Ford Falcon 1962 News

How can they not, when the Japanese hero is now the world's all-time favourite with a production total that has just topped 40 million cars. Based on those numbers, the Corolla is nearly twice as popular as the Volkswagen Beetle with 21.5 million sales and even further ahead of the T-Model Ford at 16.5 million, although it has had the advantage of selling at a time when far more people everywhere in the world own and drive cars.My first experience of the Corolla was in the 1960s, soon after the original cars landed in Australia. By the standard of the times, and we're talking here about Falcons and Kingswoods and Valiants, it was tiny and tinny but also solid, sensible and smartly priced. I was only a rider and not a driver at the time, but it also had a fun factor that was missing from other cars of my acquaintance - and you have to remember that an Austin Freeway cringed in our suburban Sydney driveway.The original Corolla helped ignite a small-car revolution and laid the firm foundation that now sees Toyota rampaging along as Australia's favourite carmaker, with annual sales that trump the combined efforts of Holden and Mazda in the other podium places.In America, the Corolla - along with the Honda Civic - is credited with the relatively recent bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler. Looking back to the USA in the sixties, it became the 'second' car in many American households and won over women and youngsters driving for the first time. They went Japanese and never came back. Does that sound familiar?Since the late 1970s I've driven every new Corolla model and had some fantastic fun on the side, including flat-out track laps in pursuit of an Australian racing championship and several forest fights in the Australian Rally Championship. And a Corolla has never let me down.And that gets me thinking about the Honda 750 four. You see, the Honda stalwart from the seventies was tagged as the Universal Japanese Motorcycle because it could do anything, from high-speed pursuit duties with the Highway Patrol police to daily commutes to touring the world in the days before long-distance motorcyclists switched to BMWs.In the same way, the Corolla should be known as the Universal Japanese Car. It's as sensible as an accountant, as dependable as a bullet train, and as predictable as a new tech toy from Apple.  It's also a bankable investment on the secondhand scene and will never offend or annoy. It doesn't have the attitude of an Alfa, or the performance of a Porsche, but a UJC is just fine and we have 40 million signatures to prove it.This reporter is on Twitter: @PaulWardGover 

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.