The rocking story behind the first Ford Falcon

The first Australian-made Falcon rolled off the Ford production line on 28 June 1960. Before this historic event one had already appeared, very prominently, on the cover of an LP by Australian rocker Lonnie Lee. This record was released on the Lee Gordon label in May 1960, so the white XK Falcon shown here must have been a prototype photographed in advance for publicity purposes. We don’t know if Ford were aware of this ‘sneak peek’ or not.

Story: Luke West

Photo Credits: 1960-2011 Starlite Records

This article featured in

JOIN NOW!

The rocking story behind the first Ford Falcon

In any case the appearance of a Falcon on this record would have been pretty good publicity. In 1960 Lonnie Lee was voted Australia’s most popular male singer. This is supposedly the first Australian LP record to be released with a full-colour cover.

The first XK series Falcons were apparently terrible things to drive – thanks to the American ‘boulevard ride’ – but we tend to forget just how cool they looked. These were definitely cars of the future and as shown here, ideal for taking a beautiful lady out to a Kings Cross nightclub.

Lonnie Lee has another automotive claim to fame. In 1960 he was following his good mate Johnny O’Keefe down the Pacific Highway near Kempsey when JOK had his monumental head-on collision in his red Plymouth Belvedere. When Lonnie arrived at the scene of the accident he quickly removed JOK’s stash of marijuana hidden in the Plymouth’s hubcap before the cops arrived.

This article appeared in Australia MUSCLE CAR Magazine Issue 60