Ford Falcon XF-II S Panel Van - Endless Summer - Australia Day 2025
The endless summer - this is Australia.
This also pretty well describes the Blackwood Falcon, first launched in XD form in 1979. The Blackwood reused the Falcon/Fairmont platform developed for 1966 by Ford USA.
The XD of 1979 became the XE of 1982, and XF of 1984. The 'too big' Falcon arriving at the end of the 1970s fuel crises was nonetheless the 'right size' for the Australian market going into the 1980s, outselling the smaller GM-H Commodore.
Thoughts were that the Falcon in this guise was still too big and too ineffiicient, with a plan to replace the Blackwood with a FWD Mazda-basd product. As the sales grew, a olan developed to re-skin the platform once more for 1988 for the EA Falcon, now dressed in much more contempory 'aero' skin, but still fundamentally the same mechanically, with a slightly smaller 3.9L capacity 6-cylinder inline engine.
The 'ute' (coupe-utility in US parlance) and Panel-van shown here were not part of the update plan, but as sales remained strong (in the absence of a direct Holden competitor) the bodystyle continued, migrating with minor trim updates to XG nomenclature. Ultimately the XH version, which received a modified EL Falcon headlamp and bumper, but still retaining the original Blackwood Falcon bodywork aft of the A-pillar, ending its days at age 18 in 1997, with the release of the much more significantly updated Falcon platform nuderpinning the AU.
Happy Australia Day 2025
Ford Falcon XF-II S Panel Van - Endless Summer - Australia Day 2025
The endless summer - this is Australia.
This also pretty well describes the Blackwood Falcon, first launched in XD form in 1979. The Blackwood reused the Falcon/Fairmont platform developed for 1966 by Ford USA.
The XD of 1979 became the XE of 1982, and XF of 1984. The 'too big' Falcon arriving at the end of the 1970s fuel crises was nonetheless the 'right size' for the Australian market going into the 1980s, outselling the smaller GM-H Commodore.
Thoughts were that the Falcon in this guise was still too big and too ineffiicient, with a plan to replace the Blackwood with a FWD Mazda-basd product. As the sales grew, a olan developed to re-skin the platform once more for 1988 for the EA Falcon, now dressed in much more contempory 'aero' skin, but still fundamentally the same mechanically, with a slightly smaller 3.9L capacity 6-cylinder inline engine.
The 'ute' (coupe-utility in US parlance) and Panel-van shown here were not part of the update plan, but as sales remained strong (in the absence of a direct Holden competitor) the bodystyle continued, migrating with minor trim updates to XG nomenclature. Ultimately the XH version, which received a modified EL Falcon headlamp and bumper, but still retaining the original Blackwood Falcon bodywork aft of the A-pillar, ending its days at age 18 in 1997, with the release of the much more significantly updated Falcon platform nuderpinning the AU.
Happy Australia Day 2025