Hey mate I have a el that’s getting a Fairlane front end and tickford kit. The car was built in September of 96 does this means it’s one of the first out of the lot
Loved the Falcon..owned quite a few. But my 1993 BMW 325 Has i higher top speed slightly less acceleration and gets 35 mpg.... but what did we know in 1970 ?
I've never owned a Holden or Ford but have driven a lot of them. Just when both manufacturers actually nailed it with great cars they both died off. Cars are one thing but the fact stuff like this is going away is a part of a huge problem with who's running our country into the ground.
Great content on these fantastic motorcars. Thank You for your efforts Mark. When we used to make stuff.. before joe hokey and tony abbot shut down automobile manufacturing.
They certainly were beautiful cars. That was the days when Australia was still going really well economically unlike today in 2024 where Australia is a damn mess both socially and financially. Great video and great work here Mark 👌👍
I really enjoyed the series on the Falcon. I learnt a lot that I didn’t know before. I read your comment about what falcons you own and you have a really nice collection. We’ve got 3 Falcons. A 2008 Falcon BF XR6 Sedan, 2009 FPV GS 302 Sedan and a 2015 Falcon FGX XR6 Sedan. Looking at buying a FGX Turbo and FGX XR8 eventually. Looking forward to your next lot of reviews.
Dad worked at Ford for 37 years. He still tells so many stories about all the areas he worked in and about how he and his team built so many great cars. He worked across Geelong and Broadmeadows and managed many teams to deliver many parts.
@@Redpepper7376 All of them. But probably the XA and EA. He tells so many stories about the AU and how everyone was saying it was going to be a disaster while still in clay models.
Your commentary on foulcan marketing precludes to mention how good VF was in comparison which significantly contributed to lacklustre sales of the blue oval product. Ford knew the full-time siren was about to sound and the manifestation of their attitude was reflected in the final product.
You missed one bit of information. Open diff and LSD availability. I believe Luxury variants come with Open diff and Sport variants come with LSD. My BF Fairlane tyres didn’t like open diff but that’s why I acquired a FG XR6.
@@markbehr88 Much appreciated. I was looking forward to you mentioning it in case I was wrong. I really want a G6E but not if they don’t come optional with a LSD. I like to drive my Falcons to its full potential and as of now I have 1.3 million k’s done, shared over 3 models.
Ford pretty much stopped advertising the Falcon after the BA It was pretty obvious the management in the US wanted Ford Australia dead as a manufacturer. I just bought a manual FG X Probably will be my last daily driver Ford
Mark, loved the Falcon video series but, a little disappointed with the FGX episode. I think you should have given a lot for information on the XR6 and XR8 Sprints, like how they were built and what was behind Ford’s thinking with the two great cars.👌
@@petermurgatroyd2002 Thanks. The episodes are really an overview. The Sprints were effectively a transfer of the Prodrive IP that had been a part of the old FPV - absorbed into Ford at FPV’s demise and brought in house. I guess the only thing I could have added was their respective production figures but I think that information is well known. 👍
@@petermurgatroyd2002 - I can sort of answer that: The FG X "Sprint" models were effetely a FG mk2 FPV F6 (XR6 Sprint Turbo) and R-Spec (XR8 Sprint) minus the badges and trim spec. That said Ford Australia did do some minor upgrades with over-boost and transmission maps (for the auto versions) and gave it unique "Sprint" trim. The whole end of FPV was messy as FPR (racing team) went to Tickford while Ford Australia took FPV in house, my understanding is that when ProDrive exited the market Ford were left with a huge mess and did not want to give the new team at Premcar any work (Premcar being the Australian based team that was FPV but not FPR, confused? yeah it was messy) which is why Ford Australia does not endorse any of the FPV/Sprint models getting the "Holly Grail" upgrade package from Premcar and why Premcar went to Nissan Australia to get work, which is eerily like in 1970's when Ford Australia shut down the "skunkworks SVO" in 1972 (and with that killing off the Phase IV) and most of that team went to work for Datsun/Nissan. motorsports operations re: Howard Marsden.
Yes, across that history. I didn’t want to get into all the politics but let’s say when Prodrive exercised its 51% in the FPV joint venture, while it may have appeared rosy on the surface, the Ford MD at the time felt like Prodrive had taken a giant dump on his dining room table. Actual quote.
An enjoyable look down memory lane. It's often said that Ford Aus didn't market the Falcon enough but I'm not sure if that really mattered by the end. Other than the odd Falcon enthusiast, no one wanted them. I understand that V8 Commodores made up a large portion of private purchases and I suspect those were people who already knew about it. Everyone else realised they didn't need such a large car so they bought a Corolla or 3. And if they did need a big car, they bought a SUV. If it wasn't for big government fleet sales, I suspect that the Falcon/Commodore/Camry/Magna/380 would have died much earlier. The other issue is the poor reputation Ford dealers have. I've since converted to another brand but prior to that I purchased new FG-X XR8s and a Focus (I realised that I didn't need such a big car for just myself) and both dealer experiences weren't great.
@@PaulStewartAviation Yes, the aftersales experience can be a deal breaker for future brand allegiances if not carried out effectively. I still think some basic marketing as to the attributes of the local large cars, including road holding versus SUVs and fuel efficiency, could have swayed a few people. 👍
Another great video Mark, I agree with you about how little effort Ford Australia put into marketing the FGX series. When they first started to appear on the roads, I confused them for the Mondeo due to the family resemblance and the very little marketing advising me otherwise. I'm sure that it was well known internally at its release that the FGX would be the last Falcon so perhaps Fords marketing department saw little sense in pushing a dead horse (or should I say dead bird with respect to Falcon) so maybe it was a case of "why bother". Who knows!
