High points in the Falcon versus Holden contest

When the XK Falcon was parked alongside the FB Holden, the future seemed to have arrived. With its low-slung profile, bold grille and big Ford round taillights, this new Falcon spelt 1960s to the FB's 1950s. There is an irony here, too. By the Holden alphabetic code 'FB' meant 1959. But the car was late to market and did not go on sale until January 1960.

Elegant as it was, the XK was nearly the ruination of Ford Australia because it failed in the road test of life. Australian buyers, only newly accustomed to car ownership, were always going to vote for reliability over flashiness.

Being 12 years of age, for this author, the news more only more exciting. But in Australia back in 1962, a new Holden or Falcon still made the front page. This was the year of the Premier and Futura. At last it seemed that Australia had its own luxury cars, and there were two of them.

The contrast was as interesting as the similarities (bucket seats!). And how about the timing? As Holden announced its new EJ range which included the Premier, Ford suddenly had its own up-spec model, the Futura.

With its leather trim and white steering-wheel, the Premier seemed to be drawing inspiration as much from Europe as the US. But the bold Futura was American down to its name. The seats were not trimmed in leather but lurid red vinyl. There was extra chrome. And beneath the bonnet was the 170 cubic inch Pursuit engine introduced earlier that year as an option on the Falcon.

There was no additional power for the under-engined EJ Premier. Available only with the ancient three-speed Hydra-Matic gearbox, it was the slowest accelerating Holden sedan yet made. (Did any other manufacturer's top of the tree 1962 model compare unfavourably with its 1948 equivalent?)

Perhaps the Futura was a bit brash for conservative Australian taste because the Premier easily outsold it. But the main reason for this outcome was that buyers were nervous about Falcons after the early XKs proved too fragile for Australian roads. By 1965 the Futura would give way for the subtler, plusher and more effective Fairmont: call it another lesson learned.

By 1967 when the world's first four-door GT arrived, Australians were well into their long love affair with the Falcon. A wealthy young man in our street traded his white Jaguar E-Type on a GT. It was about the most exciting thing on four wheels with its Stewart-Warner gauges and great curling chrome gearlever and that gold paintwork -- absurdly known as GT Bronze (why not GT Golden Glory or somesuch?).

When Holden halfway upstaged the GT more than a year later by launching the Monaro coupe, it wasn't so much 'either/or' as could I please have both.

By this stage the Falcon GT was a regular production model available in a range of colours, the sexiest being Candy Apple Red (with Zircon Green close behind).

The Monaro came as a two-door taxi or a GTS and where there was the simple choice between manual and automatic transmissions in the Ford, the Monaro GTS could be had with a choice of engines and transmissions. A sixpack GTS looked for all the world like a Bathurst-winner. And even the man with the white Monaro 161 with three-on-the-tree sported a 'Drive a Bathurst Winner' sticker on the rear window.

By contrast, a Falcon 500 still seemed a world away from a GT. It's the coupe factor that does it.

Nevertheless, history already seems to have judged that when the Bathurst supercar era ended in 1972, Ford would be the winner on image. Perhaps it is because Holden swapped from Monaro to Torana, meaning the big coupe didn't enjoy enough exposure at Mount Panorama.

The XY GTHO Phase III remains the most collectible Australian car ever. And Peter Brock never raced one.

Success at Mount Panorama and the allure of the Falcon GT did not translate into sales success for Ford versus Holden. And when the VB Commodore hit the streets in November 1978, Ford Australia's fortunes looked set to deteriorate.

In a clever advertising campaign the company promised 'We've got your new car on ice'. At the 1979 Melbourne Motor Show the ice melted to reveal the XD. It was to prove an interesting rivalry.

In the first few months XD sales were strong. But then they slowed as, seemingly, buyers swallowed GMH's rhetoric of smaller-is-more-beautiful.

