Ford Falcon 1964 News

Ford Australia has confirmed the decision in a media statement this afternoon. The announcement will likely come as a shock to Ford fans, many of whom were planning to buy one of the last Falcon GTs and keep them as collector pieces. Ford will instead revive the Falcon XR8 when the new model goes on sale, using a less powerful version of the GT Falcon's supercharged 5.0-litre V8. A media statement issued by Ford this afternoon said the return of the XR8 is timed to coincide with the introduction of the 2014 Falcon sedan and Territory SUV update, ahead of the closure of Ford's Broadmeadows and Geelong factories no later than October 2016. As the Falcon XR8 returns to the Ford range, the Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) range -- which includes the iconic GT Falcon -- will retire, the Ford media statement confirmed. Ford plans a series of limited edition GT models during 2014, the company said. Ford took control of FPV late last year and brought production of the GT back in house in February 2013 for the first time since 1976. But Ford has now decided to wind up production of the GT as well. It's the second dose of bad news for Australian V8 fans in two weeks. Last week, News Corp Australia exclusively reported that a leaked SA Government document revealed that Holden will not have a V8 in its lineup by 2016 or 2018. Buoyed by a string of Bathurst victories Ford sold more than 12,000 Falcon GTs in the eight years from 1968 to 1976. As a sign of the changing market, however, it took 21 years to sell the same number of Falcon GTs from 1992 to 2012. "FPV has been very successful for the last 12 years and our relationship with Tickford for many years before that," said Ford Australia Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Service Graeme Whickman. "We appreciate all of the great team members, dealers, customers and fans who have supported FPV through its history. We look forward to sharing further details of the final FPV models and the new XR8 over the coming months." "We have received a lot of interest and continued requests from Falcon fans to bring back the XR8. Re-introducing the XR8 sedan, packaged in our updated Falcon, will make our renowned locally-engineered and manufactured V8 engine available to a broader group of people." This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling

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

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.

Was it "Big Bopper" - the '79 XB Falcon from Mad Max, or Steve McQueen's '68 Mustang GT in Bullitt. Or could it be the '64 Aston Martin DB5 driven by Bond in Goldfinger. How about the Mini Coopers of 1969 in the Italian Job? Or, does the '77 Pontiac Trans Am from Smokey and The Bandit top your list?Take our poll below to tell us what you think, or leave a comment if your top pick is not listed.But if the Oscars gave out awards to cars instead of stars, Audi would probably get the most nominations. During the past few years, Audis have featured in all the Transporter movies, Ronin, I Robot, Mission Impossible 2, About a Boy, Legally Blonde 2, Hitman, The Matrix 2, Iron Man and now its sequel.In the first Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr plays Tony Stark (a.k.a 'Iron Man'). His workshop houses a 1932 Ford Flathead roadster, a 1967 Shelby Cobra, a Saleen S7, a prototype Tesla Roadster and a 2008 Audi R8.Supporting roles were played by the S5 sports sedan driven by American secret service agents and a Q7 SUV which is literally held up by Iron Man, who saves the family inside from the enemy. For the Australian premiere, Downey Jr arrived in a silver R8. In Iron Man 2 he drives an Audi R8 Spyder and his secretary, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), drives an A8 TDI.Audi Australia corporate communications general manager Anna Burgdorf could not confirm whether any payment was made for the placement. However, she could confirm that the super-sport R8 V10 Spyder will arrive here towards the end of the year.The R8 Spyder 5.2 FSI quattro features a lightweight-cloth top that opens automatically in about 19 seconds. Its V10 engine produces 386kW of power and launches the open-top two-seater to 100km/h in 4.1 seconds on its way to a top speed of 313km/h.Product placement of cars is not new to the sliver screen. Most critics believe it started with Bond films, notably the Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger, in 1964. Aston returned in 1965 for Thunderball and was replaced by the DBS for 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service.Other companies then got into the act of pushing their vehicles on to the Bond screen with the highlights being the amphibious Lotus Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me and the launch of the BMW Z3 Roadster in GoldenEye. Even a pre-production Aston Martin DBS scored a role in Casino Royale, and scored a Guinness record for "the most cannon rolls in a car at the same time" - seven - for its very brief appearance.Iron Man 2 begins screening in Australia on April 29.

He’s been a green superhero in The Hulk, defended an ancient Greek city in Troy, and gone to the rescue of stranded troops in Black Hawk Down. So can Eric Bana now save the Aussie large car whose woes are beyond the surgical skills of government packages, marketing campaigns and hasty engine revisions. Probably not. Don’t expect to see reports of new V8s booming as a result of Bana’s auto-focus movie, Love the Beast. But don’t be surprised if there’s a spike in sales of classic cars … and perhaps particularly higher interest in the 1974 XB GT Falcon Coupe at the centre of the film – and at the centre of Bana’s life since his teens. Watch the Love the Beast trailer here... Released nationally this week, the film follows Bana’s journey with the car through first getting it to driveable standard, then as a touchstone for his early social life, and finally to the years of dipping into racing that brought it to a crashing end in the slippery rally that is Targa Tasmania. Part home movie, part car cult film, part psychological and sociological analysis, the story is told using narrative from Bana, his family and longtime friends – and a few more recent ones like Top Gear linchpin Jeremy Clarkson, comedian Jay Leno and a teeth-grittingly tedious Dr Phil (of Oprah fame and spin-off). And it works. Through a range of mechanisms, and some great camera work – best seen on the big screen — Love the Beast manages to infect you with the near-romantic passion for classic muscle cars and racing, while not ignoring the obvious dangers. And since he’s now fairly at home in a Hollywood that is obsessive about airbrushing the personal image, it’s great to see Bana’s still proud to trot out the kind of early family photos and footage that would otherwise be cringe-worthy. There were occasional moments that seemed a little contrived, but this was mainly because they stood out against the natural charm of most of the film. It’s warm, it’s casual, and in places it’s very funny. Much like hanging out in the garage with your mates. Is Bana’s Ford XB Coupe the best muscle car? Or is it something from Holden or Chrysler, or perhaps even one of the Europeans?