Ford Falcon Spotters Guide

Home » Hot Rods Down Under » Car Spotters Guide » Ford Australia Cars » Ford Falcon Spotters Guide

XK Falcon September 1960 - August 1962
XL Falcon August 1962 - February 1964
XM Falcon February 1964 - February 1965
XP Falcon February 1965 September 1966
XR Falcon September 1966 - March 1968
XT Falcon April 1968 - June 1969
XW Falcon June 1969 - November 1970
XY Falcon November 1970 - February 1972
XA Falcon February 1972 - November 1973
XB Falcon November 1973 - July 1976
XC Falcon July 1976 - March 1979
XD Falcon March 1979 - March 1982
XE Falcon March 1982 - October 1984
XF Falcon October 1984 - February 1988
EA Falcon February 1988 - July 1991
EB Falcon July 1991 August 1993
ED Falcon August 1993 - August 1994
EF Falcon September 1994 - August 1996
EL Falcon August 1996 - September 1998
AU Falcon September 1998 - April 2000
AUII Falcon April 2000 - October 2001
AUIII Falcon October 2001 -
BA Falcon September 2002 -
BF Falcon October 2005 -
BF Mk II Falcon October 2006 -
FG Falcon 17 February 2008 -
FG Update Falcon October 2010 -

ZA Fairlane 1967–1968
ZB Fairlane 1968–1969
ZC Fairlane 1969–1970
ZD Fairlane 1970–1972
ZF Fairlane 1972–1973
ZG / P5 Fairlane 1973–1976
ZH / P6 Fairlane 1976–1979
ZJ / FC Fairlane 1979–1982
ZK / FD Fairlane 1982–1984
ZL / FE Fairlane 1984–1988
NA / DA Fairlane 1988–1991
NC / DC Fairlane 1991–1995
NF / DF Fairlane 1995–1996
NL / DL Fairlane 1996–1998
AU Fairlane 1999–2003
BA Fairlane 2003-2005
BF Fairlane 2005-2007
The Ford Fairlane and LTD are full-size luxury vehicles that were produced in a series of models by Ford Australia between 1959 (with the LTD commencing production in 1973) and 2007. From 1959 to 1964, the Fairlane was a locally assembled version of the American Ford Fairlane which had taken its name from Henry Ford's estate, Fair Lane, near Dearborn, Michigan. This was Ford Australia’s top of the range model until replaced by an Australian-assembled version of the full-size American Ford Galaxie. In 1967 Ford Australia reintroduced the Fairlane, this time as an Australian-developed, luxury, long-wheelbase version of its mainstream Falcon, positioned between the Falcon and the Galaxie. The locally assembled Galaxie evolved into the LTD which was itself replaced in 1973 by an Australian developed, Fairlane-based model, also known as the Ford LTD. In North America, unlike its designation in Australia, it was not considered a luxury vehicle. In Australia, "LTD" originally stood for "Lincoln Type Design", although Ford Australia later promoted a connection with the meaning "Limited". The Fairlane and LTD competed in the marketplace with the Holden Brougham (1968–1971), the Statesman (1971–1984) and later with the Holden Statesman and Caprice (1990–2007). In May 2007 it was announced that production of the Fairlane and LTD would cease as a decline in sales in its market segment rendered continued production of long-wheelbase models unsustainable. The last Fairlane was produced on 13 December 2007.

Before The Falcon

Tracing the linage of Australia's Ford Falcon can be a rather daunting task, given Ford have been such a great contributor to the Australian motoring scene since Henry developed the Model T. In fact, it was the Model T that went a long way establishing the reputation of the maker, it endearing itself to many Aussie pioneering drivers who soon came to appreciate the cars strength and durability in the harsh Australian conditions.

Back in 1904, Ford's fledgling Detroit operation was experiencing financial difficulty, and so in a search to acquire much needed capital, Henry Ford met with Gordon McGregor, President of the Walkerville Wagon Company of Walkerville, Ontario, Canada. A deal was struck that would see the Walkerville Wagon Company assume entire production of Ford motor cars built for the British Empire, with the exclusion of Britain and Ireland. Part of the deal included some 51% of the Ford Motor Company of Canada being handed over to shareholders of Ford USA.

The Walkerville Wagon Company were naturally keen to begin exports of their cars, and high on the list were Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The very first distributor and assembler of Ford cars was the Tarrant Motor Company of Melbourne. For a time things were rosy, however the Canadian HQ soon became displeased with the profitability of the Australian operation, and thought that by developing a local Australian manufacturing and assembly plant, profitability was sure to follow. They sent Hubert French to investigate the viability of such an operation.

The Ford Motor Company of Australia was registered on the 31st March, 1925, they immediately doing away with the existing distributor system and dealing directly with their own retail network. 40 hectares of land was purchased in Geelong, however while the buildings were under construction, part of the Dalgety's wool store was leased so that assembly could commence immediately. Production of the Model T in various body configurations followed soon after, and while Geelong was to be the main production facility, Ford also went to lengths to ensure adequate representation in other states, with facilities being established at Eagle Farm in Brisbane, Lidcombe in Sydney, Birkenhead in Adelaide and Fremantle.

