XC Fairmont Hardtop + Aston Martin Lagonda + Jaguar XJ-C - ones that got away

Ford XC Fairmont hardtop - Advertised July 199

If you want a really rare two-door Falcon, don’t spend megabucks on a GT or Cobra. Just track down (if you can) a 5.8-litre XC Fairmont. From 1976-78, only 648 Fairmont Hardtops were made and far fewer than that would have been running the biggest of Ford Australia’s V8 engines.

Survivors by 1999 were quite likely scarce, yet this XC was insanely cheap and surely would have sold soon after the ad appeared. Where is it now? Hopefully in a similar condition, as seen here and not cobbled into a fake Cobra. What’s it worth now? Lots more than in 1999.

Then: $5500. Now: $85,000-110,000

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Aston Martin Lagonda - Advertised February 2004

Obviously, the car being sold isn’t the car being shown but when the car in question is a Towns Lagonda the actual item is less important than its influence on an owner’s self-esteem. William Towns designed his futuristic sedan for people with limitless money and fatalistic philosophies, people who grew up watching Thunderbirds on TV and really wanted Lady Penelope’s Rolls.

The shape echoed Leyland ‘wedge’ designs from the 1970s, build quality was comparable and the car was crammed with strange ideas. Only 645 were built and surviving cars rarely exceed $100,000.

Then: $105,000. Now: $95,000-115,000

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Jaguar XJ-C 4.2 - Advertised December 2003

The most beautiful sedan-based Jaguar took years to move from prototype to production and all because a pesky piece of sealing rubber refused to do its job. Wind whistling between slabs of side-glass haunted Jaguar’s designers and ensured that the XJ-C entered production many months later than it deserved.

Announced in 1973, the 4.2 and companion 5.3-litre version eventually appeared in September 1975 and stayed until November 1977. A few hundred came to Australia and for some time remained affordable. Values more recently have climbed, but not to untenable levels.

Then: $24,500. Now: $45,000-50,000

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Chevrolet Impala 2-door - Advertised April 1997

Australia during the 1960s imported a lot of US-spec Chevs and some of those cars survive to this day. When new they needed RHD conversion which could cause problems, but none of that applies to this two-door Impala. It is a more recent import in factory LHD form and with lots of goodies to entertain Aussie owners.

During the 1990s when this car was sold, values were hampered by economic issues and $26,000 might have been hard to achieve. That has changed over the past few years though, with demand for Impalas from the 1960s surging.

Then: $26,000. Now: $50,000-55,000

From Unique Cars #470, Sep/Oct 2022

Originally published at our sister site, Unique Cars