The "Golden Age" of Ford Australia?

[Adamz Ghia]

Pretty sure Holden were bailed out during the VB to VL days...

[Focused]

I'm a bit younger than most of you so I can only recall the auto world since the mid90s but IMO 2002-2004 was a golden age for Ford Australia. Things were pretty bad during the AU days. HRT dominated the track and the Gen3 V8 poo'd all over the Windsors (when it wasn't dumping oil everywhere). Then things started looking up as the rumours of the 'AV' were abound, and we had the fantastic 300+, R5 and R7 concept appeared. Then the T3 blew our socks off. Then the AV finally arrived and the turbocharged 6 was amazing. We did well on the race track and then the Territory arrive. A few years later the BF2 Falcon was getting very stale, and the lack of a diesel Territory hurt, but those were still a few great years to be a Ford fan.

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

Being on top selling sardine cans is not a 'Golden Era' who was ever inspired by an EA Falcon, no one I would say.

Well that's where you'd be wrong.

I have never rated a Falcon prior to the E-series. They were all technologically ancient.

I was a Holden guy growing up through the 70's. My first two cars were Torana's. Compared to equivalent era Falcons they were miles ahead in the things that mattered to me. They steered well because they had rack & pinion steering, they had coils all round not cart springs in the rear. They were light an nimble.

During the mid 80s all the local offerings bored me. I didn't want a X- series Falcon with their 60's designed suspension nor a earlier Commdore with their strut front and panhard rear compromise designs. Both brands then still running engines that had first seen the light of day in the 60's. I got into 4wds instead.

The turning point came with the EA, wow here was a modern home grown Ford. A nice modern OHC 6, a modern front suspension design (at last) with SLALS design just like the best from Europe. Still a live axle but well located with watts link. Driving one for the first time is what bought me into the Ford fold.

The EA-EB-ED are in my option some of the best looking medium-large Ford sedans anywhere. The EF-EL was also a pretty well executed facelift. The looks of the AU came as a bit of a shock and was unloved at the time but to drive were still great.

I had 2 EDs and an AU but then came the 'last' golden age under Polites or Uncle Geoff as he was known to some on these forums. The BA and Territory period from 02 thru 04 was the best time to be a Ford guy and this forums (and the U.S. ones before that) were there so we could all celebrate it together.

I have a soft spot for the original Falcons (XK, XL, XM, XP) but the rest from the 60's 70's or 80's aren't for me. I'm glad you enjoy them. For me the E-series were the first Falcon of the modern golden age.

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by castellan

How does one say that Ford dropping the V8 was a mistake, not to Ford Australia is was not, but to me it was.

How does one say that Holden having the small VB to VL was a big mistake, it was not as they sold very well.

The days to look back on were the XR to XA V8's that can set them apart from all the rest of days gone by.
XC ZH on for better comfort.
EB on for a better type of car all round.

I think most diehard Ford fans would agree that dropping the V8 in XE, led to an era when youth had no Ford hero car to look to, similar to a Commodore SS, or Group A or whatever. For the last 20 years they've had the Tickfords, FPVs & Turbos etc, but what was Ford's hero car, in the XF/EA era.

Commodores sold very well when first released, but in the VH era, Falcon outsold Commodore by over 3 to 1, which has never happened in Holden's history. I wouldn't call that selling well !!

I agree that the XR-XA V8 era was a good time for Ford fans (me too) & during XC onwards they had an edge in the comfort stakes, but during the EB era, the Commodores of the time (VP/VR) were also world class cars.

This was at the time that the Aussie manufacturers were responding to the 'Button plan' & both Commodore & Falcon were vastly superior to their XF & VK counterparts.

Dr Terry

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by Raptor

Well that's where you'd be wrong.

I have never rated a Falcon prior to the E-series. They were all technologically ancient.

I was a Holden guy growing up through the 70's. My first two cars were Torana's. Compared to equivalent era Falcons they were miles ahead in the things that mattered to me. They steered well because they had rack & pinion suspension, they had coils all round not cart springs in the rear. They were light an nimble.

