Half-century of Falcon

Times have changed since the first Australian Ford Falcon rolled off the Campbellfield production line on June 28, 1960.

Australians had, at the time, been buying Holdens for 12 years, so the arrival of the XK Falcon from GMH's main protagonist was an event that didn't go unnoticed.

In fact the modern, glassy and rounded shapes of the new Ford made the FB Holdens of the time look positively outdated. Those early days weren't all beer and skittles for Ford though. The XK Falcon struggled with Australia's third-world motoring environment and buyers turned away from the Falcon until Holden shot itself in the foot with the unloved HD Holden in 1965. This was the start of a see-sawing battle for domination of the local market that continued for decades.

Fast forward to 2010 and Holden has a vice-like grip on the top spot in the market, but Holden buyers from the 1960s wouldn't recognise the GM brand's current sales champ, the VE Commodore.

The Holden Special of 1960 is long gone. As are Standard, Kingswood, Belmont and numerous other iterations of the big-selling large car that sported the Holden lion badge over the years.

Not so for the Ford. Falcon it was, and Falcon it remains.

Remains today, in fact. So much so, that the company this year celebrates 50 years of Falcons -- the longest-running nameplate in Australian motoring history.

Sure they're all 'G Series' and 'XRs' these days, but the range is still generically known as the Falcon. Then there's the fact that the Falcon had its second-lowest sales year ever in 2009, and despite there being some doubt the car we know and love will continue beyond 2015, the 50th anniversary of the nameplate is some cause for celebration.

With this in mind, Ford Australia Design Manager Todd Willing came up with a commemorative new logo that captures the past but expresses the future.

"We wanted to recognise the heritage in the original Falcon motifs of the early sixties, but it was also imperative that we created a new design that reflects the contemporary and dynamic vehicle that Falcon represents today and will tomorrow."
The logo will, according to Ford, "feature prominently across a range of product and celebratory activities during 2010."

50 years of Falcons coincides with 85 years of Ford production in Australia. Although Ford has been a presence here for more than 100 years (Fords were sold locally from 1904), the Ford Motor Company of Australia was not established until 1925 -- the same year that the legendary Model T went into production at the company's Geelong plant.

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