Game Changer: 1965 Falcon-Mobil 70,000-mile Durability Run

Ahead of the launch of the significantly improved XP version of the Ford Falcon in 1965, the market was still very dubious about the durability of the locally-made American model.

At launch in 1960, the Aussie Falcon was only marginally different from versions sold in the USA. Those cars were used as suburban shopping trolleys and commuter transport and never intended to go anywhere near the goat tracks that passed for Australian highways.

Ford worked hard to adapt later Falcon to local driving conditions, but Holden’s marketing machine and the record-setting EH outsold its rival XM by five to one.

Quelling fears of the Ford’s fragility needed a major publicity event and the tactic chosen by Ford Australia managing director Bill Bourke was a ‘reliability trial’ called the Falcon-Mobil 70,000-mile Durability Run.

Five brand-new, stock-standard XP Falcons plus a reserve would lap Ford’s new You Yangs test track continuously for more than a week, covering a combined 70,000 miles (112,000km) and doing it at an average speed exceeding 70mph.

It was a prodigious task, but one that US-born Bourke expected the XPs to complete without any mechanical issues.

Such events in the USA were usually run on banked super speedways though, and 70mph for days on end was a doddle. At the time, the test track at Ford’s You Yangs proving ground near Geelong was narrow and twisty, carved through scrub and rocky outcrops and anything but friendly.

It had just one 400-metre straight and at one point the track climbed steeply before turning abruptly left. Its blue metal surface cut tyres to ribbons and the security fencing did a lousy job of discouraging visits by wildlife.

Team leader and Ampol Trial winner Harry Firth went out in his personal XP Hardtop and set an average of 76mph (122.3km/h), but that was in daylight.

The event would run non-stop through the night and as Kevin Bartlett, one of several professional drivers recruited to drive the cars recalled, it was a tough task.

“I was one of the group chosen to do a lot of the night stuff, probably because our eyes were younger and you did encounter a lot of roos,” Bartlett recalled.

“I was in a team under Bill McLaughlin in the small engined four-door,” he said. “We christened that car Bluebird because of the colour and despite having a couple of tyres blow it stayed intact. She ended up piling up the most miles and being the car that took the finishing flag.”

“One of the things Bill stressed was to watch and listen for the signs of a tyre about to let go and get into the pits immediately. One who missed the signs was [1965 Bathurst 500 winner] Bo Seton who I watched fly upside down in a huge cloud of dust after losing a tyre.”

Some participants in the trial have over the years been critical about the stresses involved and organisation of the event, but Bartlett holds a different view.

“It was a great privilege for young drivers like me to be asked to participate. We were well supported by our older mentors and an organisation that operated really with military precision,” Bartlett said.

“We had a 24-hour canteen serving hot food and when you had done your stint you were taken by courtesy car to one of the nearby motels for a shower and sleep. Certainly, in my team anyway, they made sure we had the right rest periods.”

In the early hours of May 4, 1965 and with McLaughlin at the wheel, Car #3 led its battered compatriots through a banner that marked the end of the most ambitious and commercially significant record attempt Australia had seen.

If the Falcons had failed in their highly publicised quest, the XP would doubtless have been swamped in a ruthless market by Holden’s new HD model and Ford’s future in Australia placed under threat.

Images: Ford Australia