The 2009 movie Love the Beast tells the story of Eric Bana, the Australian-born Hollywood star known for his roles in movies like Dirty John, Deliver Us from Evil, and Hulk and his relationship with his 1973 Ford Falcon XB Australian muscle car. Bana was just 15 when he convinced his dad to let him buy the car because he couldn’t get over Mel Gibson’s Ford Falcon Coupe after watching Mad Max.

Come to think of it, Bana was eleven years old when Mad Max came out in 1979, and Mel Gibson wasn't even the big-screen colossus he is today. Assuming Bana saw the movie the same year it came out and his love of cars began with it, it means the Australian actor was almost born a gearhead. Bana never let go of his Falcon, choosing instead to transform it into a race car later in 1996.

And so, the Falcon found its way to the Targa Tasmania five-day endurance race where it finished 3rd place in its class driven by Bana himself and a friend called Andrew. The experience, however, ended up ‘benching’ the beloved Falcon as Eric started racing all sorts of cars instead. However, the Falcon’s second Targa Tasmania rally outing as a 600-hp land beast ended in a near-death experience for the actor, his navigator, and the XB coupe. Here’s the story.

Related: 10 Times Ford Falcon Owners Modified Their Cars To Perfection

Eric Banner's Love Of Cars Started When He Was A Teen

Eric Bana's 1973 Ford Falcon XB
Via HotCars

Few would’ve guessed the Hollywood actor, who is also a husband and a dad, is a lifelong gearhead and racing enthusiast. And you certainly wouldn’t know it by his daily driver, which the actor described as “just a practical car” necessary to navigate himself and his family’s way from point A to point B.

If anyone paid attention, what would give the actor’s passion away is his beloved 1973/74 Ford Falcon XB coupe depicted as "The Beast" in the Bana-directed documentary film Love the Beast, featuring Bana, Jeremy Clarkson, Jay Leno, and Phil McGraw.

In preparation for the Falcon’s second Targa Tasmania race in 2006, Bana had the prized XB coupe restored from the ground up, transforming the 300-hp 335-series V8 hardtop into a 600-horsepower track beast. The whole affair ended dramatically (to put it mildly) when the race ended with the Falcon colliding with a tree. That wasn’t the Falcon’s end, though. Bana rebuilt and upgraded the car in the following years.

Apparently, it’s not that easy to get rid of a prized collection one has held on to since teenage years. Five years after telling the Falcon’s story in Love the Beast, we got a glimpse of Bana’s gearhead self on the big screen again in the Scott Derrickson-directed paranormal horror, Deliver Us From Evil.

Since 1995, the actor joined the Motorcycle Riders Association Toy Run in Melbourne to support needy kids at Christmas. And a big part of his decision not to move to America was his family, and also his love for Australia's racing pedigree.

The 1973 Ford Falcon XB Hardtop: The Beast That Nearly Killed Actor Eric Bana

Ford_Falcon_500_Sedan_(XB)
Via Wikipedia

It’s tragic to say that Bana’s beloved Beast almost ended his life, like the enchanting call of Hollywood ended his engineering aspirations. The actor often raced in his home country's competitions and recurrently finished in the top ten, achieving his personal best at the 2004 Sandown event. Three years later, on April 21, 2007, Bana crashed his 1974 Ford Falcon XB Coupe during the Targa Tasmania rally and miraculously survived the ordeal uninjured, along with his navigator.

A fusion of his cinematic and gearhead selves combined to make the documentary project a labor of love, rehearsing his relationship with the car he bought at 15 – his very first car acquired from a passion for racing, and how that relationship culminated in a near-death experience at the Targa professional rally roads.

Related: The True Story Behind The Legendary 1960's Ford Falcon

Technical Specifications Of Eric Bana’s 1973 Ford Falcon XB Hardtop Coupe

via whichcar

These are the current specifications of Bana’s Ford Falcon, courtesy of Hot Rod magazine after it became the Beast. Propulsion came from a 400ci Dart Windsor stroker built by John Sidney Racing, with JE forged pistons, a 3.750-inch Scat crank, 6-inch Scat rods, Speed-Pro Chrome Moly rings, Clevite 77 bearings, and ported Brodix heads with stainless valves, bronze valve guides, Isky Gold springs, and titanium retainers.

The compression ratio is 11.2:1. It used a Dick Johnson Racing dry-sump oil pan and pump, fed by an Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake manifold with a Holley HP-series 4150 830-cfm carburetor, to keep the engine lubricated. This build and a few other details, like twin 3-inch stainless exhausts with a balance pipe, allowed the engine, mated to a Tremec TKO five-speed gearbox, to crank out 590 horsepower and 525 lb-ft of torque.

To rein in all that power, the Beast relied on Race Brakes, shod with 13.5-inch/13-inch front and rear custom brake kits with six and four-piston AP Racing calipers, braided lines, Race Brakes RB74 pads, and a trick balance-bar arrangement with separate master cylinders for each end of the car.

Bana said the Mad Max movie and the 1973–1974 Bathurst race cars made the most impact on his attraction to cars and racing when he was – wait for it – five years old and watching the cars on TV do their thing at Mount Panorama.

Didn’t we imply earlier in this article that the man was born a gearhead? He finally got his racing license as a 21-year-old with barely enough cash to gas up his prized Falcon.

Sources: Hot Rod, Classic Grid