During the mid 80s all the local offerings bored me. I didn't want a X- series Falcon with their 60's designed suspension nor a earlier Commdore with their strut front and panhard rear compromise designs. Both brands then still running engines that had first seen the light of day in the 60's. I got into 4wds instead.

The turning point came with the EA, wow here was a modern home grown Ford. A nice modern OHC 6, a modern front suspension design (at last) with SLALS design just like the best from Europe. Still a live axle but well located with watts link. Driving one for the first time is what bought me into the Ford fold.

The EA-EB-ED are in my option some of the best looking medium-large Ford sedans anywhere. The EF-EL was also a pretty well executed facelift. The looks of the AU came as a bit of a shock and was unloved at the time but to drive were still great.

I had 2 EDs and an AU but then came the 'last' golden age under Polites or Uncle Geoff as he was known to some on these forums. The BA and Territory period from 02 thru 04 was the best time to be a Ford guy and this forums (and the U.S. ones before that) were they so we could all celebrate it together.

I have a soft spot for the original Falcons (XK, XL, XM, XP) but the rest from the 60's 70's or 80's aren't for me. I'm glad you enjoy them. For me the E-series were the first Falcon of the modern golden age.

I don't think we are discussing technology of the time. My belief is that some early Falcons (say XR-XY, my favourite) were in front in many areas technology-wise, in their day. By the time that platform got to become the XD, it was outdated.

The problem is, hindsight is a very powerful tool, I don't think that calling something from 50 years ago "technologically ancient", is exactly in the spirit of this conversation.

Dr Terry

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

Originally Posted by Raptor

Well that's where you'd be wrong.

I have never rated a Falcon prior to the E-series. They were all technologically ancient.

I was a Holden guy growing up through the 70's. My first two cars were Torana's. Compared to equivalent era Falcons they were miles ahead in the things that mattered to me. They steered well because they had rack & pinion suspension, they had coils all round not cart springs in the rear. They were light an nimble.

During the mid 80s all the local offerings bored me. I didn't want a X- series Falcon with their 60's designed suspension nor a earlier Commdore with their strut front and panhard rear compromise designs. Both brands then still running engines that had first seen the light of day in the 60's. I got into 4wds instead.

The turning point came with the EA, wow here was a modern home grown Ford. A nice modern OHC 6, a modern front suspension design (at last) with SLALS design just like the best from Europe. Still a live axle but well located with watts link. Driving one for the first time is what bought me into the Ford fold.

The EA-EB-ED are in my option some of the best looking medium-large Ford sedans anywhere. The EF-EL was also a pretty well executed facelift. The looks of the AU came as a bit of a shock and was unloved at the time but to drive were still great.

I had 2 EDs and an AU but then came the 'last' golden age under Polites or Uncle Geoff as he was known to some on these forums. The BA and Territory period from 02 thru 04 was the best time to be a Ford guy and this forums (and the U.S. ones before that) were they so we could all celebrate it together.

I have a soft spot for the original Falcons (XK, XL, XM, XP) but the rest from the 60's 70's or 80's aren't for me. I'm glad you enjoy them. For me the E-series were the first Falcon of the modern golden age.

Interesting how people see things differently, I recall the EA/EB etc coming out and thinking WTF, they were ugly, horrible excuses for cars, I was almost embarrassed to be a 'Ford Man', lucky I had an XB GT as a daily driver back then, I just ignored the rubbish being build.

If they are so great and 'Golden Era' worthy why are complete running and registered examples selling for $800-1500, when a rusted out fully stripped rolling shell base model XA/XB Coupe goes for between $7-12K and around 20K if it's something special such as a Goss or GT?? Even a rusty old Falcon 500 sedan sitting in a paddock fetches more than the average EA EB

[Gypzy]

I think the 'golden age' was early 70's. MK2 Cortina was my first car, $300 special. Learnt so much on that little thing. I can remember Dad bringing home a brand new XY Wagon (family car), after that he bought an XC Fairmont. My second car was an XY 4WD Ute and also had an XT Sedan for a while, (1967 i think, same year i was born!).
So the Ford's of that era have special memories for me. The Golden Age.

