I think Ford's 250cid/4.1-litre six was a happy medium between these two engines and a worthy addition to the local family car fleet when it arrived with the XY. I owned an XB Falcon auto with this engine. It ran smoothly and had decent fuel economy, combined with excellent torque (240ft/lbs) that matched the 245 Hemi and was not far shy of the 253 V8's 262 ft/lbs. Its torque also peaked at only 1600rpm (lower than both the 245/253) so it was an excellent engine for towing. It was also pretty good in competition, even though few knew about it. John Mann raced an XY Falcon 250 GS (below) against the Torana hordes in Calder Park's popular six-cylinder series in the 1970s. He said with the mods he was allowed to make like 40-thou overbore, extractors, triple Webers etc, it had so much torque it exceeded its power (300bhp vs 340ft/lbs). In fact, Mann said the torque 'twist' was so strong that it started cracking the webbing at the base of the block and pulling out the two-bolt main bearing caps! Ford’s Howard Marsden took a keen interest in Mann’s activities and when he discovered this cracking, Ford’s foundry started putting heavier webbing in the block castings. Another example of racing improving the breed. Mann’s Falcon never won the series, even though it was a rocket off the line and could lead races for the first few laps. Its only weakness was brakes, given the Falcon was larger and heavier than the little LC/LJ Toranas. He said if the races had only been three-lappers, he would have done really well!