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ID A BIRD

History of the Superbird: (From Ford Literature)

The 302 V8 Superbird from Ford - an exiting package of Power, Comfort and Individuality.

Power: Superbird comes standard with a 240 BHP 302 CID V8 engine under the bonnet - and a 4-speed floor shift to make the most of it. (T-Bar automatic transmission with sports console is optional).

Other standard equipment include front power disc brakes, 185 SR x 14 radials, sport handling suspension, GT instrumentation - tachometer, volt meter, oil pressure, temperature and fuel gauges, speedometer and odometer, prismatic day / night rear view mirror.

Comfort: Superbird is luxuriously carpeted wall-to-wall and has high-backed, deeply-contoured front bucket seats with a choice of white or black vinyl trim.

Individuality: Styled rear window louvres ... a matt black front grille ... 6" x 14" styled steel wheels with GT chrome wheel trim rings, chrome centre cap and wheel nuts ... "Superbird" identification decals on glove box and on rear body panels ... and a unique, colour-keyed exterior paint treatment on bonnet, side and rear panels give Superbird a stand-out individuality that commands second looks.

You choose from three exclusive paint combinations - Polar White with Cosmic Blue accent, Yellow Fire with Walnut Glow accent and Lime Glaze with Jewel Green accent.

Special retail price: $3590
Optional T-Bar automatic and sports console $3735 A saving of $410 on normal retail price for the manual model, and $423 on the automatic model.

DATES and NUMBERS

March - April - May 1973

The following is correspondence between Ian from xasuperbird.com and Adrian Ryan Ford Historian.

From Ian 31/Oct/05:

I was given this email by the Ford Discovery Centre. I would really appreciate your thoughts on the following. I am a XA Superbird owner (3/73) which is a factory manual, polar white with cosmic blue accents. All research into Superbirds up until now indicates that the compliance plate shows them to be a Falcon 500 Hardtop.

While at Hardtops Revenge at Bathurst in October I got together with another couple of Superbird owners to have a chat about how to ID a Superbird (there were 3 at Hardtops Revenge). I know of three under restoration in Perth, and the guys knew the location of a few more. The interested thing is that every one we have seen has a build date of March, April or May 1973. The three in Perth, the three at Bathurst including mine, even the lime green one for sale at the moment on aussiemusclecarsales.com, all fit into this date range.

It’s only a small thing, but it seems to indicate that Ford took 700 Falcon 500's in a batch and gave them the three superbird paint schemes, GS dash, Louvre, 302, etc. It seems to be one way of ID'ing a genuine one. A guy contacted me from NZ last week, and his blue and white one also fits into this date range. There is also one on EBAY at the moment within this date range.

Any thoughts you may have to help confirm the pattern would be appreciated. I was hoping Ford may have kept records to confirm the dates that Superbirds were released. Any other information you may have to help ID a Superbird would be appreciated. We are in the process of setting up a website dedicated to Superbirds.

regards Ian

response from Adrian also 31/Oct/05

Ian, The problem in identifying a Superbird Falcon is that the car was not a specific model, simply a 500 Hardtop with the Superbird pack. The vehicles were all built in those three months as far as we can ascertain as the original Superbird with the large bird down each side had appeared at the Melbourne Motor Show. As it would have cost someone a lot more to build a fake Superbird at a later date by buying the various compnents, it would have been a futile project as, for a long time, they were not worth any more than a standard Hardtop.
The exact number built is not known but we have estimated that t was 700. During those three months Ford built 1045 Hardtop 500 models. The normal build rate per month prior to March and after May was around 100 to 150 per month so it seems that there were approximately 700 more built during those months.
Regads,
Adrian

GET YOUR ID & CONFIRM YOUR CAR.

Here's how!

As you well know info on these cars is limited. In order to confirm your car is genuine all you need do is send an email to Ford at the following address asking for an 'Old Vehicle Report' making sure to ask for details on options and the original selling dealer details (or dealer code - four digit number), you will need to mention your build date and JG number and you should also attach a photo of your compliance plate.

send to: customers@fordcrc.com.au they normally reply within a week or so with any details they have.

When the report comes back it will need to show a number of things the main three are build date (should be March/April/May of 73) has to display Option 84 which is the rear window louvre and should show specs like colour engine etc that confirm it's a bird.

When you are ready we'd love you to send some photos of your car and the details from these reports plus any other info you have on your car. All info sent to us is completely confidential and no personal details, like addresses etc will be posted on the site, number plates can be deleted from pictures if you need us to. The only info we post is apoproved by the owners first and normally covers Name, State, Pics, and car details.

agree/disagree?

tell us what you know about superbirds and drop us a line at admin@xasuperbird.com

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