Australian Ford Brochure; auShite continued!

[RoadworkUK]

A new eBay acquisition landed on my doorstep after two months in the post, and it's one of the best things I have ever owned.

 

 

I am well jeloz innit of the Fords available in Aus in 1978. Here are some of the highlights.

 

Let's start with the Escort Mark II, here in 2.0 GS trim.

 

 

The 2.0 Pinto was detoxificated down to 94hp. You could also get your Mk IV Cortina GS'd up. Excellently the Cortina could be specc'd with a 4.1 straight six. The brochure doesn't mention power outputs, but the internet mentions 170hp...

 

 

How about something a little more leisure orientated? This Escort Sundowner van should fit the bill. Check the portholes. GR9 for dogging in the outback.

 

 

Or, for mattress in the back antics allied to possible V8 happy times, there was a Falcon to the same theme.

 

 

I'm not clever enough to resize the pages to fit on the page properly, so I've made them clickable instead. I'm off to throw another shrimp on the barbie while getting some tinnies from the ute, or somesuch stereotypical nonsense.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

STREWTH MATE! YA LITTLE RIPPA! THESE BABIES ARE BONZER!

[eddyramrod]

BONZER!!!!!

 

*Oh bugger, slightly slower than Bol.... never mind.

[autofive]

hoots mon

 

great find

 

any more scans?

[RoadworkUK]

...any more scans?

 

Quite possibly... there's the Povvo Spec Cortina from hell coming up later...

[Negative Creep]

Please scan in the other XC Falcons, those things are epic. Even more so in rape wagon spec

[RedSparrow]

Damn, those Falcons are sexy. I want one like the Max Mad yellow police cars.

[George-Roper]

 

Yowzerzs is that Barretts old man?

[Split_Pin]

Hey those are ace!

 

I love the Cortinas, esp the yellow one

[Timewaster]

BONZER!!!!!

*Oh bugger, slightly slower than Bol.... never mind.[/quote

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Ya great Galah!

 

Anyone else think the Fairmont looks like an upscaled Ital?

[Negative Creep]

Excellently the Cortina could be specc'd with a 4.1 straight six. The brochure doesn't mention power outputs, but the internet mentions 170hp...

 

 

The one in my Falcon was a somewhat comical 120bhp. Sounded lovely though

[ProgRocker]

Anyone else think the Fairmont looks like an upscaled Ital?

 

Sort of. I did think the Fairmont looked like the result of an unholy union between a Marina and a mark 1 Granada!

[r.welfare]

The "Wheels" March '75 road test I have of the (Mk3) Cortina 4.1 six quotes 155bhp gross. Before you get too excited, they got a maximum speed of...................99mph! Even allowing for the three-speed auto, that's probably just as fast/slow as the Pinto. Oh, and 18mpg. But I bet the torque was something else, no wonder the manuals only had three speeds as well.

 

Two months for post - must have been surface mail? I usually get copies of Wheels by air in about 2/3 weeks, must get scanning and post up some road tests/ads.

 

Great brochure and scans - does it feature the Escort RS2000? The Oz version could be had with four doors from the factory which I'm sure will throw Pete-M into a fit of apoplexy

[RoadworkUK]

No mention of the RS2000 in this particular brochure, but one with four doors does cause parts of my person to quiver unnaturally.

 

Rightoh, part two. Starting off with Cortina L. Would you get a load of the beigeness of this mother?!

 

 

After that, somebody mentioned a Falcon. Can I not interest you in an LTD instead? Quad headlamps alert....

 

 

No? What, even with this interior?

 

 

Oh, fair enough. Heres the lovely Falcon 500:

 

 

What, you wanted a ute? Or a van? Why didn't you say so?

 

 

Finally. Here is a pair of coupes. Queue imminent RoadworkUK love explosion.

 

 

So there you go. There are a few more prime cuts and I might scan the shit out of them sooner or later. Sorry about the gaps between some of the pages, I didn't want to fold the spine of this precious document too badly. In actual fact the brochure is nowhere near as informative as UK ones of the era, it's a bit light on specifics. Still a nice thing to have. Next is to try and find one from 1980+ with the next shape Falcon (our Granada II). ausBay currently yields nothing.

 

Thank you and goodnight.

[eddyramrod]

That LTD has my name stamped right through it like a stick of rock...!

[garycox]

What are those lever things in the LTD for?

[RoadworkUK]

What are those lever things in the LTD for?

 

Haven't the foggiest. The brochure makes no mention, so I assume they're for flaps, undercarriage retraction and opening the bomb-bay doors.

[barrett]

In actual fact the brochure is nowhere near as informative as UK ones of the era, it's a bit light on specifics.

 

That may be the case, but try and find a comparable UK brochure that describes one of its commercial vehicle range as being "Right on"!

[andrew e]

I quite suprised at the safety kit - head restraints, grab handles all round, some of them have rear seatbelts! Most of that wasn't law til '87/88 over here! Love the wing mirrors too

[Negative Creep]

Now if there were a picture of an XC Cobra I would literally be knocking one out right now

[Shep Shepherd]

That LTD is one crass, vulgar and OTT car. I want one!

[RoadworkUK]

That LTD is one crass, vulgar and OTT car. I want one!

 

Nor I! Gauranteed "What The Bloody Hell Is That?" points. GR15 for confusing yank car aficionados.

[Shep Shepherd]

That LTD is one crass, vulgar and OTT car. I want one!

 

Nor I! Gauranteed "What The Bloody Hell Is That?" points. GR15 for confusing yank car aficionados.

 

To me, the car looks like a full-size US Ford of the early 1970s which has been got at by a 'bespoke' coachbuilder like Panther or Rapport

 

Here's one pictured in recent times:

 

 

[fotorabia]

the model previous to above..this is what i was run over by in Aussie aged 18mnths..my standing on a toothpaste tube impersonation..this ones got GT Falcon rims

[Shep Shepherd]

That's a smart-looking car

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Those Falcons in the brochures are proper lookers!!! I would love one. Were they ever imported here, even in tiny numbers like the aussie charger?

[Negative Creep]

Those Falcons in the brochures are proper lookers!!! I would love one. Were they ever imported here, even in tiny numbers like the aussie charger?

 

 

I think a few Fairmonts were (essentially the posh version) but not sure of the exact year or model. If I won the lottery a Super Pursuit Ute would be in a shipping container from Aus as we speak

[r.welfare]

I think earlier ones were imported (like in Fotorabia's pic) but only saloons and estates, similar to what Chrysler did and about as successful - DOA after the '73 Fuel Crisis.

 

The mirrors and seats (and rear belts) you see on the Tina and Scrote are all part of Australian Design Rules legislation, which proved to be a bit of a bastard in the mid-late 70s according to Wheels magazine. That's why the sixes were so underpowered, relatively-speaking; in fact, I'm amazed the 2-litre Pinto only dropped to 94bhp, wasn't it only 4bhp more in "dirty" UK trim (in a Tina, anyway, I know the RS2000 had more)?

 

I checked out a parked Falcon coupe at close range with Oz-based Autoshiter Betaphile (currently MIA) in Sydney about four years back...quite the looker in the metal and appeared smaller than it really is. There's something of the early 70's Mustang or Torino about the rear, the back window is almost horizontal. Very cool indeed.

[face]

What are those lever things in the LTD for?

 

I'm going to guess that they open the right, centre and left air conditioning ducts for the rear passengers