BOUGHT in ’09 as a driveable but rough and rusted bit of kit, Lee Hill has since returned his XY Ford Fairmont to its former glory with a full ground-up rebuild. Lee did most of the work himself, from paint to dropping in the 302 Windsor, all in his shed without a hoist.

“I PICKED up my 1971 Fairmont in early 2009. It was in very rough condition but it was a runner. A lot of people said it was too far gone to bother repairing, but I knew it could be done. I got it home and stripped it down to a bare shell for a full nut-and-bolt rebuild, which took three years.

It had significant rust in all the usual places and once that was repaired I painted it in acrylic Limelight Metallic, which is a factory XY colour. I then had the interior re-trimmed in factory Saddle by my good friend Dave Palmblad.

It’s powered by a standard-stroke 302 Windsor with AFR alloy heads and a solid cam, backed by a fully manualised C4 transmission with 4500 converter and a 4.56-geared 31-spline nine-inch with a G-Force Detroit Locker. It has run a best of 12.3@110mph over the quarter, on pump fuel.

All work, including the wiring, paint, panels, driveline and the mandrel-bent exhaust, were done by me in my shed without the luxury of a hoist. The only two things I outsourced were the machine work and the interior trim. I’d like to thank my wife Tiara for her patience, Dave Palmblad for the trim, my dad Terry and my mates Cole and Fritzy for helping out with the build.”