Aussie Wagons HO!

More photos...

Continuing the Aussie wagon theme - going backwards - is the 'EL' Falcon. Introduced in the opening months of 1996, the 'EL' was the last revision of a body-style began with the EA back in 1988. It continued the 4.0L six and optional 5.0L injected Windsor V8 with rear wheel drive and leaf rear springs, in what was really just finessing of what began with the 'EF' in 1994. By mid way through 1997, it was facing extra competition from GM's newly released VT Commodore and faced an uphill battle against GM's next generation product.

Below is a shot of a EL Falcon 'GLi', the entry level model complete with 15" steel wheels and hub caps -



This photo is from a 'Visitors Cars' page I put together for a website some years back (consider it ancient history) - the page itself can be found at http://trueblueford.com/WaynesELgli_wagon.html where there are a couple of other photos as well.

The EL continued the EF's practice of differentiating between equipment levels by providing different exterior styling - with the Fairmont receiving a different bonnet and pronouned fake grill :



Again, the full page with more photos can be found at http://trueblueford.com/TobysELwagonVC.html - you can see a few more pics of what a EL Fairmont looks like without the spotlights in front of the grill HERE -

http://www.trueblueford.com/ELfairmont_specs.html

Although not wagons (unfortunately wagons are rarely treated with the same respect as sedans in Australia) this page will allow you to see all of the different styling options available with the EL Falcon :

http://www.trueblueford.com/EL_Visitors_cars.html

Finally, a rear shot straight out of the official Ford EL Falcon brochure to give you the idea of what the tail end of this wagon looked like -

 

All down uder wagons are the best looking.

 

Some for the GM fans...

Thought I had better include something for the GM fans...via GM's Australian subsiduary, Holden (or GMH).



Just a couple of photos of a HZ Holden 'Vacationer' (i.e. limited edition special value pack produced by Holden) that I found at Summernats 18. The tail lights are out of a WB Holden - the colour combination is original for this model, although the supercharger isn't! The front indicators have been swapped for clear jobbies on this example (from the factory the top segment was clear as a parker, while the lower 2 were orange for use as blinkers) and GTS front guards have been fitted with their 3 x vented openings - usually only found on the GTS Monaro (2 & 4 door sports sedan version of the HZ)


The physical size of these wagons was Camaro sized, which was considered a large car in Australia (something like a full-sized Chevy Impala was considered "huge"). They were available with the choice of either a rather athsmatic 3.3L straight six, a more reasonable 4.2L V8 (253ci) or a 5.0L V8 (308ci) - all locally designed & produced (i.e. no interchangable parts with their American counterparts, despite the similiar appearance).

As the earlier models of this body style were available with 350ci Chevrolet V8s from the factory, fitting the American sourced engines is no problem - and is an extremely popular conversion in Australia, with the engine bays big enough and bodies strong enough to cope with even a big block 454. The HQ to WB Holdens in Sedan and Wagon formats were produced in monocoque body styles with a removable front sub-chassis section, while utes & panel vans had a full-chassis for added strength. They were even produced in LHD for some export markets - although these are pretty hard to find these days without the support and following this model has on Aussie shores.



By this time all Holden wagons had a coil-sprung live rear axil, moving from the old style cart-sprung rear axil from the HQ onwards. The HZ was the last real 'Holden' produced in wagon format - with the Commodore being introduced from 1979 onwards based almost without change on the european Opel Monza.

The HZ based WB continued to be produced well into the 80's, but only as a utility, panel van (read : a high roofed two-door wagon with panelled sides and rear decked out for cargo carrying duties - windows optional) and a long-wheel-base luxury sedan called the 'Statesman'.

 

HT,

you missed it.... i said i wanted a Holden sandman and i got lambasted (of course that is because i like custom vans)!!

 

Grille and headlamps look like an early Monte Carlo item

 

The FIRST Aussie Falcon Wagon!

Okay, so these pics are not of the actual 'first' car, but they are of the first Falcon model to be sold in Australia as a wagon... I believe you guys got your Falcon in September 1959 as a 1960 model? Well, we got ours in September 1960. Manufactured in Australia, as you can see most of the car was a direct copy of the American model.


