The Greatest (Attainable) Car You Never Owned Was Just Killed in Australia
There’s sad news from Down Under. No, Paul Hogan is still alive, and no, dingoes didn’t get into a local kindergarten.
The last Ford Falcon Ute rolled off the assembly line in the Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows today, ending 55 years of continuous production, Car Advice reports. The death of the FG X Falcon Ute heralds the looming demise of Australian Ford assembly, and leaves just one (doomed) ute in the marketplace of the country that invented it.
In North America, the Ford Falcon’s life ended during the Nixon administration, replaced by the unloved Maverick. In Australia, however, the dream stayed alive. Over its lifetime, the Australian Falcon went from the compact sedan most familiar to 1960s American buyers, to a full-size, rear-wheel drive holdout.
The Falcon bites the dust in October, and with it ends all Australian Ford production. As Aussie motorists mourn the Falcon Ute, the Holden Ute is the only car-cased pickup left standing, but not for long. General Motors’ long-running ute ends production late next year.
North American buyers enjoyed a ute kinship with the Aussies from the 1960s through the 80s. They had their utes, and we had the Ford Ranchero and Chevrolet El Camino (as well as the GMC Spring/Caballero). They drove like the car they were, with a usable bed for light hauling — just like the fist-ever ute, the 1934 Ford Coupe utility.
Despite constant calls over the past three decades for GM to bring back the El Camino, it’s been one big “No dice” after another. Pickups are hot, crossovers, too, and sedans are withering. It’s doubtful the ute concept will ever be seen as more than a niche oddity (i.e., not worth building) on these shores.
[Images: Ford Motor Company of Australia; Chris Keating/ Flickr]
More by Steph Willems
Latest Car Reviews
Read moreLatest Product Reviews
Read moreRecent Comments
- Lorenzo Are they calling it a K4? That's a mountain in the Himalayas! Stick with names!
- MaintenanceCosts It's going to have to go downmarket a bit not to step on the Land Cruiser's toes.
- Lorenzo Since EVs don't come in for oil changes, their owners don't have their tires rotated regularly, something the dealers would have done. That's the biggest reason they need to buy a new set of tires sooner, not that EVs wear out tires appreciably faster.
- THX1136 Always liked the Mustang though I've never owned one. I remember my 13 yo self grabbing some Ford literature that Oct which included the brochure for the Mustang. Using my youthful imagination I traced the 'centerfold' photo of the car AND extending the roof line back to turn it into a small wagon version. At the time I thought it would be a cool variant to offer. What was I thinking?!
- GregLocock That's a bodge, not a solution. Your diff now has bits of broken off metal floating around in it.
Comments
Join the conversation
I don't know what the first ute was, but the Ford Model-T roadster pickup of 1925-1927 was a US factory offering that entered production prior to Ford of Australia completing its first car.
What really always impressed me about Ford Oz is how they developed Ford's wheezy little I6 into a proper sports car engine, as good as any I6 from Europe or Japan. For years I dreamed of finding a rust-free Ranchero and importing an Ford Oz I6 to install in it. Never could find the time/money.