[Raptor]

Agreed, it is interesting how people see things differently.

There was also a time when XA/B/C's were worth next to nothing.

Didn't the Cobras come about to clear out the last of that body style because no wanted a coupe.

[castellan]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

I think most diehard Ford fans would agree that dropping the V8 in XE, led to an era when youth had no Ford hero car to look to, similar to a Commodore SS, or Group A or whatever. For the last 20 years they've had the Tickfords, FPVs & Turbos etc, but what was Ford's hero car, in the XF/EA era.

Commodores sold very well when first released, but in the VH era, Falcon outsold Commodore by over 3 to 1, which has never happened in Holden's history. I wouldn't call that selling well !!

I agree that the XR-XA V8 era was a good time for Ford fans (me too) & during XC onwards they had an edge in the comfort stakes, but during the EB era, the Commodores of the time (VP/VR) were also world class cars.

This was at the time that the Aussie manufacturers were responding to the 'Button plan' & both Commodore & Falcon were vastly superior to their XF & VK counterparts.

Dr Terry

XF EA 3.9L EFI went well, but I seen a lot of cyl heads replaced when they came out and the old 3sp auto was that gutless taking off the line it was a joke.
The VN-P were ugly as and had a shocking rattle trap of a V6 engine that made the red motor sound sweet, and after we just got to like the smooth 3.0L VL engine, I nearly fell over when I first heard the VN V6.
That was like a death bell for Holden them VN-P-R V6 engines and a lot of people just did not come back to Holden because of it.

3 to 1 from 9/81 to 2/84 I wonder why it truly was.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by Raptor

Didn't the Cobras come about to clear out the last of that body style because no wanted a coupe.

Yep, crazy isn't it. Ford were worried that would have too many left over panels Imagine what NOS Coupe panels would be worth today.

I think we also need to remember that the late 70's was a TOUGH time. Unemployment, stagflation. Holden killed the Kingswood because they thought nobody wanted a full-size saloon anymore (talk about being "ahead of their time.")

As for the EA, it was a symbol of the complacency that beset Ford in the 80's. Everything was too late to market and poorly developed.
Yes they finally put a modern front-end in a Falcon, and stuffed it up badly. The OHC 6 and 4psd were supposedly to be debuted in the XF2, instead they had to rush out a ULP version of the 4.1 and when the 3.9 arrived it was diabolical.

[castellan]

Originally Posted by Raptor

Agreed, it is interesting how people see things differently.

There was also a time when XA/B/C's were worth next to nothing.

Didn't the Cobras come about to clear out the last of that body style because no wanted a coupe.

I think it was to do with the price of the Cobra, in them years we had very high inflation and people knew they were gutless and chewed the juice and also a performance car they were not.
The fan base knew they were being screwed over from back when the loss of power that the XB GT came out with and people who knew bagged the cars at the time.

Ford was not giving true GT fans what they really wanted at the time.

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

Originally Posted by Raptor

Agreed, it is interesting how people see things differently.

There was also a time when XA/B/C's were worth next to nothing.

Didn't the Cobras come about to clear out the last of that body style because no wanted a coupe.

I do recall my XB GT being worth nothing, it had the lot, fully optioned with sunroof etc, when I went to sell it no one even looked at it for ages, wish I had it today.

Just for interests sake here is an old photo of my daily driver XB GS Coupe back around 86/87, full of 80's style, only because I can't find a photo of my GT:

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

Being on top selling sardine cans is not a 'Golden Era' who was ever inspired by an EA Falcon, no one I would say.

