Here is an episode on the Falcon XR. Be sure the check out the whole series of Falcon episodes. The XR was a game changer. Please Like, Share, Comment and Subscribe. 👍
Hi Mark. Thanks for the video on the XR. My first memories of my dads car was an Marrone XR Fairmont, 289. V8. I have a great picture of our whole family standing around that car. :-)
Thanks Andrew. Very cool. You should show a picture of that on your channel. For everyone please, please subscribe to Andrew’s channel too. It is excellent.
I'm in the US. In Feb 1967 my dad special ordered and received a 4 dr Falcon Futura tutone (white top, brittany blue bottom) it has a 200 six, 3 speed on the steering column and factory air. The Futura was the most deluxe model in the US with vinyl seats and lots of trim. I still own the car, but it doesn't run right now, and has just over 300K miles on it. It shares all of the front suspension parts with the 1970 Mustang I own, same control arms, steering linkage, etc. It is a beautiful body style.
I remember these as a car mad kid. I was allowed to stay up and watch Homicide, in a Holden family Homicide exposed me to Falcon's. Dad's HD Holden wagon suddenly looked prehistoric.
Yes, thanks. Interesting perspective from a kid at the time re how modern the Falcon was. I remember thinking the same of the VE Valiant compared to our XL wagon.
Thanks Mark, great video. My dad bought a new XM I think in '63 and we were all proud as punch. He bought the pursuit model and we were always first away at the lights, with me the youngest standing on the rear bench seat leaning on the front bench between mum and dad up front... I remember fondly watching in awe the first Falcon GT winning the Bathurst 500 on our b&w TV. I'd never seen a car race before and was addicted!
These were revolutionary and must have given Holden anxiety. Amazed the HR-saurus outsold these much more substantial looking bodies. The best looking offering out of the three.
A special car at a special time. This was the start of the "Big Three" era that so dominated Australian motoring for some time. "Mustang bred Falcon" always gives me a chuckle, as the original Mustang was based on the (American) Falcon platform. So it should really have been "Falcon bred, Mustang bred Falcon"!! 🙂 The GT had one of the most ornate hubcaps ever. All that trouble just to make the car look like it didn't actually have hubcaps! Yes, the wagon in Skippy had a huge influence on our family. In 1968 Dad came home with a Falcon brochure, ready to replace our HD wagon. I was so excited that we were going to get a wagon the same as on Skippy. I was gutted when Dad told us that wasn't happening. Instead we were going to be getting a ZB Fairlane. (My disappointment soon disappeared!!!)
I think the National Film and Sound Archive NFSA has film on how to drive a car using an XR Falcon I guess loaned by Ford Australia. Although way out of date now it gives a glimpse into the past at the vehicles we Aussies drove.
My second car was an XR Falcon with a 200 motor 3 speed column manual gearbox bench seats, with rust in usual places , being an apprentice panel beater I bought new panels , to repair them the rust, and repainted it, then I placed a 250 cubic inch with a 4 speed top loader gearbox with a 2.92 ratio differential and put extractors with twin exhaust, it performed really well, only one problem because I changed the gearing the car was travelling faster than what the speedometer was indicating it was out by 10 miles per hour, I got caught speeding without realising it. This was in 1977.
My dad had a 289 Fairmont, midnight blue with light blue upholstery. Apart from being a great car, I rcall how blown away friends and relatives were, especially those who were trying to be pro-Holden!
A great looking car the XR , and they came in some really nice colours too ,particularly the mettalic maroon , and that Fred Gibson car at Bathurst looked great in Ivy Green .Speaking of Skippy , I remember In 1971 Mum and my grandmother took me downtown in Auckland, and we waited patiently in a long line of people to get "Sonny's " autograph.. That seems like about 150 years ago. 🙂
Yes. I liked the Maroon, Dark Blue and the dark green. We lived about half an hour from Skippy Park. The Ranger headquarters are still there. Pretty cool.
Had a XRGT back in the late 70's & did quite a few runs between Syd & Melb. Great hwy car & she'd purr along at 100 - 110 mph easily. Speed limits then were more liberal - now they'd lock you up. Had a few GT's since but do miss the XR. Paid $7500 for it.
Thanks John. Glad you are enjoying the videos. I am in the USA at the moment so hopefully you’ll enjoy my USA Road Trip series. Appreciate your comments too 👍
I learned to drive in my parent's base model white XR sedan. It replaced a 4-year old gutless 2-spd auto Holden EJ Wagon that my mum learned to drive in once managing 3 kids on public transport became problematical. The XR had some go, but the hero family car in our working class suburban area was a Chrysler Valiant with the grunty slant six and push button auto. It's owners were both doctors, so they could afford it 🙂
Nice memories. I remember when Dad had his green XL Falcon wagon (see video of similar can on this channel) he brought home. White with red interior VE Valiant for the night. What a cool car that was!
Great cars. I love these. I appreciate our Australian BIG THREE - However, I do believe that this era Falcon, at the time, was definitely the best road car to drive in Australia. I always loved the letters embossed on the alloy Falcon Key sets - FORD Family of Fine Cars - and that they were. Great video feature Mark 👍
Thanks Fletch. I remember those keys on my Dad’s XL wagon. I still have his very worn Ford crest keychain he had. Agree they were and are, great cars. Glad you enjoyed the episode.
Talking about Skippy, there also featured in a couple of episodes a XR Ute with the round "Waratah Park" decals on the side !! Plenty of room in the back for Skippy.
