Ford Falcon 1961 News

When it comes to used dream cars, the Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III takes the cake.

Each 50th anniversary model will get special exterior design elements, exclusive interior finishes and more standard equipment. The range will include G Series and XR models, with six individual variants available across both sedan and ute models, including a G6E, G6E Turbo, Falcon XR6 sedan, XR6 Turbo sedan, XR6 Ute and XR6 Turbo ute. Ford will build about 750 G-Series and 4000 XR birthday specials. The Falcon XR 50th Anniversary sedans will feature "Dark Stealth" colour accents on the grille, fog light bezels and rear bumper insert, and "Medium Stealth" accents on the alloys, along with high series side mirrors with integrated indicators and G6-spec tail lights. Anniversary features for the exterior include "XR50" graphics, body stripes and a "50th Anniversary" badging. Inside there is an embroidered XR50 logo on the seats, carpet mats and door scuff plates and 50th Anniversary instrument graphics. Other highlights include special interior trim on the centre console, dashboard and front doors, along with standard dual zone climate control, premium audio system and high series sports leather steering wheel. Features specific to the Falcon XR6 50th Anniversary include new partial leather seat trim and 18-inch XR alloy wheels with the detail accent treatment. The Falcon XR6 Turbo 50th Anniversary receives new leather-detailed seat trim, reverse sensors and 19-inch XR alloys with full colour accents. Production of XR anniversary models start in June, with G Series anniversary models to follow a month later. The longest running vehicle name in Australian motoring history marks its 50th birthday on June 28. It will be half a century after the first XK Falcon rolled off Ford Australia's Campbellfield production line. Ford Australia's marketing, sales and service vice president Beth Donovan, says 50 years of continuity in any industry is a remarkable achievement "but it's especially rare in a dynamic field like the car industry". "The Falcon's long and distinguished heritage is unmatched by any other car in the history of Australian motoring." Prices for the 50th Anniversary range will be announced closer to the on sale date. "But as with previous limited edition models, customers can expect these special vehicles to come with some equally special pricing that will deliver exceptional value for money," Donovan says. The timing of the anniversary anniversary Falcons also marks 50 years since the first inline six-cylinder engine was built at Ford's Geelong engine plant. The 144 cubic inch (2.4-litre) overhead valve (OHV) engine developed 67kW when it was introduced, which was class-leading at the time but only average for a 1.5-litre four-cylinder today. By comparison, the advanced design of today's Falcon engine would have been unimaginable back in 1960, with high-tech features like a dual-mode split plenum composite intake manifold, fast burn cylinder head, double overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder and dual independent variable camshaft timing (DI-VCT). The current Falcon's six-cylinder engine produces almost three times the power and more than twice the peak torque, while being significantly more fuel efficient despite a 50 per cent increase in total vehicle mass.

It got the axe yesterday after a lingering showroom sickness that has seen sales spiralling downwards for more than five years.  "It's time to retire the Falcon wagon," Ford's president and CEO, Marin Burela, said yesterday. "We have moved on."  The last Falcon wagon will roll off the Broadmeadows production line in June. It will be replaced by the smaller Mondeo wagon, which will be available later this year in both petrol and diesel engines.  The news came as a shock to Kilsyth electrician, Brenton Simpson, who owns a 2000 AU Series II wagon. "It's a bit of a surprise because they are such good cars," he said.  "I can load up five people and their gear and head away, no problems."Simpson bought the car three years ago and has spent about $6000 fixing it up, fitting a more powerful XR6 engine, gearbox and running gear.  It is used as his every day car, sometimes carting tools for work. However, he understands that if the car is not making money, it had to go.  "If it's not viable then you can understand Ford's decision," he said. Burela said it was a hard decision but a necessary one.  "Traditional wagon buyers still have an option with the Mondeo wagon," he said. Of the 31,000 Falcons sold last year, just 2500 were wagons.  The wagon's demise is the second such loss of a great Aussie Ford in recent years. Ford axed its luxury Fairlane and LTD in 2007, citing declining sales.  The big Falcon wagon has been a favourite of Telstra and other large fleet operators. However, it has been on Ford's kill list because of declining private sales and popularity of the Territory.  The current model wagon can trace its roots back to the 1998 AU model. It has received little in the way of design or equipment upgrade in recent years.  The first Falcon wagon, the XK, arrived in November 1960.

So far, in fact, that the traditional Holden versus Ford tribal war doesn't mean much to Irish butcher Paul Lawless, born in Tiperrary, even though he has lived in Australia for more than 30 years."I don't have a preference for Holden or Ford," says the 2002 Australian sausage champion who runs a butchery in Annerley, south Brisbane, and now owns two pristine examples of '60s Australian automobilia. His 1961 EK Holden and 1966 XP Falcon ute look like they have just rolled off the factory floor."I've been interested in Australian cars since the 1960s when I first arrived in Sydney," he says in his strong Irish accent. "I used to go to the auctions and I bought and sold a lot of cars, mainly Holdens and Fords because I grew up with the culture."There's not really a lot of money to be made (buying and selling at auctions); we just wanted to have different cars all the time." He says he onced owned a 1968 Monaro he bought for $1350. "I only had it for 12 months and sold it for $1500. I wished I'd kept it. In the '60s I went more for Holdens and in the 1970s I veered off into Fords and then I followed Dick Johnson, so I was into Fords. "At Bathurst time my allegiance all depends on what car I have at the time."So come that special Sunday in October this year and he will be in a real quandry as he now owns one of each, although the odds are in favour of Holden as his third car is a 1972 Kingswood he bought six years ago for $2500.Lawless says that despite his past buying and selling habits, he would never sell his XP or EK. "I can't see the point," he says. "I just want to keep them and hand them on to my sons."He bought the XP ute recently for $10,000. Lawless says it had a "clean body" with the rust cut out and had 43,000 miles (69,201km) on the odometer. The only modifications he has done is to reupholster the seats, install a new tonneau cover and replace the steering wheel with a "pearl" model. "That was fairly popular in the 1960s," he says. He has also had the original AM radio restored by John Carr of Yass."I bought hubcaps on the internet from America for $450. They are the only non-original part. Everything else is completely original," he says. It's his daily driver, while the EK only comes out for Sunday drives and car shows."I bought it about 12 months ago for $5000 from a woman who only used it to drive to the shops," he says. "No one has sat in the back since the 1960s. It's absolutely lovely. It is completely original. It was just always kept under cover. You will never get another car like that." He turns over the 170 cubic inch six-cylinder and it purrs into life. "Listen to that. You wouldn't even know it was running," he says.An EK cost 2500 in 1962 and for an extra 180 you could get a Diamond Dot radio which this one has. "That's the only thing I've had to fix on this one," he says.