I'd say you're wrong there. The EA Falcon is the reason why I'm a Ford fan today. It just looks perfect from every angle, especially the Fairmont Ghia with those turbo blade alloys. I'd go so far as to say that there wasn't a better looking four door sedan than the EA Fairmont Ghia, anywhere in the world, at the time.

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

Pretty sure no kids were making drawings of EA/EB Falcons on their school books

You'd be wrong there too. I was a teenager in the 1990s, and my school books were littered with scribbles of the EA/EB/EF/EL Falcons.

I think that the late 1980s and the early to mid 1990s were Ford Australia's golden era. Everything was going right for them, they were on top of the sales charts; the Falcon, Fairlane, Telstar and Laser were on top of their respective segments. The KC/KE Laser and the AT/AV TX5s were great looking cars of the time too.

I've got fond memories of that era.

[XG_Falcon]

Originally Posted by NX74205

I'd say you're wrong there. The EA Falcon is the reason why I'm a Ford fan today. It just looks perfect from every angle, especially the Fairmont Ghia with those turbo blade alloys. I'd go so far as to say that there wasn't a better looking four door sedan than the EA Fairmont Ghia, anywhere in the world, at the time.



You'd be wrong there too. I was a teenager in the 1990s, and my school books were littered with scribbles of the EA/EB/EF/EL Falcons.

I think that the late 1980s and the early to mid 1990s were Ford Australia's golden era. Everything was going right for them, they were on top of the sales charts; the Falcon, Fairlane, Telstar and Laser were on top of their respective segments. The KC/KE Laser and the AT/AV TX5s were great looking cars of the time too.

I've got fond memories of that era.

Yep me too, in fact I still have art books from high school littered with sketches of EBs and EDs.

Then when I left high school I bought an ED XR6

[smciner1]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

2 eras: Bill Bourke, and Geoff Polites.

70's performance, coupes, racing, Aussie built components like the V8s and decent marketing ("Build your own GS")

Geoff grabbing the reins and doing the Barra Turbo and Territory programs. Actually advertising ("Can't get enough of this")

Both were MD's who well and truly got behind the Aussie product.


Honourable mention: Tickford tunes on XR6/GT's in the 1990s. Dedicated engines that became hand-built, dedicated suspension tunes, and wings. With AU more Australian design and content than any other car ever.

I think you have hit the nail on the head,

[Sprintey]

So many good viewpoints, I'll weigh in to say by ED Ford Australia had cleaned up its quality act enough (cylinder head excepted). In '93 I was very young and able to compare VR to EBII - no comparison whatsoever - the Ford was quieter, felt more solidly put together, the motor was smoother (no death rattle), it was more powerful. Everything private buyers buy Mazda for today, and less road noise in the Falcon! People forget when EA was put anonymously to styling clinics in the late 80's (ie, no badges) the public consistently rated it higher than Euro brands it would sell against.

By 2000 I could afford a family car, and remember haggling hard for a more recent EF, failing to agree, then switching for an ED Classic. It was such a fantastic car, so no regrets, just for common everyday driving and long country runs.

When you look at drivers cars, the motor journo's over the years have reckoned that XT GT and EBII S XR6 were very fine versions of what an Australian drivers' car should be.

Great post before Dr Terry; have a check on Australian content in the AU, Ford Management were very proud upon its release and pointed to more Australian content than any Holden ever, and this must include the HK-Z era of government mandated (yes, folks, government actually mandated Australian content, ie, your jobs) Aussie content of 95%. The late 90's saw an AUD of about 50c US so they could afford to do it, right down the the BHP bake hardened steel.

I wonder where to next for Australia, for we have allowed much of our industrial base to be stripped out in these boom years.

Another honourable mention: LC Torana, great adaptation of the British Vauxhall Viva, improved out of sight and made very relevant to the 1970 market (and today....)

[kypez]

What is the definition of a Golden Age? Most cars sold? Best product?

If we look past sales numbers, I reckon the FG is the best. Awesome product mix with almost every segment covered. And once the Miami was introduced, that only made the series even better.

