Ford Falcon Au Bad Stigma?

[FordGeezer]

As the tile says whats the go with the bad stigma with the Au?
I know a few people aren't a fan of the design but is that it?
Is there something mechanical bad about them?
Since getting my Au around 1 year ago I've come across a few younger fellers who have made a few smart remarks when I've said I'm after some parts for an AU,I'm just wondering what the deal is.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by FordGeezer

As the tile says whats the go with the bad stigma with the Au?
I know a few people aren't a fan of the design but is that it?
Is there something mechanical bad about them?
Since getting my Au around 1 year ago I've come across a few younger fellers who have made a few smart remarks when I've said I'm after some parts for an AU,I'm just wondering what the deal is.

The AU model was regarded as an ugly duckling by some when first released but proved to be a very reliable car.
I sure miss the one I owned and for the smart *** comments well obviously they never owned one.

Cheers.

[FordGeezer]

Originally Posted by Officemanager

The AU model was regarded as an ugly duckling by some when first released but proved to be a very reliable car.
I sure miss the one I owned and for the smart *** comments well obviously they never owned one.

Cheers.

G'day
You're right they mustn't of,I've been having a blast with my ute so far easy to tinker around with and pretty well built to.
The comments are gettin old but haha,the last one was in a SCA,I didn't ask for your opinion mate just give me my car parts ya dingo!
Good on ya,Cheers

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by FordGeezer

G'day
You're right they mustn't of,I've been having a blast with my ute so far easy to tinker around with and pretty well built to.
The comments are gettin old but haha,the last one was in a SCA,I didn't ask for your opinion mate just give me my car parts ya dingo!
Good on ya,Cheers

Your Ute would be older than the Kid serving you..........

[FordGeezer]

Originally Posted by hayseed

Your Ute would be older than the Kid serving you..........

There's a funny thought.
She's almost as old as me,I'm only 22 myself,and I don't see anything wrong with her.
Each man to his own I suppose,I just like reliability,getting to point A to point B no worries,looks are just a welcome bonus

[roddy1960]

Ugly duckling mainly because it was different and a big departure from the EF/EL. Was told through this forum that one of the key designers of the'new edge' AU also had a big hand in the FG . As I have one of each I love that thought .

Will probably be regarded as the most reliable of them all, pretty much bulletproof , easy to fix , great tourer and ironically has aged better than most in the opinion of many .

Re the ugly looks , I'll never agree and how can anybody with a brain think that any of these are ugly.. Quite the opposite in actual fact .

This little vid shows the AU in all her glory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlqUZ6OwKw8 ..

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

Will probably be regarded as the most reliable of them all, pretty much bulletproof , easy to fix ,

Exactly they were the last of the models that had decent running gear that were quality built not the rubbish they started to bring in later models.
I had the FG XR6 model which was a nice vehicle but still thought my AU was better in quality.


Cheers.

[Ford17]

You'll need to register to read this full article, but it is excellent and explains everything.

Basically Holden started the nastiness, with a dealer-only video designed to up-sell the VT Commodore against it's stronger opposition - the AU Falcon.

History shows the AU was indeed a superior car, with styling ahead of it's time. That there are so many still going strong today is testament to this.

https://www.shannons.com.au/club/new...-dirty-tricks/

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Ford17

You'll need to register to read this full article, but it is excellent and explains everything.

Basically Holden started the nastiness, with a dealer-only video designed to up-sell the VT Commodore against it's stronger opposition - the AU Falcon.

History shows the AU was indeed a superior car, with styling ahead of it's time. That there are so many still going strong today is testament to this.

https://www.shannons.com.au/club/new...-dirty-tricks/

According to vehicle on road data as of 31/12/2018 there's 93,736 AU Falcons still on the road (AU1 to AU3) in Australia.

VT Commodore - 63,016 + VX Commodore 75,131.

VT-VX Commodore covers the whole AU era - there are a ton more Commodores of the same era on the road still.

Superior? Doubtful, looks like a hat full of assholes and there's 44,000 Commodores more of the same era still on our roads driving about according to VOR data.

The fact so many people are still wheeling about 20 year old cars as daily drivers is worrying.

3.8L mang mang ftw.

[PooDog]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

According to vehicle on road data as of 31/12/2018 there's 93,736 AU Falcons still on the road (AU1 to AU3) in Australia.

VT Commodore - 63,016 + VX Commodore 75,131.

VT-VX Commodore covers the whole AU era - there are a ton more Commodores of the same era on the road still.

Superior? Doubtful, looks like a hat full of assholes and there's 44,000 Commodores more of the same era still on our roads driving about according to VOR data.

The fact so many people are still wheeling about 20 year old cars as daily drivers is worrying.

3.8L mang mang ftw.

Compared to how many more commodores were made i would think the AU would have the better survival rate

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by PooDog

Compared to how many more commodores were made i would think the AU would have the better survival rate

What's the difference in production numbers?

[smoo]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

What's the difference in production numbers?

VT and VX approx 510,000
AU 320,000.

Take into account nearly all taxis in that era were AUs most of which by now will have been written off or scrapped.

Nothing wrong with driving an AU or VT as a daily?
More than competent cars even by today’s standards.
No comparison to modern **** boxes half the size especially if open road driving is a must.

Check out AU Falcons doing incredible things on Facebook for a laugh.

[Giant Cranium]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

According to vehicle on road data as of 31/12/2018 there's 93,736 AU Falcons still on the road (AU1 to AU3) in Australia.



VT Commodore - 63,016 + VX Commodore 75,131.



VT-VX Commodore covers the whole AU era - there are a ton more Commodores of the same era on the road still.



Superior? Doubtful, looks like a hat full of assholes and there's 44,000 Commodores more of the same era still on our roads driving about according to VOR data.



