Last Ford Falcon GTs sell for $393,700

The first and last Ford Falcon GT-F sedans have raised $393,700 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

The first and last Ford Falcon GT-F sedans have sold at auction for $393,700 -- more than twice their regular selling price -- with the proceeds going to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Bidding for car number 001 and car number 500 (of a batch of 500 vehicles for Australia; another 50 have been set aside for New Zealand) started on auction website e-Bay a week ago.
 
When the final bids came in at 8pm Sunday 24 August, 2014 eastern standard time, car 001 sold for $157,600 while car 500 went under the hammer for $236,100.
 
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Car 001 -- a blue sedan with black stripes -- has been used for media reviews but car 500 is un-driven because it is yet to be built. The winning bidder will be able to choose the colour of the vehicle but not the gearbox.
 
As a tribute to the muscle car era, the first and last Ford Falcon GT-F sedans have a manual transmission, even though more than half of those built will come with a six-speed automatic.
 
The names of the winning bidders -- and which cities they were from -- were yet to be revealed as this article was published.
 
The batch of 500 Ford Falcon GT-F “final edition” sedans sold out within 24 hours of going on sale despite the $77,990 price -- and before the car had even been unveiled.
 
Build number 351 -- a reference to the engine size of the iconic 1970s Falcon GT that drove Ford to dominance on the road and track, and the power output of the last GT’s supercharged V8 -- was allocated to a Gold Coast customer after his dealer drew the number out of a ballot.
 
Ford decided to auction cars 001 and 500 to raise money for charity -- the company has donated $1.2 million to the National Breast Cancer Foundation over the past 10 years. The public auction process also prevented internal bidding wars among dealers and customers.
 
Ford dealers said they could have sold twice as many Ford Falcon GT-F sedans as the 500 that will be built, but News Corp Australia has been told Ford wanted to keep the car exclusive to retain its collectability.
 
Although there are rumours of older Falcon GTs selling for close to $1 million, the verified record for a classic 1971 Ford Falcon GTHO is $750,000 paid by a Sydney car collector in June 2007.
 
Just 300 of the race-ready 1971 Falcon GTHOs were made -- which cost just $5350 when new and was the fastest sedan in the world at the time -- but fewer than 100 remain.
 
Prior to that, the record price paid for a Falcon GT stood at $683,000 at auction in March 2007.
 
The sky-high prices were paid before the Global Financial Crisis in 2008; the muscle car market has since softened, with these cars tipped to be worth less than half as much today, according to expert car valuers.
 
The real winners may be the Ford fans who have decided to be patient.
 
Ford is fitting the Falcon GT’s supercharged V8 to the final edition of the regular Falcon range which is due in showrooms in November.
 
Ford has revived the XR8 badge after four years and fitted the handbuilt 5.0-litre supercharged V8 from last year’s Falcon GT.
 
With 335kW (compared to the GT-F’s 351kW) it won’t have quite as much power as the final edition, but it is expected to cost less than $50,000 and come with race-bred Brembo brakes as standard.