When else in Fords history did you have a:

5.0 litre Supercharged V8 (GS/GT/GTF, all different tunes/R&D)*
5.4 litre motor which is awesome as a GT engine (XR8/GS/GT, again different flavours)*
4.0 litre Turbo 6 (which was 2 engines XR6T and F6)
4.0 litre LPI 6 (Available across the range, brilliant use of technology)
4.0 litre NA Petrol 6 (Available across the range)
2.0 Litre Turbo 4 (all except XR models; which was a silly decision but so be it).
2.7 Litre Turbo Diesel Terri

Thats a series with 12 Engine options available through the range!

Suspension Tunes as well as with the R Spec and GTF.

Standard equipment was up as well especially with the Series 2 model.

The cars were well made and the quality was good. I love the interior of my FG's and its a great place to be. I've had E series and the BA XR8. The FG is just so much nicer than any of these models IMO.

Bang for your buck, the FG range was hard to go past and gets my vote as the Golden Age of Ford Australia.

Its just a shame that the market has moved on...

*I recognise both were not sold side by side but were part of the series.

[Sprintey]

Good post Kypez, it's definitely a case of "you won't miss it until it's gone", the FGs I've been in have been beautiful. Pity no wagon though, I'd love one in EcoLPi.

Last year I did up a 'spreadsheet' of features I'd want on a last new Aussie car before they are all gone, and ticked them off one by one. I was surprised at just how many different engine and body choices are offered via all the automakers still here. (Out of interest, a new Evoke wagon on LPG won on points - I'm a surfer and stingy on the $$ for long trips around the coast!)

[kypez]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Good post Kypez, it's definitely a case of "you won't miss it until it's gone", the FGs I've been in have been beautiful. Pity no wagon though, I'd love one in EcoLPi.

Last year I did up a 'spreadsheet' of features I'd want on a last new Aussie car before they are all gone, and ticked them off one by one. I was surprised at just how many different engine and body choices are offered via all the automakers still here. (Out of interest, a new Evoke wagon on LPG won on points - I'm a surfer and stingy on the $$ for long trips around the coast!)

Agreed with the Wagon Comment. A Terri with Eco LPI would have been a good compromise.

Nothing wrong wanting LPG mate. I'm loving that I can tow my race car to Goulburn and back to Sydney for $40! Try that in any other car/4wd/SUV*!

*Before anyone asks, the commodore cant tow more than 2100kg so cant do the required 2300kg I need with the XR8 and Trailer combined (2240kg)

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Great post before Dr Terry; have a check on Australian content in the AU, Ford Management were very proud upon its release and pointed to more Australian content than any Holden ever, and this must include the HK-Z era of government mandated (yes, folks, government actually mandated Australian content, ie, your jobs) Aussie content of 95%.

I beg to differ, re the % Aussie content of the AU Falcon vs HT Holden. Ford management were telling porkies. Even if you leave out design as a %, the older cars blow the AU away in this regard.

IMHO we will never see an Aussie car industry like we had the late 60s & early 70s. Virtually every solitary part of the car (HT) was Aussie, including the basic design elements.

If you dismantle an AU, you find find many items, such as the audio head unit, the speakers, aerial, a lot of the switchgear, a/cond compressor, pressure hoses, p/st pump, every globe & socket, the engine ecu etc. etc. which are fully imported.

Yes, the Ford 6-cyl engine was made here, but its origin was the original US 144 of the XK Falcon. The T5 was built here, but this is a totally US design. The 4-sp auto was built here & is an Aussie design.

Compare this to an HT, & you would have a very hard time finding anything in the car which wasn't Aussie including the design origins. They used to advertise 99.9% local content. I believe the exception was an inhibitor switch or something like that. OK, the 6-cyl Holden was based on a US design but was uniquely Aussie in build & usage, but the 253/308 V8 was 100% Aussie including its basic design.

I'm not comparing the AU with the equivalent Commodore, the AU has a higher % local content, but you can't compare any modern car with those from the 60/70 era.

