Another reason why we'll miss the Falcon later on.

[Hawkeye84]

The FG and FGX XR Falcons slays the current Mustang in ride and handling.
The Ford Aus tuning team know their s**t!

[dave351cid]

I have owned my XB for 30 years this month and cant see me ever selling it.
I have bought a low km FG XR50 ute this year as a keeper. I am 52yo now and I want a nice Falcon that will hopefully last out my driving days. the XR50 is not getting a lot of use just now (3000km since Feb) but it is one of if not the best car I have driven.
I am also getting a BA RTV V8 ute back on the road to use as my daily driver.
I have only ever owned Falcons and although I guess there will be others in my garage in the future (a Ranger would be nice) I hope that I will always have at least one Falcon to drive and leave for my nieces and nephews to fight over when I`m gone.

[Seasoned One]

Originally Posted by dave351cid

I have owned my XB for 30 years this month and cant see me ever selling it.
I have bought a low km FG XR50 ute this year as a keeper. I am 52yo now and I want a nice Falcon that will hopefully last out my driving days. the XR50 is not getting a lot of use just now (3000km since Feb) but it is one of if not the best car I have driven.
I am also getting a BA RTV V8 ute back on the road to use as my daily driver.
I have only ever owned Falcons and although I guess there will be others in my garage in the future (a Ranger would be nice) I hope that I will always have at least one Falcon to drive and leave for my nieces and nephews to fight over when I`m gone.

got my toys in the shed too, daily drive my g6et and a territory for the missus, sadly (for the money equivalent) I just cant see any other car to replace my fg2 with that delivers the performance in a sedan that we have been spoiled with by the falcon, (yes and commodore if your that way inclined).. look online and see what you can replace that 533nm of torque with and what its going to cost.... i'm sad

[98TLS]

Best way to avoid missing something is to hang onto it eh,had plenty of old ones and still miss all of them none more so than a very nice XYGS i parted with many moons ago how many times ive cursed my lack of foresight ive long forgotten.BA GTP in the shed has a home here until am to old to drive.

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye84

The FG and FGX XR Falcons slays the current Mustang in ride and handling.
The Ford Aus tuning team know their s**t!

Gee i hope the sedan is better handling than the ute, cause my ute is terrible, but fun when the rear wants to overtake the front and the brakes are woeful. But i love it.

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

So basically you're saying that everyone should be driving a box-van.

Nope. I'm saying that I don't blame people for choosing SUVs over sedans.

Most people don't care about great handling or high power so that why SUVs do so well compared to sedans.

[roddy1960]

G'day , Admittedly this feature vid was made seven years ago and doesn't include the second FG and FGX but anyone who can spare time to watch it might be surprised with how many things Ford introduced to us all in the 50 years between the XK and FG . Quite interesting. The AU particularly was rated at the time going by this video as one of the safest cars anywhere .
FG 2 and FGX just added and refined even more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHUR2VqRhaw Cheers Rod.

[Bobman]

Having driven many exotic and expensive cars, your Godzillas, Evos, BMW, Merc AMG etc, I am still always happy getting back into one of my 'Falcons' at the end of the day.

It's the overall comfort and ease of drive factor. Some other cars just feel stressful to drive around.

[roddy1960]

G'day ..Look at this ol' chestnut ad from nearly six decades ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBISX-E9HRU
Car ad's were sure different.
Seeing how the Falcon and Fairlane all began in the States , lasted about one decade with Falcon at least , not sure of the Fairlane timeline ,
I wonder what it's like for born and bred American car enthusiasts when they see Ford Falcons taken a very long way after the U.S. ones when they visit or move to Australia.

I know on many Falcon YT vids they're frequented with comments from Americans and so many say "Why didn't we get this car here " or similar sentiments.

It's perhaps why Falcon ended up becoming our Ford product as did Territory for so long and why it'll always be a crucial part of our automotive history no matter what happens post 2016. Despite being born in the USA. this adopted Aussie soon became our own after being abandoned by the birth parent. From a shaky start (literally) with collapsing suspensions etc. we adapted it into a uniquely Australian bit of kit.
Cheers Rod.

[roddy1960]

G'day , And another one. Even scarier it's the year i was born
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irVZJ-YSkrI

[solarite_guy]

Rod, et al,

The Fairlanes here in the States became Torinos.

The Falcons were abandoned. To some degree or another, the Maverick somewhat filled the gap.

Australia turned the Falcon into a world class vehicle that many Americans would loved to have owned.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by solarite_guy

Rod, et al,

The Fairlanes here in the States became Torinos.

The Falcons were abandoned. To some degree or another, the Maverick somewhat filled the gap.

Australia turned the Falcon into a world class vehicle that many Americans would loved to have owned.

G'day , Thanks...Didn't realize the Torino came from Fairlane. Some see a resemblance to Torino's in the XA/XB/XC Falcon hardtops too I think .
With the XD there were some similarities with Granada from Europe so maybe in the looks department Ford was heading down the global platform many years ago . I know the V8's transcended country boundaries ie , 289 ci , the mighty 302 ci and 351 ci , also 390 and probably others. Most likely some of the early straight sixes too.

What was the last similar dedicated rear wheel drive , four door if desired American Ford that was something like our Falcon . Would it have been the
Crown Victoria like this 2011 last year of Crown Vic perhaps or something else . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKDmMJxZKKw
What about the Vic compared to an original FG Falcon of the same vintage 2008-2011.

Makes me wonder sometimes if our Falcon FG- FGX could have re-entered the U.S. market at least as a police pursuit vehicle as could just as easily have happened. Cheers Rod.