The fact so many people are still wheeling about 20 year old cars as daily drivers is worrying.



3.8L mang mang ftw.

Don’t you Daily a vs commodore and by your own admission a struggling focus?

[Ford17]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

According to vehicle on road data as of 31/12/2018 there's 93,736 AU Falcons still on the road (AU1 to AU3) in Australia.

VT Commodore - 63,016 + VX Commodore 75,131.

VT-VX Commodore covers the whole AU era - there are a ton more Commodores of the same era on the road still.

Superior? Doubtful, looks like a hat full of assholes and there's 44,000 Commodores more of the same era still on our roads driving about according to VOR data.

The fact so many people are still wheeling about 20 year old cars as daily drivers is worrying.

3.8L mang mang ftw.

Can I ask whether you read the article at all?
It only requires email registration for full viewing.

It points out all the reasons why the AU was indeed superior to the VT Commodore, and also why it set itself up to be attacked.

[aussiblue]

It was also a vehicle that initially could only be scanned for fault Codes by Ford dealers so this also made it unpopular with both professional and home mechanics.

[FordGeezer]

Yeah aussiblue thought I was initially stuffed when it came to getting a scanner for the Au1 until I found out I could get an Elm327 for $30 things been great!
Not sure if it was just laziness on their part or one of those money making schemes

[FordGeezer]

Roddy1960...mate...those AUs are beauties!
I personally love the shape of my utes bonnet has this uniqueness about it.

[FTe342]

The ugly looks thing stemmed from the base model Series 1 which had a shocking front grille that did the car no favours. Often it was likened to "Chad Morgan" front teeth but many would not be old enough to know who he was

[FordGeezer]

Originally Posted by FTe342

The ugly looks thing stemmed from the base model Series 1 which had a shocking front grille that did the car no favours. Often it was likened to "Chad Morgan" front teeth but many would not be old enough to know who he was

Haha I just googled Chad Morgan i see the similarity's ,funny enough my AUs has had its one replaced with a thicker grill design by the previous owner.

[Citroënbender]

Utes were delivered with the chunkier “crate” grille, it was sometimes sought by sedan owners as a dress-up.

[FordGeezer]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Utes were delivered with the chunkier “crate” grille, it was sometimes sought by sedan owners as a dress-up.

Aaaa I see,neat,I guess back then if your grill got nicked you new it was someone with a sedan haha

[Sabantien]

Originally Posted by FTe342

The ugly looks thing stemmed from the base model Series 1 which had a shocking front grille that did the car no favours. Often it was likened to "Chad Morgan" front teeth but many would not be old enough to know who he was

Or rather, who he is. He is still performing. Was out my way earlier in the year.

Two of the girls at my work drive AUs, one broke down just yesterday, but a couple of the guys got it going again.
I know one of them never gets it serviced or does anything to it until it breaks down on her, but, it's still chugging along and is quite nice to drive.

I think it's the round headlight models I don't like.
I know some other companies followed suite (Mercedes wasn't it?) but I think they're ugly too.

[FTe342]

Originally Posted by Sabantien

Or rather, who he is. He is still performing. Was out my way earlier in the year.

Two of the girls at my work drive AUs, one broke down just yesterday, but a couple of the guys got it going again.
I know one of them never gets it serviced or does anything to it until it breaks down on her, but, it's still chugging along and is quite nice to drive.

I think it's the round headlight models I don't like.
I know some other companies followed suite (Mercedes wasn't it?) but I think they're ugly too.

My bad. Just assumed he wouldn't still be with us because he was quite a bit older than me and I'm getting closer to my last quarter every day.

Its ironic that when you type "Chad Morgan" into Google, one of the the search options that pops up is "Chad Morgan teeth" lol.

Maybe its no coincidence that Chad is still going - just like the AU's. And many of the AU's are still "on song", just like Chad is still performing his songs!

[bungarra]

Happy with my old girl, 99 XR8 Ute. Clear coat is peeling and roof lining sagging but mechanically, goes well.

[FordGeezer]

Originally Posted by bungarra

Happy with my old girl, 99 XR8 Ute. Clear coat is peeling and roof lining sagging but mechanically, goes well.

Xr8 I'm a little jealous mate,I've just got a plain v6 ohc,I will say shes in really good nick for a 20 year old car interiors pretty perfect besides a patch on the drivers seat and the exteriors still in great condition besides a big dent in the bonnet already got the replacement waiting in the shed but,I'm hopeing if I keep the wax wash up the paint will be in good nick for a while to come

[GasoLane]

If you need anything to put the sarcastic ones in their place have a look in here..............

https://www.fordforums.com.au/forumdisplay.php?f=135

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by FordGeezer

...I've just got a plain v6 ohc....

Arrrghhh INLINE 6

Originally Posted by FTe342

The ugly looks thing stemmed from the base model Series 1 which had a shocking front grille that did the car no favours...

That base model forte waterfall grill that gets all the hate was actually meant to be paying homage to the ever popular XY model Falcon. Probably seemed like a good idea at the time

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Raptor

Arrrghhh INLINE 6



That base model forte waterfall grill that gets all the hate was actually meant to be paying homage to the ever popular XY model Falcon. Probably seemed like a good idea at the time

image

My model had the egg crate style, I thought it was better looking than the slotted one.

[FordGeezer]

Originally Posted by Raptor

Arrrghhh INLINE 6



That base model forte waterfall grill that gets all the hate was actually meant to be paying homage to the ever popular XY model Falcon. Probably seemed like a good idea at the time

image

O shoot I mean Inline 6 shows how little I know only just started getting into the car scene a year ago,I swear Sir I'm getting better hahaha
Heahea imagine being the guys that approved the grill then getting all the backlash would of been a baaaaaad time.

[Giant Cranium]

I reckon certain models look great