(Editor’s note: For those of you long time BS readers, you know that when the blog first started way back in 2008 we used to have an item every Friday called, “The Friday Excuse To Go Home Early And Drink”. It usually highlighted a piece of news that had us reaching for the bourbon bottle in the lower right drawer. Since several of you out there in readerland have brought it up recently…it is back!)
Ford began building Model Ts in Australia during 1925. It will build its last car in Australia in 2016 as the company has announced that they’ll close both of their current plants and lay off more than 1,000 workers who currently assemble cars in said plants. The company will retain some 1,500 employees for PR, design, and other functions in Australia, but there will be no more true “Australian” Fords and that is a shame because the company and its cars have been a huge part of the car culture in Oz. With the closing of the plants so will end the run of the legendary Aussie Ford Falcon. The RWD sedan has been a staple of high performance blue oval fans for more than 50 years and is one of the bedrock cars in the V8 Super Car racing series that has a worldwide appeal. Ford has cited various economic and business reasons for terminating production and it is impossible to argue with the numbers on some level. That doesn’t make this pill any easier to swallow and we can only imagine the feelings of Ford faithful in Australia since the news broke about 36 hours ago.
What does this mean for performance Fords? We have no idea. Will they get a version of the SHO or Mustang to replace the lost Falcon? Only time will tell. As we understand it, government regulations and taxes have made selling and buying anything powered by a V8 a very expensive proposition. With the EcoBoost V6s popularity here in the states and solid horsepower numbers, here’s hoping our pals down under get some of that love and maybe a Coyote motor slid into a couple of models.
Understandably, there is some serious backlash over the decision and specifically over the axing of the Falcon. Alan Stokes, a columnist for The Age writes, “No talk of donating the Falcon badge to the country that rightfully owns it. No chance of another car company taking over the Falcon and reviving it. Just goes to show we don’t have an “Australian” car making industry. Australians should be mad as hell that an American company can make a decision overnight in Detroit then hours later pull the plug on one of our national icons.”
We honestly feel bad for our Aussie BangShift brothers and sisters today. We know how bad it sucks when automotive things you love get whacked like we went though with Pontiac, Olds, Plymouth, and others being wiped from the face of the Earth. While the Aussie Ford situation isn’t as drastic as those, it still probably feels just as bad.
So going along with the title of this story tell your boss to kiss your tukus, grab anything other than a Fosters and get slug it down at home. We’re giving you the rest of the day off and a prescription for at least three beers. The volume and or brand of those suckers is your own choice!
You can read more here, if you want to be further depressed
Ford will bring back the Falcon name plate, but contining their MO it will some front wheel drive shit box.
Im now seriously looking into where I can get or import a boss 335 engine I love over seas ford engines I have a uk turbo ford cosworth 4 cylinder engine in my maverick that puts out 500 hp
This sucks. Stay strong m8s.
Its a worse blow for Australians than foreigners could believe.
We have so little that is ours anymore, even Vegemite is manufactured by a foreign owner. Even though Ford and Holden were both foreign owned, The Falcon and the Commodore have been arch-rivals for so long that this is almost akin to Superman saying “you know what? I’m over this” and leaving Lex Luthor to his own devices.
The most depressing truth of this is that it has been decided for Australia that we don’t need local manufacturing anymore. I just hope that whatever lackluster offerings they concoct to replace it don’t suffer from the same idiotic hamstringing we see in Australia from Japan, Keeping the true “hot” models overseas and offering us downgraded weak sauce.
Ford USA, from the bottom of every Aussie Ford supporters heart… EADC!
First they shutter Detroit, and now Oz? YIKES….
The “Friday Excuse” lives on…..
I see small problems that make Ford a liability to Australians when I hear of multi million packeges being put up almost bi-yearly to Ford Aust. and when I see a big blue oval on the back of Football players (Geelong) I scratch my head and wonder whats going on? Simply put- people notice little things like that and when it costs millions to sponsor one of these teams , I , like many others cant work out how a large company like Ford almost begs for money to stay viable they then donate it to a football team! What gives?
yep, sad day indeed….Anonymous, your comments are just stupid and wrong. If you can’t understand the concept of advertising ( thats why they have a Ford logo on their back, FFS…) then maybe you need to go back to school…
But yeh, a sad sad day. Its a real pity too, that the way Ford Aust were going was to head toward a Falcon with an ecobullshit 4 cyl. Now before anyone gets pissy yes, these new 4 cyls are powerful etc. – but stick it in a Focus or a Mondeo or something. Not a Falcon. Maybe that’s an indicator of where things really were going wrong with Ford. You know the other thing all the locals have noticed about Ford Aust over the last few years? Hardly any advertising at all, while Holdens just saturate the media. (Are you listening, Anonymous? Needed MORE advertising, not less…) Who knows? Maybe its ultimately ` better ‘ that we didn’t go down the path of the Falcon being an anaemic 4 cyl front wheel drive shitbox but Jesus H Christ I feel SO sorry for the utterly gobsmacked employees who, like the rest of us, had NO idea this was coming. When I used to work at Holdens at least they had the decency to let us know that shit was about to go down….sad sad day all round.
Obviously a Geelong supporter! if only I could fish to bite that good!
WTF are you trolling on something like this for? I don’t support Geelong, I support Aussie manufacturing. If you don’t have any conception of how advertising might help that, you’re dumber than I originally thought you were.
Terrible for you guys,think of all the Falcons they would have sold here in the US too. That car would have been a big hit. Globalization should be condemned and its the ruination of the American/Western European way of life.
the word I heard is the Ford assembly plant in China employs a total of 18,000 people , that probably includes all the satelite companies that would service them. I cant see them retooling to make Falcons over there , although they could import the press moulds etc from Australia but I still think they have a master plan that doesnt include a V8. Sad to see a magnificent Marque close its doors in Australia.