Name: Korey Mason
Vehicle: Ford Falcon XY

Nice-looking XY Korey, how long have you owned it?
Eleven years now; I got it as my 21st present. I’m the second owner. I got it from Cromwell.

Lucky man. Did you look at many?
Yeah, we must have looked at 40 cars from XRs to XYs. They were all around the $500 to $800 mark and for some that was even too much. The milkman had this one and he’d owned it from brand-new. The only things he had done were paint it and put a Celica five-speed in it.

Is that still his paint job?
Nah, me and a mate painted it Blueprint. It was done in a garage at home. The paint job is eight years old now, so it can’t have been too bad. I’d like to repaint it now but it still polishes up quite nicely.

The Foose wheels set it off well.
Yeah, I was one of the first to put 17-inch wheels on one and everyone was against me doing it. I’d only go for Foose or Coddington wheels on it — nothing else looks quite right.

The interior isn’t your standard Falcon GT clone either.
No, the Monza race seats are something different. And the centre console has the stereo and speakers in it, so I didn’t have to cut the door panels up.

It has a nice rumble — what’s the motor?
It’s a 351 Clevo with flat-top pistons and a stage five cam. It was a powerboat motor and when I got it was in a late-model ute. It pumps out some power. It’s not that quick off the mark, but from the mid-range right through there’s not much that can touch it.

It must be interesting to drive.
You really have to know the car to drive it. With the battery in the boot you only get two chances to start it or you’ll drain the battery, and if you stall it, you won’t start it again. You have to know the sound and if you need to brake with your left foot or not. It really has to be driven hard sometimes.

I expect you get some looks on the road.
Yeah, for sure. It’s done a lot of weddings. That’s what got us into the stretched Falcon limos, as I used to do weddings for a bottle of bourbon and a tank of gas, but then I found out what guys were charging for wedding cars. We charge $450 for a limo for four hours, that’s including wine and nibbles, and then we come back at midnight to pick you up and take you to your hotel.

Lastly, we have to ask, how did the number plate come about?
’Cause I’m a smart arse and I’ve always argued about Holdens to the point that though I like the new Monaros, even if I could afford to go and buy one tomorrow I couldn’t advertise the fact that I owned one, as I’d get that much shit. We were watching TV one night and saw a Corvette with I8A4RE and I thought, I wonder if I can get the plate I8AHQ. It was available, so I got it. The whole plate reads “Today I8AHQ tomorrow an HSV”. It hasn’t lost yet…

Thanks Korey, we’ll let you get back to where you were going.

This article is from NZV8 issue 66. Click here to check it out.