Also on the subject of Govt. "mandated" local content. To my knowledge, it wasn't 95% & it wasn't actually mandated. Back in those days, anything under 85% local content had a 45& duty added & any fully imported cars were subject to 'quota' limitations.

Dr Terry

[Sprintey]

Hi Dr Terry,

From Wheels Feb 1970 in the Torana COTY presentation:
"Over the past few years the award has been influenced heavily by local content. We support the Plan system to increase local content, though we find the loopholes that permit some manufacturers to exploit minimum-local content programs open to question."

So there was some form of local content Plan, you may be right that it was enforced with a stick rather than mandated in policy. Maybe it was as well? Dunno but they backed domestic industry, and amazingly so did Wheels!

Agree with you that late 60's early 70's was the peak of the actual productive industry here.

As for the AU

http://www.autoweb.com.au/cms/A_5075...wsarticle.html

you could be right, it doesn't say if AU has highest local content ever, or at the time of its release.

[CyberWasp]

What if the "Golden Age" is still yet to happen.
By that I mean Ford Australian Designed cars. It is not what we can build it is what we can design.
It seems to me the Muscle Car era might still continue in other ways with a lifted and flared Ranger being tested. Maybe a V8 will find its way under the bonnet. When customized they can look like beasts.
Maybe Ford Australia will get another crack at a RWD platform in the near future when Mondeo tanks that can tie in with China and Lincoln for example.
Yes nothing is being made here but maybe it opens the door for for things to be made that otherwise would not have with a lot more tech.

Pass me the crack pipe.......

+1 for the XA,B,C Coupes - We will never see anything like that on our roads again.

[Crazy Dazz]

Terry,
I suppose we can debate the use of the term mandated, but yes the government specified local content levels that had to be met to avoid punitive import duties on cars and parts.
I don't know if it was ever actually 95%. In the years before the Button plan, it was relaxed to allow the Makers to achieve an average. So the huge local content of the Falcon, helped offset the Laser which used imported engines.

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

Terry,
I suppose we can debate the use of the term mandated, but yes the government specified local content levels that had to be met to avoid punitive import duties on cars and parts.
I don't know if it was ever actually 95%. In the years before the Button plan, it was relaxed to allow the Makers to achieve an average. So the huge local content of the Falcon, helped offset the Laser which used imported engines.

BMC Australia was achieving 97% local content by the 1960s. Like Holden and Ford, it operated under the Plan A tariff requirements. The Japanese got a foothold under Plan B under which they were allowed to manufacture smaller numbers of models with lower local content. They got around this by offering more models.

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

you could be right, it doesn't say if AU has highest local content ever, or at the time of its release.

Quote from that link:- "The AU Falcon has the highest local content of any car built in Australia".

The way I read that is that the AU had the high % local content in its day. It doesn't mention the highest ever, or of all time.

Dr Terry

[Dr Terry]

Yeah, the local content thing has gone bad over the years, due to successive Governments wanting the so-called "level playing field", where our industry is destroyed to keep 3rd world countries economies afloat.

It doesn't seem to be a Liberal or Labor thing, they both push it.

They way they counted the % local content is another sneaky figure as well. They don't count the parts only, they include labour content as well. This made it was easy to built a car out of almost 100% imported parts & stay under the 75% content rules of the 70s & 80s. Look at a Ford Laser, apart from some trim materials, paint, tyres, battery & maybe the windscreen, just about all the the body & mechanical parts came in a CKD kit & then was assembled here (at Ford Homebush).

Dr Terry

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Hi Dr Terry,

From Wheels Feb 1970 in the Torana COTY presentation:
"Over the past few years the award has been influenced heavily by local content. We support the Plan system to increase local content, though we find the loopholes that permit some manufacturers to exploit minimum-local content programs open to question."

So there was some form of local content Plan, you may be right that it was enforced with a stick rather than mandated in policy. Maybe it was as well? Dunno but they backed domestic industry, and amazingly so did Wheels!