The Model A arrived in 1928, and would remain the mainstay of the Australian operation until the next major arrival in the 1930's, the V8. And of course there was the ute, designed in Geelong by Lew Bandt. Its design came about following a letter sent to Ford by a Gippsland farmers wife, she not being terribly impressed with the practicality of the vehicles then on offer. In the letter, she wrote "Can you build me a vehicle that we can go to church in on Sunday without getting wet, and my husband can use it to take the pigs to market on Monday?"

Hubert French was still heading the Ford Australia operation, and he thought the idea had merit. French enlisted the talents of a young Lew Bandt to create a design that combined the front of a passenger car (in this case a Ford Coupe) with the rear of a truck. His design was a masterpiece, it offering unrivaled comfort combined with practacility for the man on the land. It didn't take long for other manufacturers to realise what a watershed Bandt's design was, and other companies rushed similar designs to market both here in Australia, and around the world.

Obviously some credit should also go to Hubert French, he not only shared a vision, but was able to select the ideal person from within Ford to complete the design. But that was in the 1930's, and it was during the next decade that things really started to heat up on the Australian car front, and for that we need to jump camp and talk about the General.

The First Australian Car

It was inevitable that Australia would want to manufacture its own car, rather than merely assemble imports from knock down kits. Lawrence (Larry) Hartnett was in charge of General Motors Holden's at the time, and he was arguably a more cunning politician than Hubert French. Designs had been developed for an all Australian car, and Hartnett had to overcome many obstacles along the way, not least of which was in he getting approval for the project from GM's Detroit Headquarters. For more information on what transpired, you can check the Holden Heritage page on this site.

By contrast, French was instructed by his Canadian management that he was only to use existing product - and so the title of "Australia's Own Car" was to go unchallenged, for a time. Instead, Ford's Aussie product line-up consisted of the larger V8's from Canada (Custom, Customline and Fairlane's), and the smaller British built 4 and 6 cylinder cars such as the Anglia, Prefect, Consul and Zephyr.

The only car that could go head to head with the 48/215 was the Zephyr, but after importation of the CKD from Dagenham it was around 10% more expensive, and given the media hype surrounding the all-new Holden it was never really in the race. French was replaced by Charles A. (Charlie) Smith in June, 1950, who immediately set about convincing the powers to be in Canada that Ford needed their own local product to remain competitive.

It took him a while, but in 1955 the nod was given for the manufacture of the Zephyr locally. The Mark II arrived the following year, and many commentators believed it to be better than the comparable FE Holden, better equipped, better handling and (some may say) better looking. But regardless of how much "better" it was, it remained considerably more expensive.

The Decision, Zephyr or Falcon?

To remain competitive, Ford's US stylists were commissioned with the task of revising the Zephyr Mark II. The only probelm was that the late 1950's and early 1960's ushered in a time of major design change in the look of US built cars, and the Zephyr had become pretty much a dinousaur. Still, the designers did the best they could with the aging design, and waited for the arrival of Charlie Smith to give it the nod.

The call came on July 31st, 1958. In an interview, Charlie Smith remembered..."Mr Emmett cabled me to meet him in Detroit to see the Zephyr that was being redesigned for Australia, and with a party of my senior executives I immediately left for the US.

When they wheeled out the Zephyr at the design studio's, I simply didn't like the look of it, and I said so". Theodore Emmet then showed Smith a mock up of a new compact being designed for the US market, the Falcon. On seeing the new car, Smith replied "That's the car I want for Australia!".

Conjecture abounds to this day, was Emmet disappointed that Smith chose not to proceed with the revised Zephyr, or quietly elated that he had chosen the fresh new design of the US compact? It probably helped that the Falcon, apart from being radically more modern, was also cheaper to manufacture. And at a time when Australian's were turning to the US for design inspiration (no doubt due in part to the advent of television, and the plethora of US shows being broadcast), the Falcon seemed far more likely to be a sales winner.

Australian assembled U.S. Fairlanes

Full-size Fairlane (1959–1962)

In September 1959 Ford Australia released three new locally assembled models, the Fairlane 500, the lower specification Custom 300 and the Ranch Wagon. They were sourced from Ford of Canada but were essentially the same as their 1959 US Ford counterparts. Tooling for local manufacture had taken nearly two years and had been completed at a cost of almost £1.5 million Australian.

The sedans were 9½ inches longer and 5 inches lower than the Ford Customline models which they replaced and all three models featured a 204 hp (152 kW) 332-cubic-inch (5.44 L) V8 engine. The Custom 300 and Ranch Wagon were fitted with a three-speed manual transmission as standard equipment and the Fairlane 500 utilised a fully automatic gearbox. Wheelbase was 118".

For 1960 the range was updated with the grille and trim from the 1959 Canadian Meteor and engine power was increased to 220 hp (164 kW).

Holden Cars
Falcon Cars
Valiant Cars
Buick Cars & Trucks
Chevrolet Cars & Trucks
Chrysler Cars & Trucks
Dodge Cars & Trucks
Ford Cars & Trucks
GMC Cars & Trucks
International Cars & Trucks
Oldsmobile Cars & Trucks
Plymouth Cars & Trucks
Pontiac Cars & Trucks
Studebaker Cars & Trucks
Willys Cars & Trucks

About

About Hot Rods Down Under
Contact Us
Copyright
Disclaimer
Terms and Conditions
Privacy
Site Map

Hot Rods Down Under
Movies
Music
TV
Calendar
Links
Home