Ford Falcon XA GT Hardtop And Four Door.

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Originally Posted by PhilipA

Well I think they used it in styling clinics however this was just from conversation as the styling clinic was separate to Head Office and had restricted access. Product Development was all secret secret even to senior execs from the Sales Company.

At that time I believe that the OZ Falcons were more attractive than the US ones but Detroit always stonewalled as they had a NIH attitude in Spades.

They allowed Australia to sell to RHD markets and as I stated in another post , we sold 200 falcons XA or XB to Osaka taxis, and to the West Indies. But LHD markets were forbidden and I think this went right through to now , as AFAIK we were never allowed to sell to the Middle East unlike Holden who were.

Holden sold quite a few cars to Malaysia and I had a HX and VB Commodore there. In fact when Malaysia bought in the 2 litre rule the Embassy bought all the Holden spares, and when I arrived I emailed Rare Spares who came up and bought the lot. LOL
Regards Philip A

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Philip it would be good to chat over a beer. It is difficult to understand something said on a forum. When I stated design a car I was talking about the whole car not just it looks. Off course design styles and other things are looked at etc. But my statement was based on the whole car. Working out where everything fits etc. I worked for Product Development at the proving ground from 1984 to 1995 as a test driver and also in design and development. Visited the design center many times. And have seen the full scale drawings etc. It was amazing what they could do in clay. To make a vehicle look real. Some were different on each corner.
All the best Chris.

The problem was at the early design stage each section of the design team ( Engine, Gearbox, Dashboard, Heating & Cooling, etc) All want there own space in the vehicle. Many meeting's are held. The worst to deal with were the styling people it may look nice but from an engineering point of view it won't work. Now they were interesting meetings.

Mine was Fire Burnt Orange,, awesome vehicle and I wish I still had it.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

This picture shows what mine looked like except the one in the pic has a white interior, whereas mine had black.

Wishing very much now Phillip, that we'd had the chance to meet down in SA now.

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Originally Posted by Chops

Mine was Fire Burnt Orange,, awesome vehicle and I wish I still had it.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...5&d=1410953858

This picture shows what mine looked like except the one in the pic has a white interior, whereas mine had black.

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That looks like my boss' XA GT

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Originally Posted by pop058

:confused::confused::confused: My XA had GT badges. As it was a 73, it did not have "Falcon GT" on the VIN plate (72's did), but did have badges on the front guards, boot and centre console..

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As I said, it wasnt badged as a "Falcon GT", only as a GT.....

If you look at the picture the third car along is a Landau.

The story is that Bill Bourke bought a hubcap back from the states on a visit and told Product Development to design a luxury car to use the hubcaps.
The LTD and Landau were born to use the hubcaps. AFAIR they were Lincoln Town Car caps.

The LTD was a terrible thing to drive as it was a cut and shut Fairlane with about 12 inches added in to the roof and rear doors, and the floor pan.
They often had terrible vibration issues due to the extra long tailshaft.
They all had vinyl roofs as the roof extension join was plainly visible if you took off the vinyl.
We sold hardly any landaus and the rear vision was even worse than the Hardtop.
BTW , I think that car looks more like "Hot Orange" than Burnt Orange which was logically darker. Hot Orange was an Escort colour and only extra cost SVO. It was used on the Surferroo ute AFAIR.
Regards Philip A

The car in the pic could be a bit lighter than mine. I don't have any pics of mine unfortunately :(
Had it buffed just before I sold it, couple of dents removed etc,, you could look at the paint and it felt like you could just reach inside it,,, awesome.
Dad had the last of the LTD's, gorgeous car, but wallowed a bit, but still beautiful to drive.

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Originally Posted by disco man;2226598[SIZE=3

Nothing Foggy About It.
Rear in-glass demister was standard in the XA GT.It gave drivers a good view of cars getting increasingly smaller in the mirrors......
[/SIZE]

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Incorrect. The one sitting in my shed does not have a rear screen demister.

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Originally Posted by d2dave

Incorrect. The one sitting in my shed does not have a rear screen demister.

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I knew there was a reason I wanted to call in and see you Dave,,, :D I took the long way home today too, via Swanpool/Bonnie Doon. I should have swung the other way ;)
Oh well, soon enough, have to call and see Ken too (Outback1), so maybe a little get together at your place :D. I will PM you soon.

Pretty sure though, mine had a demister from memory.

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Originally Posted by Chops

I knew there was a reason I wanted to call in and see you Dave,,, :D I took the long way home today too, via Swanpool/Bonnie Doon. I should have swung the other way ;)
Oh well, soon enough, have to call and see Ken too (Outback1), so maybe a little get together at your place :D. I will PM you soon.

Pretty sure though, mine had a demister from memory.

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Look forward to it. Yours probably did have a rear demister, my point being it was not standard. I am pretty sure that my XB GT also didn't have one, but that was a bit over 30 years ago when I sold it:BigCry:to buy my first home.