Ford Falcon Fun Facts

The XK Falcon was 120mm lower than its FB Holden rival and weighed 90kg less: new meets old.

The phrase 'Trim, Taut, Terrific' (still in popular usage) was coined as the XL's advertising theme.

That 'Certified Golden Quality' rhetoric did not do much for XM Falcon sales -- 47,132 were produced from 1963 to 1965, compared with 75,705 XLs (1962-63) and 68,413 XKs (1960-62). But the XP Durability Run obviously did work, because 70,954 XPs were produced in a similar period.

The Falcon's best forgotten secret is the XM and XP Squire wagons -- complete with faux wood side panels in the US 'woody' tradition. Ugh!

In 1965, six months into XP, the newly launched Fairmont became the first Australian car with front disc brakes as standard equipment.

The first Falcon GT was a limited run special but with the launch of the XT in 1968 it became a regular model.

The GTHO was a GT with the Handling Option. (The 'Higher Output' was a bonus.) It was probably the fastest four-door sedan in the world to have a plastic grille, introduced with the XW range.

There was one pre-production XA GTHO Phase IV (Calypso Green) and three prototypes, all painted Brambles Red -- one of which was rallied by Bruce Hodgson and later destroyed in a crash.

By August 1973 Ford Australia had exported 100,000 cars and the XA Falcon was being assembled in Thailand, New Zealand, South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

The XB (1973) had ventilated front discs as standard across the range.

Ford Australia used its last 400 Hardtop body shells for the Cobra, an XC GT by another (famous) name, released in August 1978. The XC was the first Ford to use the Blue Oval badge since the 1930s.

Despite being built on the XC floorpan, the XD was 136mm shorter, 40mm narrower and had a 13mm wider front track. It was among the first cars in the world to use a plastic fuel tank.

In 1983 the XE was the first Australian car to offer electronic fuel-injection.

Some nine months before the EA's launch, Ford Australia invited the motoring media to hear Jackie Stewart extol the new model's virtues and hose down expectations of a four-speed auto and IRS: advertising by journalism!

In April 1992 the EB Evolution was the first Australian car to offer ABS. This feature was still not available on some $100K cars such as the Citroën XM.

The first XR sports variant was the 1991 S-XR8 with no involvement from Tickford. But the S-XR6 of the following year was tweaked by the specialist modifier. When the S model was dropped for ED, these cars were simply named XR8 and XR6.

The on again off again Futura model was on again for the ED (replacing the S) and was chosen from 187 names. The ED Futura was among the world's first sedans to be fitted with a centre rear lap-sash belt.

An early clay model of the EA showed the grille-free frontal treatment that arrived in production guise on the low level EF models.

The AU took its initials from Australia.

The AU II development program was known internally as 'Grizzly'. Somehow apt...