A BRIEF HISTORY OF FALCON
The first generation Ford Falcon range was introduced in September, 1960 as a mid-sized car with the XK model. It was based on the US built Ford Falcon then on sale in North America but rather than import new cars, it was decided by Ford Australia to build locally in a new plant to be opened at Broadmeadows, a suburb in northern Melbourne. The first generation Falcon later featured the 1962 XL, 1964 XM and 1965 XP producing a total of over 262,000 cars built by September, 1966. The XM and XP also introduced the 2-door Falcon Hardtop.
The cover of the first XK Falcon brochure in September 1960 reflects the strong American influence on Ford Australia's first Falcon.
The Second Generation Falcon also featured a four model line up - the 1966 XR, 1968 XT, 1969 XW and 1970 XY. Production ran from September, 1966 to March, 1972 for a total of over 394,500 units. The design was now classed as a full-sized car and again, heavily influenced by the US 1966 Ford Falcon. The Aussie models in this range however now introduced what would become the stable Falcon marketed performance and luxury options - the Falcon 500, Futura, Fairmont and the legendary GT series. The Windsor and Cleveland 351ci V8s introduced on the XW and XY Super Roo GTs fuelled the Falcon legend even further with higher and higher specs creeping into road car production. The racing homologation process saw the introduction of the 1969 XW GT-HO Phase I, 1970 XW GT-HO Phase II and 1971 XY GT-HO Phase III. These racing spec speed machines are today among the most rare and sort after of all Falcon built cars.
The legendary 1970 XY Falcon GT with the shaker hood.
The Third Generation Falcon Range was built in three models - the 1972 XA, 1973 XB and 1976 XC totalling almost 597,000 units including Fairlanes and LTDs built in Australia or assembled in New Zealand and South Africa from March, 1972 to March, 1979. This generation was a radical departure from the boxy looking, US influenced designs that had gone before. Here now was a bold, eye-catching all new design with curved panels and an aggressive front end. The 2-door Hardtop made a comeback in this generation and these formed the basis of Ford's top-end V8 motor racing entries. The GT series would end midway through the 1970s in this generation when the XB finished production in July, 1976.
"Born on the wind" was the logo for the boldly redesigned 1972 XA Falcon GT.
The Fourth Generation Falcon Range returned to a very much boxy but quite stylish European look with the XD, XE and XF model range produced from March, 1979 to February, 1988. The glory days of the big block V8s and GTs were gone and for many going into the fuel conscious 1980s it was the end of an era. Vehicle marketing and promotion by the late 1980s began to focus on safety and safety features - the more the better. Ford Falcon brochures from this period going forward heavily promoted mechanical and crash safety technology.
The 1979 Fourth Generation Falcon range started with the much restyled XD model.
The Fifth Generation Falcon 'E' models retained the European look with production running from March, 1988 to August, 1998. There was no commercial range in the 'E' series so Fourth Generation utes and panel vans were kept in production through to 1999 sold as the XG and XH Falcon. The GT series made a long awaited return to the Falcon 'E' range, the first being the EB GT in 1991. The Sixth and Seventh Generation Falcon Range ran from 1998 to 2010 and 2008 to 2016 respectively with the much expected reengineering and redesign work to carry the Falcon range into the 21st Century. The last Ford Falcon XR6 came off the Broadmeadows assembly line on 7 October, 2016 ending a 56 year production run making Falcon the longest running product name in Australian motoring history. See under: The Falcon / Fairlane Range in the side menu for the complete line up of models, series and production figures.

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