The local cars were supported by everybody back then.

To be even considered for the Wheels COTY, the car had to be built here.

Same with the Bathurst 500, for the first several years, fully imported cars were not even eligible to enter.

These it's the absolute opposite, the local cars are looked down upon, not just by the motoring media, but also the general public.

You know what I mean, a discussion begins at a gathering & someone says that they're buying a new car. When the prospective buyer says that they're looking at a Commodore, Falcon, Territory or Camry etc. most say why aren't buying a Honda, VW, Mazda or Subaru or similar. It's as if the local cars have a stigma or something.

The motoring media's attitude is even worse, the everyday type car doesn't even rate a mention anymore, it needs to be wearing the trendy or correct 'badge'.

Dr Terry

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

...
They way they counted the % local content is another sneaky figure as well.
...

You can say that again.

Dana supply front & rear suspension assemblies, diffs, etc.

Ford buy these from Dana Australia.
Therefore Ford count this as local content.

The problem is most of the components are imported by Dana Aust. from Dana Brazil, where they are actually made

It was around the time I learnt this that I started to become very sceptical of whether I was actually buying a local product in the Territory or Falcon, and thus supporting Australian workers.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by Raptor

You can say that again.

Dana supply front & rear suspension assemblies, diffs, etc.

Ford buy these from Dana Australia.
Therefore Ford count this as local content.

The problem is most of the components are imported by Dana Aust. from Dana Brazil, where they are actually made

It was around the time I learnt this that I started to become very sceptical of whether I was actually buying a local product in the Territory or Falcon, and thus supporting Australian workers.

Damn Dana and their Brazilian labour. Guess that explains the crappy diffs , bushes and creaking suspensions in the Falcons and Territories.

[Sprintey]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

The local cars were supported by everybody back then.

To be even considered for the Wheels COTY, the car had to be built here.

Same with the Bathurst 500, for the first several years, fully imported cars were not even eligible to enter.

These it's the absolute opposite, the local cars are looked down upon, not just by the motoring media, but also the general public.

You know what I mean, a discussion begins at a gathering & someone says that they're buying a new car. When the prospective buyer says that they're looking at a Commodore, Falcon, Territory or Camry etc. most say why aren't buying a Honda, VW, Mazda or Subaru or similar. It's as if the local cars have a stigma or something.

The motoring media's attitude is even worse, the everyday type car doesn't even rate a mention anymore, it needs to be wearing the trendy or correct 'badge'.

Dr Terry

Yeah so true, these attitudes will hurt these same people, indirectly, enormously. And they don't see it. I was talking to a young mechanical engineering grad recently, and opportunity is all offshore.

If you don't actually value-add, you remove yourself from the First World. People just don't get it.

I take particular issue with the motoring scribes: if you go back and read the reviews, in the early 60's they were very 'pro-Australia' and 'pro local content' - as these people had experienced the Second World War. By the mid 70's a new generation was filling in, writing the virtues of imported cars like the BMW 3 series, and rubbishing local product (read reviews of the LH Torana for example). If you do this for long enough, and are sustained enough, you perceptively change attitudes. And you reap what you sow.

Both sides of politics, since the early 70's, have opened the gates of Babylon, and betrayed the policies that developed a manufacturing base here.

But, we are all interconnected and we have access to foreign markets. Unless it's importing cars to Thailand, ag products to Europe, Ag products to USA, cars into Japan, cars into South Korea - or any market that the domestic nation wishes to continue to protect. And we don't (yet) debase our currency to make our exports cheaper. There is no advantageous USD peg, like that which is being adjusted by China at present. So, we played the game fairly. Pity no one else was. Roll on the TPP for more of it - but perhaps we can individually find niches amongst this as the large manufacturing enterprises are killed off? I reckon there's a worldwide niche for an XA coupe and ute bodystyle and modern muscle driveline/safety/tech - Aussies could do it on a shoestring!