Ford Australia has designed, built and sold a lot of cars in its 100 years of existence – but which ones are the best?
Obviously that is an incredibly difficult question to answer, but we’ve got back through the past century and picked the five Fords we believe best encapsulate the blue oval down under. But let us know your favourites in the comments below or on social media.
Model T
Let’s start at the beginning, with the very first Ford to roll off an Australian production line. Just like it did in the USA, the Model T made motoring affordable to the masses rather than just the wealthy elite. In 1925 a Model T cost £185, which is approximately $18,500 in today’s money, so while not a cheap sum, it did give more people than ever a chance to buy an automobile.
And, of course, if it had not succeeded, it would have left Ford floundering and we may not be sitting here today celebrating the 100th anniversary, so in that sense it is by far the most important car the brand has ever launched in Australia.
Ute
Just like the national anthem, every Aussie knows the story of the first ute. Legend has it that a farmer wrote a letter to Ford requesting a car that could both take him and his wife to church on Sunday and the pigs to market on Monday.
In response, Ford took its 1933 Model 40A Coupe and added an integrated tub in the rear, creating the first modern ute (short of Coupe-Utility) and what would become an Australian institution. The ute was a symbol of Ford Australia’s ‘can do’ attitude and ability to not only think outside the box to meet customers needs, but also execute the design and production of a new vehicle; something that the company can still do today.
Falcon
By the 1960s Ford Australia had found its arch-nemesis – Holden – and the Lion brand was doing a roaring trade with its Chevrolet-inspired, but locally-built, sedans and station wagons, the FC and then FD. So Ford countered with a new American-inspired family car of its own and the legend of the Australian Ford Falcon began with 1960’s XK.
It would become the first of seven generations of Falcon designed and built in Australia, all the way up until 2016. Over the decades it became a staple of Australian driveways and along the way the blue oval created some of the most iconic and beloved locally-made cars.
The Falcon GT-HO Phase III, designed to conquer Mt Panorama, Bathurst, was the fastest production sedan in the world for decades thanks to its 351ci ‘Cleveland’ V8. Then there was the XC Falcon Coupe (especially the Cobra), the Falcon ute, which carried on the legend of the original, and then finally the unlikely XR6 Turbo – which proved there was a replacement for displacement.
Territory
Arguably Ford Australia’s most overlooked and under-rated creation. Coming off the back of the AU Falcon flop, the brand new it needed to diversify to secure its future and stabilise its sales. At the time SUV sales hadn’t exploded, but Ford clearly saw the writing on the wall and developed the Territory as a new family alternative.
It was, in effect, just a high-riding version of the Falcon wagon, but the Territory immediately proved a hit with modern Australian families, hitting more than 20k sales in its first full year on sale. It was just what they needed – spacious, practical and affordable. Unfortunately, the critical mistake Ford made was introducing a diesel engine (and not a very good one) too late, which left the Territory to play catch-up amongst an increasing number of imported diesel rivals.
Sadly, the Territory went the same way as the Falcon, ending in October 2016 when Ford Australia stopped manufacturing cars in Australia after 91 years.
Ranger
While Ford Australia stopped building cars in 2016, by that time the engineering and design team at its Broadmeadows headquarters had established itself within the company’s global hierarchy. So when the time came to develop a new dual-cab ute for the world, Ford Australia was given the task. So while not made here, the Ranger ‘T6’ can be considered an Australian success story as the design, engineering and testing was all done here.
Prior to the T6 Ranger arriving in 2011, Ford had been relying on the Falcon ute to appeal to tradies (and performance car buyers) and had largely left the dual-cab market to the Toyota HiLux. The new model changed that and the Ranger became not only a serious alternative for tradies but has risen up and dethroned the HiLux as the ‘King of Dual-Cab Utes’ in this country.
Ford Australia even helped create a new genre of these bigger utes, with the high-performance Ranger Raptor. It has spawned many imitators and created a previously unthinkable market for utes that cost more than $70k.
The Ranger, and its Everest SUV spin-off, are the beating heart of Ford Australia at 100, accounting for roughly 90 per cent of its total volume. So without it, Ford may not have made this historic milestone.
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