Fabulous Falcons
On September 14, 1960, the Ford Motor Company of Australia launched the new Falcon. It was the humble beginning of an incredible journey: from the durability problems of early models to the adrenalin-charged days of the GT-HOs; from the high-performance hardtops of the ‘70s to the V8-free ‘80s; from the Tickford muscle car revival of the ‘90s to the FPV super cars of the new millennium. Here then is a chronological collection of some of the stand-out Falcons from the first 50 years of the Australian-made blue oval ‘bird of prey’ - from the early 1960s to the late 2000s.
Harry Firth/Bob Jane XL Falcon
- winner 1962 Armstrong 500
Did a bit to salvage Falcon’s reputation, at a time when it was known as the ‘Foul Can’ due to a tendency to fall apart on rough Aussie roads. 500 miles flat-out around a patched and pot-holed Phillip Island showed the new bird wasn’t all bad. In fact, XL Falcons took a clean-sweep of the first four places in their class, with the winning car reportedly topping 102 mph (164km/h). Not bad for a little inline six sedan running on bicycle tyres and sucking through a straw.
XP Falcons - 1965 Ford-Mobil
70,000 mile Durability Run
The six XP Falcons that took turns grinding around Ford’s You Yangs test track for nine days at an average speed of 70mph (112km/h) deserve their legend status in Falcon history. A tent full of tired drivers thrashed ‘em, crashed ‘em and trashed ‘em, but weary mechanics managed to keep enough of them running for long enough to achieve what seemed like an impossible objective. This was a pivotal event in Falcon history that turned around the bird’s flagging fortunes.
XP Falcon sedan - Homicide
Anyone on the wrong side of 50 can remember black and white TV. And no doubt the ‘thud-thud-thud-thud’ of XP Falcon doors being slammed shut by burly detectives wearing pork pie hats, in the opening sequence of the ‘Homicide’ TV series of the 1960s. Any car that could stand up to that kind of door-slamming each week without them falling off their hinges must have been as tough as the cops riding in it.
1967 XR Falcon GT
The original Australian muscle car. With a level of performance never previously seen from an Australian car maker, the 289ci V8 Falcon GT was an instant hit on road and track. It was available in any colour you wanted, as long as you liked gold. Which was appropriate, because this gleaming nugget started a local muscle car gold rush.
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