Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III breaks Aussie car auction record

A new high watermark for Australian-built cars has been set, with a 1971 Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III selling at auction for an eye-watering $1.15 million.

The record-setting price eclipses the HSV GTSR W1 Maloo that sold last month for $1.05m, while the previous high for a GTHO Phase III was $1.03m from 2018.

With only 17,340km on the clock and finished in an ‘electric blue’ exterior colour, the rare Falcon pushed past the million-dollar mark with a few hours to go in the auction before bidding stopped at $1.15m.

The Falcon GTHO Phase III was part of a collection of Australian muscle cars put to auction by Slattery Auctions in Western Australia, which collectively sold for almost $3 million.

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A 1977 Holden LX Torana A9X sold for $435,500, while bidding on the 2017 HSV GTSR W1 reached $365,000 before the hammer fell.

Other cars in the auction – a 1972 Valiant Charger, a 1972 Holden Torana XU-1, 2017 HSV Maloo GTSR and 1971 Holden HQ Monaro – sold at $253,00, $233,000, $230,500 and $171,500 respectively.

Slattery Auction asset manager Steve Waterman said over 1000 bids were made for across the muscle car collection, and over 200,000 people visited the website out of interest.

“It’s not suprising given some of the cars that went under the hammer were just unbelievable,” he said.

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“The Falcon GT-HO is better than when it rolled off the production line. An unbelievable recondition job was done on it a number of years ago. It has not been driven in recent years and it’s still like a brand-new car. The team from the Ford museum in Perth had a look at it and in their opinion it’s one of the best in Australia.”

Slattery Auctions is hoping to continue its record-breaking results with a 1959 Chevrolet Corvette, 1979 Porsche 911 and 1962 Jaguar E-Type all up for grabs in another collection, which is expected to net around $3m when the hammer falls in late February.