Quote (MarkO): Compared to handsome rivals like the HQ Holden and XB Falcon, it looked awful and I well remember the endless ridicule its appearance attracted at the time (unquote) Mark: To me they could'nt see past existing lines so instead of starting with a clean slate they leaned more towards upscaling and lengthening the Austin 1800. Which ever way you look at it nothing could have come close to what Holden and Ford had on offer at the time. Just take a look (once again) at the stunning 1974 302ci XB Fairmont (GS) I owned in Adelaide.