Such a good looker, although I always thought the FG mid body looked a bit too bulbous for the revised front and rear design. Shame the 4cyl didn’t catch on, if they had have marketed its quicker 0-100 time, who knows.
They really were very well done apart from the very old dash Such a shame they are gone I always said they should have put the territory diesel in the falcon commercials
Great series, Mark; what a pity local manufacturing all came to an end. Having from 1972 worked for Ford, AMI, Nissan and GMH here in Oz, the loss of the industry - largely due to various governments and their policies - is an indictment of the their shortsightedness. I'm still running a 2014 Territory (my second Terri) as my daily drive, after having had a string of various Falcons that commenced with an XP. Had an excellent P76 V8, plus a Commodore, a Gemini and a Camira (briefly; everyone's entitled to make one mistake!) and raced an HQ, so it's not like I was one-eyed! 😉
I am guessing when he was listing the extra packs for the xr6/xr6 turbo he was referring to the mk2 fg. I have a series 1 turbo and it seems to be a mix of upgrades to what is stated here. i have everything listed for the g6e apart for the memory mirrors, dual zone climate, mirror indicators and the carbon look dash inserts or do I have a unicorn?
@@markbehr88 this vid got me researching. after looking over the 2008 option brochure online it seems most stuff included in "packs" was also available individually(I'm guessing at a greater cost). I was unaware this was possible and you were stuck with packs only. My FG started life as a Ford credit lease vehicle and when it was ordered and the options question came up was answer was YES. it seems my FG has most if not all available options for the series 1 FG. My guess is some dealer decided to treat himself with his company car 😂
@@timryan4792 Yes, with lease or company cars you could kind of go crazy with the options and it didn’t really cost you a lot more on the lease. The Ford and Holden lease cars for staff were heavily subsidised. I remember ordering a VS Statesman in the navy blue and had it sent to Holden By Design to have gas fitted - just because it was cheap enough to do it on the lease and I had to pay the running costs. I got sick of it after about 3-4 months and promptly replaced it with a V8 one. 👍
It wasn't the lack of marketing responsible for low sales. Everybody who might have bought one knew what a Falcon is. The car was old by then, demand was non-existent. It was also really expensive. People want SUVs. Did chose to ditch Australia.
I get the market had shifted but I can tell you - as someone who has marketed cars in Australia for well over twenty years - they could have done a much better job and sold a lot more cars to Mums and Dads. I am not talking limited edition Sprints etc. 👍
@@markbehr88 I don't know mate. I feel like they could have gone full "Please Consider" and still not sold that many more. But yeah I appreciate you know what you're talking about, every chance I'm wrong!
@@tobysemler I just think they could have made more of the Great Australian Road car. Showcase how good the Falcon was as a roomy, safe, relatively economical family car. 👍
I think Holden buyers were prepared to overlook the Commodores Opel styling connections as long as they were made in Australia and used large Aussie sixes and V8's. Once this changed with the ZB, buyers and fans just gave up. With the entire range now fully imported and mostly four cylinders, there was nothing left to defend or admire.
I'm glad there was never a Ford equivalent to the ZB Commodore. Falcon meant LOCAL. I'm guessing the FGX wasn't heavily promoted because Ford knew they were doomed. They instead promoted the models they had to rely on for sales in the future. They were just being strategic I'm guessing.
I am more curious on your car collection as you have large selection and do like your more "quirky" or overlooked cars which you have, as well as some more "popular" cars too!
Yes, I have not even scratched the surface really. Mainly US cars, then Australian Fords, then Euro (Mercedes, Citroen and the 1938 Peugeot) plus my 1980’s Mazda 929 coupe (because I liked the styling when I was younger). 👍
@@markbehr88 Yeah I like your Magna styling too and also sedan version as looked fairly futuristic to me... I like popular cars as well but I like that others do look beyond "the popular" cars especially when is someone such as yourself too!
@@icascone Thanks. I have always collected what I like, rather than what is popular. Especially a lot of the cars I used to get brochures on when I used to write to the US car companies (in my school days) and they would air mail me large packages of all their brochures. You can imagine that was a big package when GM would send me all the Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac brochures! 👍
Wow Only few cars were sold in last model range!! I still sometimes forget that Australia doesn't produce cars anymore as we do have our unique needs...
Thank you Mark for such detailed history series of the Aussie Falcon! I still remember when Dad bought a brand new XL Falcon wagon to cart us five kids around through highways, dirt roads and creeks. Bullet proof!!!
Thanks mate for the Falcon serious, even though I left the trade in 1994, I still had feelings of sadness in October 2016 remembering my 15 years with Ford. I am a Holden nut even though I do not own one right now. It will be great to video's on the Cortina's and Escorts and some of the other smaller cars.
Thanks. I’ll do ZA Fairlane next and the R Series Valiant - and then do each model thereafter. I still need to work out which Holden but I will probably do 48-215 and work my way through or I may do a Kingswood series or a Commodore series? 🤔👍
I only got the chance to drive an FGX xr6 between Cairns and port Douglas in 2016 wowsers what a gorgeous falcon great power in auto form and handling was superior compared to my ba v8 I still don't see any around here up for sale or on the road such a rare car now for a young car
Yes, they didn’t sell that many. The whole Gov’t abandonment of local sales made quite a difference. They all used to end up as late model family cars. 👍🤔
Ive owned my Fgx Xr6 for 6 years as my daily and i can say its been the best ford ive ever owned it just ticks along with no issues always flys through its warrant of fitness every year thanks mark great video history as per usual