[solarite_guy]

Thank you Rod.

I agree with your comparisons. Also, The FG almost replaced the Crown Vic. It would have been a better and more modern car.

Yes the engines have, for the most part been very similar between Ford Australia and Ford America. Though there were some differences. E.g. the 302C 2V cylinder heads. We never had the 302C. Australia took the 240/4.0 to levels beyond anything here. Though we did have the bigger brother 300/4.9 for pickups and industrial applications. It is a petrol motor with a tq curve close to a diesel.

To this day the FE/FT series are my favorite Ford big blocks. The 390 was usually tuned conservatively from the factory here. The 42CJ was the most fun FE even though the 427 was the race motor of the family.

There is some interesting tid bits of commonality in some of the Ford engine families.

The Flathead V8, Small Block Y Block, Windsor and Cleveland all have the same bore centers; 4.380". That is a famous and long lasting bore center.

Likewise the Lincoln Y Block, MEL and 385 series all have 4.940" bore centers.

Really sorry to see a significant chapter in Automotive History come to an end.

Cheers.
Dave

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by solarite_guy

Rod, et al,

The Fairlanes here in the States became Torinos.

The Falcons were abandoned. To some degree or another, the Maverick somewhat filled the gap.

Australia turned the Falcon into a world class vehicle that many Americans would loved to have owned.

What was the reason behind America dropping falcon?

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by solarite_guy

Thank you Rod.

I agree with your comparisons. Also, The FG almost replaced the Crown Vic. It would have been a better and more modern car.

Yes the engines have, for the most part been very similar between Ford Australia and Ford America. Though there were some differences. E.g. the 302C 2V cylinder heads. We never had the 302C. Australia took the 240/4.0 to levels beyond anything here. Though we did have the bigger brother 300/4.9 for pickups and industrial applications. It is a petrol motor with a tq curve close to a diesel.

To this day the FE/FT series are my favorite Ford big blocks. The 390 was usually tuned conservatively from the factory here. The 42CJ was the most fun FE even though the 427 was the race motor of the family.

There is some interesting tid bits of commonality in some of the Ford engine families.

The Flathead V8, Small Block Y Block, Windsor and Cleveland all have the same bore centers; 4.380". That is a famous and long lasting bore center.

Likewise the Lincoln Y Block, MEL and 385 series all have 4.940" bore centers.

Really sorry to see a significant chapter in Automotive History come to an end.

Cheers.
Dave

G'day Dave and all . great extra info , especially in regard to the 390 and the six cylinder matters . A good friend has a beaut 1965 Galaxie with the 390 and he loves that engine . He also has the real deal 1974 XB GT with a blueprinted 351 and a 1973 Lincoln Continental with the 460..and an F 350 truck as well. That's the 302 in that.Sweet old motor that never fails him. Never had to touch it other than servicing and it's a work truck too . Doesn't mind a good Ford or two .
Imagine if the Barra Turbo had of been able to meet the U.S. emission rules and had been run in North American export LHD Falcons as highway patrol pursuit cars. Would have been cool.
The Barra T even gets recognised by the Nissan GTR community as a pretty good donk and they know a thing or two about turbo's .
We will miss all this other than the Mustang but so disappointing the Barra is hardly known outside Australia. That's bordering on a tragedy .. Cheers Rod.

[solarite_guy]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

What was the reason behind America dropping falcon?

Ford North America, basically squeezed it out of it's own market. They already had full sized and mid-sized cars. They had the Mustang which was a small but sportier car and in 70 introduced the Maverick which squeezed it more. What started out as a sales success no longer had a market by 1970.

My most memorable Falcon; in the early 80s, we modded a '69 4 Falcon 4 door sedan for a fella who used it as a sleeper street racer. It was a dull looking dark blue car with dark blue steel rims and center factory hub caps. Under the hood was a 377 Cleveland with a solid roller cam, 4bbl heads and a sneaky pete nitrous system. He looked like a nerd with tapped together black rimmed glasses and usually a dirty t shirt.

He made a lot of money with that car from unsuspecting marks. His street racing days came to an end one day when he beat a Hemi Charger. The guy pulled a gun on him. Don said adios and never street raced again.

[roddy1960]

Dave , just picturing a U.S. version of something like this a few years ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHrCZOKTZf8.

or.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz_NHWpIjHc..

Imagine the second one , supercharged 5 litre GT cop car with the R Spec stuff.

I'd get pulled over just to check out the car.

[Bobman]

Have any of you guys seen EricTheCarGuy's 1980 Ford Fairmont restoration?

An American Ford Fairmont, the last of them but was nothing like our XD shaped ones.

[solarite_guy]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

Dave , just picturing a U.S. version of something like this a few years ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHrCZOKTZf8.

or.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz_NHWpIjHc..

Imagine the second one , supercharged 5 litre GT cop car with the R Spec stuff.

I'd get pulled over just to check out the car.

That second one looks like it could be the original Road Warrior material, except it's clean shaven and with manners.

[solarite_guy]

Originally Posted by Bobman

Have any of you guys seen EricTheCarGuy's 1980 Ford Fairmont restoration?

An American Ford Fairmont, the last of them but was nothing like our XD shaped ones.

i just looked it up. That is the first time I saw it. Looks like a nice project.

[phreddo]

I stocked up on Falcons and bought one of the last FGX XR6 utes and a XR8 Sprint to hopefully keep. Ute for my run around and the Sprint weekend driving although it does a reasonable trip now and again. Enjoy them both, not a lot in Tauranga New Zealand.
Have owned over 30 Falcons in my time all shapes and sizes but no coupes.
Keep up the good work.