The Ford Falcon has been a cornerstone of the Australian automotive landscape. It's conquered Bathurst, starred in Hollywood blockbusters and lived in driveways across the country for more than 56 years.
Next week, Ford will roll the final Falcon off its Broadmeadows production line - ending a 91-year history of manufacturing cars in Australia.
Over the Falcon's lifetime, Ford has hit some winning runs with its big Aussie sedan. But it's also had a few go through to the keeper too.
The Falcon's Greatest Hits
XP 1965 - It took Ford a few years to get the formula right, but by the time the XP arrived on the scene in 1965 running changes had fixed the earlier woes. Ford didn't wait for new models to make improvements, but it took until the XP for it all to come together. The bigger, 200 cubic-inch (3.3 litre) engine gave much more meaningful performance and even though the previous model, the XM, was a prettier car, the XP looked masculine and modern. Suddenly, you couldn't help but take the Ford Falcon seriously. The 70,000 mile reliability run rammed home that point.
XR 1966 - Ford immediately followed up the home run that was the XP by smashing the ball out of the park with the very next model, the XR. The styling was a much tougher, macho arrangement and pioneered the coke-bottle hip that remained a Falcon styling cure for the next decade. The XR is also considered a huge hit because it gave us the V8 Falcon. And unlike the opposition over at Chrysler, Ford decided that the V8 box could be ticked on even the basic Falcon 500 specification. The Aussie V8 family car was born.
XE 1982 - The XD that preceded the XE was also a good car, bucking the trend towards smaller, more European designs (as seen in the Holden Commodore) but it was the XE that fulfilled that promise. With improved engine designs, the XE managed to offer a full-sized car without the expected fuel-economy penalty. The coil-sprung rear end introduced in the XE also gave the big Ford better ride quality and handling than ever before. Ironically, given Ford's rejection of the compact-is-better mantra, the best XE variant was the ESP which stood for – wait for it – European Sports Pack.
EL 1994 - The last version of a particular generation is often a good thing. The maker has finally figured out how to build the thing properly, and all the little incremental changes and improvements are packaged in the one car. And that's just what happened with the EL. The six-cylinder engine was stronger and smoother than ever and the V8 ditto. Changes to the rear suspension made it match the front end much better and safety was on the up. This generation of Falcons was also light and responsive to drive and the EF was the pic of a good bunch.
BA 2002 - In a society, in order to have rich people, you must first have poor people. And sometimes the same principal applies to good cars; you first need to have a dud. In the BA's case, that dud was the previous model, the AU which was roundly dismissed by the buying public. Ford moved quickly, re-engineering the AU to arrive at the much better looking BA, neatly side-stepping the major problem. But it didn't stop there; the BA got an independent suspension on all sedans (not just the higher spec ones) and Ford developed the excellent DOHC six-cylinder for the BA. Even the V8 became a twin-cam design and the XR6 Turbo added the exclamation mark.
The Falcon's Biggest Misses
XK 1960 - The first Aussie Falcon, the XK, was such a disaster it almost killed off the whole idea. It might have been the first Falcon to be built in this country, but it was essentially a US design. Which was fine until it was driven on Aussie roads at which point it promptly fell to bits. The front end was the problem and it simply could not cope with the rough tracks that were still common here in the early 60s. Ford beefed it up on the run with stronger parts, but the corporate damage was almost terminal.
XC 1976 - The XC Falcon's problem was not of its own or even Ford's making. It was all a question of bad timing, really. That is, the XC came along just as the Federal Government decided to get tough on tailpipe emissions and introduced Australian Design Rule 27A. Effectively, the pollution gear required to meet the new ADR strangled the engine's breathing. That meant the engines used more fuel yet made less power, although Ford came up with the cross-flow cylinder head to counter the power-loss problem. It could still guzzle about 10 per cent more fuel than before, though. Other problems included hotter running and harder starting and, it would be years until local engineers overcame ADR 27A and restored performance and economy.
XF 1984 – rather than a bad car per se, the XF was simply born out of time. Ford should have killed off this generation of car on a high, with the XE, but instead it chose to squeeze another model out of the basic platform. The changes were too little, too late and the XF was simply a dated car. Still available without power-steering, it could be cumbersome to drive and the only performance model was an injected six-cylinder that came up short. The XF was also the first model since 1965 to miss out on a V8 option, and Aussie car buyers don't forgive or forget stuff like that.
EA 1988 – The EA ushered in the generation that would see Ford through most of the 1990s, and would develop into very good cars. But the original EA wasn't one of them. It was rushed to market without the four-speed automatic it should have had and with pretty iffy build quality and some reliability gremlins. Ford mis-read the market when it offered a smaller 3.2-litre engine option (which was soon dumped) and the basic Falcon package looked weird with a too-high ride height and tiny looking wheels and tyres. Oh, and, again, there was no V8 option.
AU 1998 – Anybody investigating how to mess up a new-model launch would do well to study the AU Falcon debacle. For a start, the car in its most mainstream form was, simply, ugly. The grille was hideous and the car looked like it was teetering over skinny wheels and horrible plastic wheel trims. Ford then did the incredible and refused to offer fleet discounts, effectively spitting in the eye of some of its biggest customers. The changes and facelifts came thick but mostly fast, but Ford was still forced to fast-track the BA replacement and the sales war went Holden's way.
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