This is a routine pursuit.
“I was driving home from work and I decided to take a different route to go by Lordco (a local parts store),” he says, “At first I thought it might be a Mustang II, but then I got closer – is that an Australian Ford Falcon? I gotta’ know the story.”
Main Force repeats, this is a routine pursuit. Code 44.
“Listen, you tell them we need help.”
Main Force repeats, you have your information.
This is a routine pursuit. Please liaise with Big Bopper.
'Strewth! Time to saddle up with the Main Force Patrol and put paid to Nightrider, Toecutter, and all those twisto bikeys and scoot jockeys. It's time to get serious, time to get Mad. Hit the lights Roop – and pass the Vegemite.
This is James McMillan's 1976 Ford Falcon XB, done up in MFP livery and wearing the names of two of its finest on the front fender: Roop and Charlie. Just as those two are sidekicks to Mel Gibson's Max Rockatansky, this car's a faithful tribute to the partner of the all-black Pursuit Special. They called it the Big Bopper, and today we're taking it out on patrol in Vancouver.
First, a little history lesson on Ford Australia. Founded in 1925 in Geelong, near Melbourne, the company actually has Canadian roots. Ford of Canada was long involved in selling cars throughout the Commonwealth nations – there were tax and importation considerations in doing so – and provided the first knock-down Model T kits that were assembled in Southern Australia.
Early on, Australia's Fords were much like those found in the UK: Consuls and Cortinas and the like. In 1960, the Falcon came along as a right-hand-drive machine with very American sensibilities; by the early 1970s, the Falcon had developed its own, uniquely Australian identity.
The first Mad Max movie used several Falcons, two MFP-liveried V8-powered XBs, one straight-six XA, and the menacing black Pursuit Special, based on the rare XB GT351 hardtop. If you've seen the original '79 flick, you'll know that the Big Bopper spent much of its time careening off minivans and smashing through caravans; at the end of the movie the car was so badly damaged it went straight to the crusher.
Aside from the Falcon: Cars of Mad Max: Fury Road Identified
Such was very nearly the fate of this one. Originally imported out of Portland, it was just hours away from being scrapped when McMillan spotted it in the driveway of a small towing company. “I was driving home from work and I decided to take a different route to go by Lordco (a local parts store),” he says, “At first I thought it might be a Mustang II, but then I got closer – is that an Australian Ford Falcon? I gotta’ know the story.”
As luck would have it, the Big Bopper replica had been given a brief reprieve from the crusher thanks to a broken tow truck. The tow company had been called to a downtown location to take the car away and dispose of it, and only a last minute problem with the flat deck had prevented the Falcon from already being crushed. By the time McMillan pulled over, the truck was fixed and running the Falcon to the junkyard was on the to-do list – if he'd passed by an hour or two later, it would already have been gone.
James couldn't let the car suffer that kind of fate, but he already had a couple of project cars and no space to store the thing. Besides which, the Falcon wasn't yet properly registered in BC, and there'd be further weirdness to come.
McMillan struck a deal with the tow company for the scrap value of the car, $350, found space at a friend's storage yard, and had the Bopper towed there. When it showed up, the guy at the gate said, “That's odd – I've seen that car advertised, asking $7,000.” Thinking he'd been scammed, James tracked down the original owner, and gingerly sussed out the situation. The owner had attempted to import the car from the US, but an unscrupulous shop bilked him out of funds, and then an indignant landlord insisted that the uninsured Falcon be removed. To the original owner, the car was an albatross, and he just wanted it gone. “I told him I hated to see it just get junked, and asked if he'd be okay if I fixed it,” McMillan said, “He said he'd be stoked!”
But the Bopper wasn't running yet. There was plenty of work to do to get it moving under its own power, including dealing with Australia-only parts. McMillan made contacts in Australia's classic Ford community, but the shipping was just ridiculous. Happily, years of wrenching on his own cars – mostly Datsuns and Mopars – gave him the skills to do stuff like developing an adaptor plate to make a North American-spec power-booster work.
After months of work and passing a nerve-wracking provincial inspection, the Big Bopper was finally in McMillan's possession and ready to run. It's Sunday morning, and with the clank of 1970s steel doors, we shut the doors, crank the slightly recalcitrant 351 Cleveland V8 up into a rumble, and head on down the street to see what trouble we can find.
Cosmetically, the Bopper's got a few bruises. That lower splitter was broken by the tow company when McMillan got the car, and the right rear door dented as well. It fits the character of the machine though, and as we skulk around back alleys and abandoned buildings, the dirtier the wheel arches get, the better the Bopper looks.
James has a CD made by a group of Mad Max fans that replicates the radio chatter from the movie, so we listen to that as we set up near the old Dueck building on Marine. The Bopper also has a working PA system, CB radio, and lights, and is filled with small genuine touches like the rosary beads hanging from the rearview.
Marine's a pretty busy street usually, but down here among the scrapyards and derelict buildings, it's like an apocalyptic wasteland. We spot a guy dumping tires illegally, get the thumbs up from a homeless guy carrying a trashbag filled with cans. A security guard in a van comes over to try and chase us out of one back lot, but seems content to let me take a few more photos.
The Bopper's perhaps not as well-known as other movie cars, but it attracts a ton of attention. “Everybody loves it,” McMillan says, “It actually takes me longer to drive someplace in it because I keep getting stopped all the time.”
Despite the big V8, the Bopper's more a cruiser than a road warrior. Driving a big '70s machine in Vancouver's traffic has its own challenges, and they double when it's a right-hand-drive fictional cop car. Even so, I catch a glimpse of myself in a storefront as we round a corner, and am instantly transported straight into the film.
Unlike other machines we've had on our Final Drive series, the Big Bopper isn't yet in its final home. McMillan couldn't let it go to the crusher, but he's got a turbo 510 to get back together and limited storage for any of this stuff. The plan was always to put the Falcon up for sale, and the time is drawing near, especially with the new Mad Max movie out soon.
Today though, the Big Bopper rumbles up to the curb alongside a playground in East Vancouver and shuts down. It's the ducks guts, this thing, a straight-up brawler from the land down-under. What a beaut'. What a beast.
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