I took these shots at the 2008 Geelong All Ford Day held at Deakin University. Geelong is the spiritual home of Ford in Australia, as it is where their main factory has been based since the 20's. As you can see, there are a few major differences between 'our' wagon and yours - as ours was produced off of a sedan platform, and therefore features a much more compact rear end...


This one of course has been heavily customised (a full-white interior was never on Ford Oz's option list!) - it is good to see that the custom-car set has finally recognized 60's Falcons for what they are - for too many years Holdens were the main-stay of Aussie custom car culture, nice to see some balance coming into the mix!


Despite that, there are not a lot of these left over here, which is a pity! While the Falcon started as virtually an identical clone to it's US counterpart, it was modded to suit Australian conditions and tastes. Also, without the volume to spread tooling costs over, Ford Oz chose to tweak the styling rather than the wholesale changes you guys got every year. But there is no doubt, the styling of our vehicles was always influenced by what you guys were doing, until the 80's when the European look became the new black in Australia.

Next - the dash...



Most of the custom-elements used in this vehicle would have been picked up from American custom car magazines - Appleton spots were never used by the police over here. But by now, you should be wondering - what the heck is that engine???


The engine seen here is a heavily modded version of the Falcon 6 produced between 1982 and 1988 in the XE and XF Falcons. Based on the US designed 250ci Ford inline six, Aussie engineers added a alloy cross-flow head and optional fuel injection (as seen in the pic above). The injected versions also got a cast alloy rocker cover (yep, as above) replacing the pressed tin one given the carby models. This engine in stock form could keep up with a 5.0L V8 (admittedly a very lazy one due to emissions). The engine in the pic would obviously do much better than that - as they responded exceptionally well to turbocharging. I have seen XE's & XF's treated this way go well into the 11 second 1/4 mile zone!

I hope you've enjoyed that little taste of 1960's Australiana - even if it is virtually a carbon copy of what you guys had at home...

 

You are absolutely right - just like today, where manufacturers look to each other for the styling trends that are going to sell, and American was definitely the flavour of the decade back then. Hence you will see plenty of American influence in the cars made and styled over here during the 50's, 60's & 70's. Fortunately though, Australia was very much fixed on the muscle car trend, so we missed out on some of the American automotive styling autrocities of the late 70's...

Anything American was big news in Australia at the time - and pre 70's American cars are still valued very highly over here, particularily amongst the hot-rodding, kustom or street machining set. Hence, fitting Chevy badges to your Holden is seen as a "step-up", as is having a Holden fitted with a Chevy engine... With tarrifs at the time holding imported American car prices relatively high and Aussie car sizing what you would call "compact", a 57' Ford Customline was seen as the Rolls Royce of the Australian Ford showroom, and was definitely the car to have for many teens at the time.

 

I'd raise my hood for that setup, especially with a Turbo. Thanks for the great pics. It'll take me all day to stop drooling.

Any idea where he got those rear side window blinds?

 

That was great! Thanks for the pictures and the history...enjoyed it

 

I find it a little funny that people over here in Australia would like older American wagons but you Americans seem to want our late model wagons.

Maybe we might have to work out some sort of exchange program. lol

 

I just want that FI ford six engine.
Would I love to see that under the hood of my Fairmont.

 

Distance makes the heart grow fonder. The unobtanium of it all!

 

Iz that somethin' like the grass alwayz being greener on the other side ah the fence Norm

 

Almost! Except that their sixes pump out at least twice the HP than ours (85 HP), straight from the factory.

The worst is that Canada and Australia are still part of the British Commonwealth. They lucked out getting all the goodies, because they ship finished cars to Latin America, Indonesia, South Asia and South Africa. Models we don't even see.

 

My partner has a brother who is currently moving to San Fransisco from the east coast of the states. Maybe once he is settled I might have to speak to him about sending some motors over there as I have an uncle who used to own a wrecker and he still has a pile of 6 cylinder motors from 1998 - 2002 falcons laying around. They are only SOHC but with boost are really good.