a dream come true to think that I could drive this car now when 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.
02:47It probably 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, it was time for Tommy to surprise his parents.
03:00I've made a lot of grown men cry when they've heard of the story.
03:04My dad and mum seeing the car after it was rebuilt.
03:22It makes me feel happy that I've made them happy.
03:25It makes me feel happy that I've made them happy.
03:28So it's a good story all round.
03:42I always look forward to getting in this car and driving it and 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 want to enjoy being able to drive the car, 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 older.
04:01It will give me a lot of happiness and joy as well watching him drive the car and keeping it in the family.