This is a page of general information, snippets of interest, and folklore to do with Australian Fords here in the U.K.

   Some more unusual and interesting information can be found

here

My old XB GT

This a picture of an impossibly young me, taken over twenty years ago, with the XB GT351 Falcon I bought with my first pay packet and a loan from the bank. Bought back in 1982 after my graduation and first month of work for British Steel in Wales. It was my two and a half year ownership of this car that started me on a lifelong admiration of Australian Fords.

Passing from the 1600cc Cortina in the background, to the 5700cc, 300hp, Falcon was a bit of a shock, but it was a great car. It never broke down, or gave me any trouble - except for the failure of a seal in one of the rear disk calipers - and the only maintenance work I carried out was the replacement of the lower front balljoints.

Sadly, in comparison to most U.K. cars it was very heavy on fuel and it lay parked for many weeks at a time and I eventually sold it in the late summer of 1984. I then never saw it again, until the last day I worked in Wales before returning to Scotland, when it passed me going in the opposite direction and it had been painted all black.This is a shame as this car is the one that was consecutively registered to Malky’s Landau, and the Burnt Orange paint with Walnut Glow paintouts is a relatively rare colour scheme, especially with a black vinyl roof.

I wonder where the car is now.

Some Falcons in the U.K. that have suffered

Yes, they are both genuine XB GTs. Yes, they have been in the U.K. a long time. And yes, the owner wants to ‘restore them’.

More rust here, unfortunately.

Interesting UK delivered Falcon tidbit. Click here.

Brand new Falcons and Fairmonts in the U.K.

How would you like to own a brand new Falcon or ute ?

Well, it appears that it can be done as this company

www.ecocars.ltd.uk

can supply you with one, and being solely LPG powered, bring you great benefits if you want to use it as a company vehicle, never mind getting into the centre of London without paying a fee.

Six Feet (down) Under

It would also appear that Coleman Milne, one of the prestigious coachbuilding companies in the U.K, can also supply Australian Fords for ones last journey on earth.

They are offering conversions on current model Ford Fairlanes, plus sell Fairlane wagons as ‘support’ vehicles by which I assume they mean flower cars.

U.K. tailights

One interesting piece of information that I have found is that some of the U.K. delivered XB Falcon coupes had their rear indicators changed.

Both the Falcon that I owned, and one of the rusting Falcons from the near the top of this page, were fitted with these tail-lights. It appears that a blanking panel was fitted to fill the normal Australian tail-light hole in the panel and these assemblies fitted over the top. Enquiries have found that these are probably Triumph tail-lights, possibly from the Dolomite range. The assumption is made that these were fitted to provide a white reversing light rather than the standard XB Australian practice of having the two indicators come on when reverse is selected. Interestingly, the other rusty XB has XA coupe tail-lights.

What they look like on a car, in this case a November, 1972 XA GT exported to the U.K. new.

Top of page

[Australian Ford Register UK] [History] [The Cars] [Members] [Bits and Pieces] [Contents] [Model Changes - Dashes] [Vinyl Roofs] [Doorhandles - Tail lamps - Glass] [Underneath] [Underneath 2] [Thorn Red] [Spoilers - Horn Cars] [Styling - Bonnets] [Grand Sports] [Metricification] [Grand Sport details - P5 LTD] [Scoops and vents] [Wheels] [The other XR8 - P6 LTD] [Superbird] [Compliance Plates] [Engines] [Engines2] [Rust] [Stampings] [Falcons] [Literature] [Some UK background] [One owner] [Bits and Pieces 2] [Untitled124] [Links] [Visitors] [Events] [AusCCA] [Site History]