Ford F100 News

Sales figures show our car market is becoming more like the US.

Ford’s global HQ in Detroit will this year salute an Australian design that turned into a smash sales success for the brand – the first ute, which has developed into the vehicles that see the Blue Oval leading the segment around the world with nameplates such as Ranger and F-Series.The body style was developed after a Victorian farmer’s wife wrote in 1933 to the then boss of Ford in Australia, Hubert French, famously asking for “a car and a truck but we need a car to go to church on Sunday and a truck to take the pigs to market on Monday”.French put the challenge to Ford’s young design engineer, Lew Bandt, who devised a two-door cabin with a load-carrying tray at the rear, blending the tray sides into the coupe body – rather than the separated cabin and trayback truck commonly used until then. The rest, as they say, is history – 80 years of it.Bandt’s first full-size sketches – on a 10-metre blackboard -- quickly became blueprints and then prototypes, and the ‘coupe utility’ went into production in 1934, with examples heading off to the US and Canada.It became a popular vehicle style in Australia, with 22,000 sold between 1940 and 1954, and spawned generations of Falcon utes, which have sold more than 455,000 since the first XK rolled out in 1961. And the Australian influence continues. The Aussie designed and developed Ford Ranger is a strong seller in more than 180 markets around the world.Lew Bandt’s original drawings are archived here in Australia, and one of the original coupe-utes is still on display in a Victorian museum. Its descendants have gone on to resounding global success, with Ford selling more than a million Ranger-based vehicles around the world in 2013, while the F-Series marked its 37th year running as the top-selling truck in the US. Ironically, Bandt died after an accident while he was at the wheel of a restored version of his coupe-utility in 1987.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott

The story of the F100 and its many versions goes back to 1948 Ford when Ford in the USA released a new range of trucks. They were Ford's first all-new post World War II vehicle designs. The different carrying capacities were clearly spelt out for buyers: F-1 for the half ton model right up to F8 for the bigger three ton rigs. 'F' meant nothing more than 'Ford' but the system made it very easy for buyers and users to quickly chose a truck for their needs. Ford's objective was to beat Chevrolet, who was the then industry leader in light and medium duty trucks and make some much needed money for the financially impaired company. Buyers got their first look at the 'F' trucks in January 1948. Sales brochure said the trucks had a 'million dollar cab', referencing the money Ford spent on making the cab a more hospitable place for the driver. It was significantly wider than previous models, allowing room for the driver and two passengers. Interior appointments included full interior trim, sun visors and an ashtray. It does not seem a big deal now but in 1948 this was truck-luxury! Ford found that it had a real success on its hand and pushed hard for every sale. By the time 1953 rolled around Ford was well on the way to besting Chevrolet with a redesign that set a benchmark. These trucks looked like trucks, yet were handsome and even more car-like inside. The sales blurb called it "driverized". The concept of the multi-purpose "pick-up" was well and truly emerging. Ford also labelled the models F100, F250, F350 etc, and thereby led an industry naming trend. The 1953s debuted with the old flat head V8, but in 1954 the trucks got the latest OHV engines producing 130 hp. Later versions of the V8 were even more powerful with up to 175hp in the offing. The fifty-fours came with a hugh chrome V8 badge right in the centre of the white painted grille. No mistaking that it sported a new motor! The 1953 to 1956 Ford trucks are the most coveted by collectors and the 1956 model, in particular, with its wrap around window, is the one everyone aims for. By the mid 1970s Ford's 'F' range was the sales leader and immensely profitable for the company. And it still is in 2012. retroautos.com.au  

When Brenton Hill took his 1964 XM Falcon coupe to a car show in 2004, little did he know he would meet his future wife, Katrina, owner of a 1965 XP Falcon coupe."They were very similar vehicles, just different colours," the 31-year-old electrician says. "I just got to talking to her and asked her about her car. It was lower than mine and I wanted to know how she managed to do that. A week later we were seeing each other and we were married in 2006."They now have a happy family of seven cars including 2006 Ford F250 and 1984 Ford F100 pick-ups which are their daily drivers and three-year-old daughter Prudence's vintage toy car. There are also a couple of future projects in the garage."We've got a 1950 Pontiac Silver Streak sedan which is a long way off getting on the road and a 1970 Mk I Escort drag car which my father-in-law last raced at Surfers Paradise in 1976," he says. "I bought it off my brother-in-law as he couldn't afford to keep it and I couldn't stand to see it leave the family."He plans to restore it to its original racing livery and enter it in nostalgia drag competitions "if Katrina will allow me". "It's a pretty dangerous motorsport," he says. "But first I'd have to spend quite a bit of money upgrading it to modern competition safety standards."Katrina is not surprised Brenton wants to go drag racing. "That's the household I was brought up in, so I spent my whole life in that so it doesn't surprise me at all," she says. "He's a sparkie so everything he does is dangerous, anyway."They also have a restored 1957 Cadillac of which they are very proud."My wife's had her XP for 21 years. It was her first car, but she was getting bored with it and I wouldn't let her sell it. It's a cool car," Brenton says."She always liked Caddys and big American cars so we hunted one down for $20,000 from Victoria a couple of years ago. We called it a 30-footer as it looks good from 30 feet away, but when you get close it has some imperfections. However, we haven't spent a lot on it. We drive it. It's not really a show car. We just lowered it, cleaned it up a little bit, a bit of TLC for the engine and that's pretty much it. If it ever wins an award I'll be shocked."Brenton bought his XM about eight years ago for $6000 and spent another $6000 rebuilding the engine, replacing the differential, fixing the front end and steering, lowering the suspension, fitting a new exhaust, adding some custom features and replacing the trim."The trim is not cheap nor easy to find," he says. "Ford only ever produced about 3500 and they only made about 5500 XPs, so finding parts is difficult."Katrina's car required a more comprehensive rebuild."That thing's been pulled apart and restored from scratch," she says. "It had a four-speed gearbox and 1985 XF Falcon 4.1 crossflow motor in it, so we pulled that out and put in the original 170 cubic inch six cylinder and three on the tree. It was also repainted, lowered and had pretty much everything done."Katrina bought it for $3000 from a Redcliffe surfer who carried his surfboards on the car. "It was a terrible pile of rubbish.There was plenty of rust through it," she says. "It's disappointing what some people do to cars. They don't respect what they've got."The couple will show their Caddy and XM at the annual GreazeFest Kustom Kulture Festival at the Rocklea Showground on August 1. Visit: www.greazefest.com.