I find your information very insightful view! Yes I agree that the XR really set the standard for what an Australian car should be! I am a child of the 90's and do remember watching Skippy in Italy and even it's 1990's remake! Sadly couldn't find a video of them being dubbed in Italian lol
Thanks Ivano. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Certainly a very important car in Australian automotive history and there was a lot to cover. It’s amazing how many people overseas remember watching Skippy. It would be very interesting to see it in Italian. 👍
My neighbor has a gold XR GT 289, it is awesome. The only mod is the 9inch LSD disc brake rear end. I used to have an old compact Fairlane many moons ago with a 289, great motor. I would love to see more videos on the early Valiants.
Hi Mark, If Ford built a 4-door Mustang this is what it would be, you can see the Mustang lines in the body work ,a nice looking car. It's a shame we did not have them in Wales. I do like Australian car's ,it's the American styling with right hand drive that catches my eye. as always good video ,interesting facts on cars in Australia. Yes I use to watch Skippy when I was very young back in the early 1970's, Thank's take care
Great video Mark, I'll be good to watch the whole series. Two small things however, AFAIK the V8 was not optional for utes & vans until the XT. Also the GT had 225 hp, not 235. Even the later XT GT (302) only had 230 hp.
My father owned a XR station waggon,three speed column shift and a 3.6 ltr motor.Its still parked up on the farm.XR's are great cars because they are so simple to fix.
G’day Mark, mr “Shoulda coulda would’ve” here. I’ll start by saying great video mate! So, (I’ll keep it brief). When I was a 3rd year apprentice 1990ish my first opportunity (that slipped by) was the genuine article XR GT Falcon that a chippy in forrestfield over here had for sale, pretty much pristine condition, body was perfect (no exaggeration). She had 8” 12 slotters, great stance however the SGIO report had a string of real “minor” things. The old man insisted I get a report done on it first and once he had a nit pick through it talked me out of getting it because $9,900 at the time was a fair bit of coin. The fella did say to me that the original engine was is his shed and it was a 302! The last batch of GT’s had the XT GT 302 and was marketed and badged as the 289. Skip forward a fair bit and an Australian built or assembled 66 mustang fastback presented itself! 2nd owner daily driven 289 cruisomatitic in white😔... this weeks weeks special in Newcastle street wholesale! Week after week the price would drop as I observed in the auto trader! 21999, 20999, 19999, 18999,17999 ......no shit! Anyway I rang them up and explained I was working 6 days a week and wouldn’t be able to make it up there way the fella stated he lived virtually around the corner and could come around Saturday afternoon! She was a fairly decent car very straight no rust , GT interior (not pony) right hand drive! Fairly dusty under the hood and needing some TLC it would have gone for a heap more years! Turns out it did! Saw it at the Mustang muster.....the bloke picked it up for....wait for it😣 14G 😣😣😣😣😣 I’m actually starting to feel sick now So Not long after this I picked up my XY GT Ute replica😀 Fucking yay.....a happy ending to supposedly short story Daily drove it for 4 years had it parked up for too many years and sold it a couple of years ago Fuck I wish I never watched this video Thanks again Mark...... I still fucking LOOOOOOOOOOOVE XR’s Don’t get me started on the XY GT replica in Ford Tru Blu with Ridgey Didge HO running gear
Thanks Shane. I feel your pain. Glad you liked the video. I just did an XT one yesterday (started doing one for each model from XK). Yes, I hate that feeling of “the one that got away). I could have bought an XY GT for $13,995. But didn’t…. When I saw a 1970 Mercury Cyclone GT 429 I didn’t hesitate. I bought it. That was 20 years ago now. Thanks for watching and sharing 👍.
That xr in the burgundy metallic was my first falcon in 81 and I have owned most models from there Have never owned earlier than the xr Xf was my last new ford have had newer utes being fg as my last one currently have a ef in the shed as my project but it’s not going anywhere at any rate Love the series 👍👍
Thanks David. I’ve had and have XL wagon and had a 4.9 XC Fairmont. Currently have two V8 AUs (episodes on the channel) and EF Fairmont V8 with only 87,000 kms. Just bought an EB Ghia V8 project. Glad you are enjoying the series 👍
I had a 66 389 V8 Fairmont it was the white with black interior and it actually had the optional mustang Tbar auto .something holden and Chrysler didn't have in their. family cars at that time.
Lookout, there's more of Mark's Melon in this one than ever before lol. Love your work, mate. I heard that the XR Falcon is where Ford Australia derived the XR6 and XR8 names later on. Is this correct?
@@markbehr88 whoa! Talking to falcon royalty here. 🤯. What a legend mate. Thank you guys so much for giving us next generation ford blokes the GT dream. 👍🏻🙏🏻
@@markbehr88 Do you remember the code name for each falcon series. I remember XD as Blackwood, teak for XE was , and XF was redwood. I know certain projects got code names and I remember the ED was originally Was going to be called the EC . Some part number unique to the ED are actually prefixed as EC. Tickford parts were prefixed with TVE which we all knew stood for Tickford Vehicle Engineering.
@@tba3900 I definitely remember Blackwood and when I was working on the Orion GT-HO product letter, I called that P5 ( you can read that in a recent Mark Oastler Muscle Car Australia mag story). When Gordon and I were working on the supercharged V8 program I named that project Asgard as that was the home of Thor.
I always felt that Ford Australia cheaped out by not releasing the 2 door Falcon. Especially as a GT! I have in my garage (in Perth) a 27K mile original 1966 Falcon Futura Sports Coupe.
Apparently when they brought the show car (XT Coupe mock up based on the US 2 door) it was not as well received as they expected. You can watch it on my XT episode. 👍
I so miss Aussie built cars. I still drive an old one with zero porblems and I love it. The ridiculous delays on V6 Rangers/Everest (& other makes/nodels) would not exist if they were manufactured here. The RBA (Bernie Fraser in particular) and both sies of politics are responsible for the demise of Australian manufacturing, and should be ashamed. It is time Australian politicians realsied globalisation is a multi-natonal corporate scam.