last Falcon Sedan starts its being built

[commodorenutt]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

....... While I'm at it tickles me no end how often our Falcons are ogled by Ford fans from Yankland.."You Aussies get the best Fords , why can't we get these in the States "........

You are spot on.
I've driven a number of yankee colleagues around in my FG LPi.
First comment is normally how nice it is - inside & out, compared to their local runabouts (mind you, the Fusion wasn't around then).

2nd reaction is total respect for a rear drive IRS chassis, that they consider to be up there with Euros.

And a few have even questioned if the LPi was a V8 with a crappy exhaust - one such discussion got so heated between the 2 yankee passengers that I had to pull over and lift the bonnet to show them it was a straight 6. Betting money changed hands between them.....

But by far the best reaction was when we test drove the Miami in late 2010. One yank asked to get out of the car or he'd be sick..... before asking the engineers from FPV how much of the Miami would fit into his Mustang back home.... After seeing the Miami GTE press car, the 2nd guy was almost in tears that the FG wasn't available in LH drive.

We also took them to Holden (Salmon st), and at the time the Marilyn convertible Monaro was on display, and so was the retro Camaro, the Efigy, and the panel van concept. They particularly loved the Marilyn and the Efigy, commenting on how great the local cars are, and lamenting that they didn't get a decent chance at US exports (in Holden's case).

They also reckoned the Commodore ute and FG ute would have both done well in the USA as reborn El Camino & Ranchero pickups.

It is very sad that we have lost, and are losing, such highly regarded (even by yanks) vehicles.

Remember too, it was yanks who authorised the billion dollar investment in the VE development, which fed into various global models. If they really wanted Australia to make cars, Ford would have come up with a global RWD sedan that could be easily built in LH & RH drive - the various law enforcement departments, taxi industry, and large sedan market (however small) would have worked with the combined totals. Holden could have also remained bouyant with those sorts of numbers too, but alas, the decision was made by others. Perhaps it's the fear of being upstaged... :P