Then came the really clever part... Ford engineers were able to demonstrate that by combining a five-speed manual transmission with ultra-tall gearing, an XD Falcon could equal or surpass a Commodore on fuel economy. Why not, then, buy the bigger car with width in the rear for three beefy Australians? And that was the trend that emerged.

It was the beginning of Ford Australia's move towards market dominance in 1982. Enthusiasts rated the agile Commodore with its sharp rack and pinion steering ahead of the Falcon but they weren't the primary customers. The Commodore would be seen as 'too small' right through to August 1988 when the VN arrived.

In February 1988 Ford introduced its sleek EA Falcon and Holden's answer was the VN. This time the market reacted decisively in favour of the Holden, which finally matched the Falcon on space while easily beating it for economy when automatic transmission was specified (because Ford Oz still had the ancient three-speeder versus Holden's electronic four-speed unit).

Ford worked really hard to turn its EA into the car it should have been in the first place. History was repeating itself because the disappointing XK had evolved into the excellent XP and then the XD morphed into the far superior XE in just three years. The EB Evolution with its four-speed automatic (launched with EA Series II in October 1989), ABS brakes, improved structural strength and superior NVH was a better car than its VP Commodore rival.

Then, in October 1998, came near disaster for Ford Australia in the dubiously styled guise of the AU Falcon. The popular VT Commodore had been on sale for 15 months.

Ford Australia had gone for a radically futuristic design on the one hand and a low entry price point on the other.

Prospective buyers stared at the AU Forte in bemusement or horror. Beneath its New Edge styling was the nastiest grey plastic, vinyl and cloth interior you could imagine. Then there was the late 1940s Allard grille and the bum in the sky stance.

As it happened few buyers were interested in saving $2000 by buying a car they didn't like instead of the Commodore which they did. Even the Executive did not feel like a fleet special.

The lesson? You can't sell fleet cars to private buyers. In the AU's case, you couldn't even sell fleet cars to fleet buyers...

The BA might as well have been an all-new Falcon, so significant were the changes, including a new twin overhead camshaft edition of the famous straight six. It was way ahead of the VY Commodore on performance, refinement, ride and handling -- thanks to the Control Blade IRS.

Only minor changes were made for the Mark II but in October 2005 the BF scored a six-speed automatic transmission as standard on XR6 Turbo, XR8 and Fairmont Ghia. This fantastic unit was affordably optional on cheaper models. The twin cam six had been tweaked for more power and torque.

When the VE Commodore made its debut in August 2006, the Falcon began to look its age. But the Holden's V6 engine could still not match the Falcon's straight six for performance and any advantage in fuel economy was theoretical because the smaller capacity Holden unit had to work harder. Fords equipped with the six-speed automatic used significantly less fuel in highway driving, with even the stylish new Calais V making do with a five-speed gearbox.

The biggest fault with the VE was its poor forward and sideways vision, thanks to fat and steeply raked A-pillars. For those schooled in the history of the rivals, this was an irony indeed because the HQ (1971) had the thinnest A-pillars of any production car in the world.

To most observers the new FG Falcon (May 2008) did not take the styling battle up to the VE. Some even thought it looked little different from the outgoing BF. But the Ford still enjoyed significant advantages in real world performance and economy. The entry level XT got a five-speed automatic, while the Commodore Omega retained the prehistoric four-speed unit until MY10 when it finally got a six-speeder.

The simple fact that even the cheapest Falcon and Commodore sedans now have six-speed automatic transmissions is indicative of the great progress the Australian automotive industry continues to make.

Finally, there is a joy to the Falcon versus Commodore rivalry that seems to escape most commentators. There will always be loyalists both ways and a strong case can be for leaning either way. And here there is a parallel with Germany's heavy hitters, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Both are excellent; they are not alike in character.

No-one could confuse the entire driving experience of a Falcon and a Commodore, or any older Falcon with a Kingswood or Special. Ford and Holden each has its unique DNA. Blessedly, it has always been thus since the spindly kneed XK Falcon shaped up to the local hero FB in September 1960.