I'm on the other end of the spectrum cause I grew up here. I often wonder how bizarre everything looks to you guys.

seeing this is refreshing after watching alot of expensive and borderline unattainable stuff like the other boys (MCM)

Things are upside down in the land down under

Imagine how it feels being a non-American native English speaker watching English media in general.

@@JeniusJeph american here, i love seeing foreign car communities, it's cool to compare what's similar and different!

Also can't say beautiful without saying "eeeewww"!

sure i guess but why are we at the park

Spotto

You can't get your mates attention without yelling A...U!

​@@thefuturistic_person Because itsa bloody beautiful day to... AW FARK!!!

I worked at the proving ground at the time and remember the first time I saw one. The proving ground manager was standing next to me after the covers had come off and he tried his hardest to sway me by telling me how great it looked. I didn't have the heart to tell him it looked like an absolute turd. The next few years were pretty depressing for Ford but when the BA came out things improved dramatically.

Glad I wasn't the only who thought this back in the day..

Idk if people are singing the same tune now... In hindsight, despite its ugliness the AU is probably the better car overall... Its a great platform for sporty driving with double wishbone front+rear, cable throttle, reasonable balance and relatively light weight. It can also be extremely comfortable, or be setup for towing/ute for work. Not too bad rust wise although certain plastic trims and panels become delicate in their age. I see more AUs and BAs running around than i do VT/VX/VY. AU also had the ford i6, a well regarded motor with great tuneability. You can push 500hp with a turbo setup and valvesprings on a healthy tune and motor with parts very easily found on ebay for relatively little money... I would take an AU over a ba/bf/fg too, better handling better driving. Edit: made this comment halfway through and the video covered this.

@@GeneralNOH I agree, the car did handle very well and was a driver's car, also it was the car that Ford Australia had the least amount of warranty claims. Just the styling was a little off-putting for the general public. I still think the AU XR6 and XR8 still looked the part.

@@warren5692 Maybe im biased, because i have one. but the truth is I thought they were a POS 2 or 3years ago. However I was priced out of other cars i wanted after covid. Started looking at later turbo falcons and inadvertently found out about how the AU is the best falcon on paper in terms of driving... Didnt know they had the least warranty claims! They are definitely a solid car minus some questionable auto electrics and trim pieces etc lol... Some of the motors werent built the best from factory but the blocks and heads themselves are solid so once you rebuild them you're sweet. In saying that many of them run for 100s of thousands of kms despite questionable engine builds😂 Some questionable design choices too, like my box drain plug being a 9mm hex key... However; this car handles insanely well considering. The only major let down in terms of being a drivers car is the light steering rack that also likes to leak. Some people complain about the T5 manual, Yes its agricultural, no it cant handle a lot of extra lower, yes the car has a cable clutch. But for some reason i LOVE shifting this car, maybe its the challenge, im not sure.

100%...and its an industry that flies under the radar too. Massive business for the truck makers here. When I worked at Ford on the AU we still made the Loueys locally. That was sold offf to Sterlin I believe.

Kenworth Australia? What's different between a Kenworth in USA to Australia? Peterbilts are just as good.

@@garynewton1263 Everything mate. Totally different model range and average Australian KW is 97 metric tonne rated.

@@georgefrederiksen4298 What are you saying? How can an Aust Kenworth truck be better than an American version when Kenworth is an American company? I know a guy who works at Kenworth Australia in Bayswater (Returns dept). He said there were lots of faulty parts on the Aust trucks.

@@garynewton1263 never said better. And as if being an American company means anything of pride anymore, like Australia. I'm saying we have unique requirements, from our length laws to our combinations and carrying capacity and Kenworth have been building trucks here since 1971 for local conditions. There is no C509 or K200, T909 or T659 in the US model range.

and iPods plz don't leak I have much notficafion

and Australia

This is definitely the best channel I've ever subbed to. Edit: by this channel, I mean Dank himself.

You’re one being easily influenced by things That’s..ehm..common Normal for you!

Ifkr

And this, kids, is why companies do small product review groups to see how people like something BEFORE doing a giant public reveal.

i am not reading all of that

@@feleon9696 the internet is not a place to be illiterate

@@feleon9696 alright then don't

@@feleon9696 then why complain about it

I'll make me act up 🥵

400k miles!!!! Oooh mai gawd

There's a reason why the taxi companies used them almost exclusively back in the day. I always made a point of looking at the odometer on cabs when I was riding in them, and some of those Falcons would have 900K plus kms on them at only 5 or 6 years old and still be running strong (the suspension bushings and shocks by that stage were always toast and the ride would be crashingly harsh and rough).

@@philip4193 And the seals on the rear hatch let a whole heap of noise in, most of which was diff whine, but they still went like rockets. It feels like our local cab company only traded them in last week.

How was the transmission? How many ks did it survive? Mine is nearing 290,000ks and hopefully still got plenty left before it gives me grief.

Only thing I don’t like about the au is that ugly grille, however I am a massive fan of quirky cars like the FJ Cruiser. I would totally daily one

@@f3rny_66 yikes

Do what some Americans have done with later models and put Holden badging on it.

lol ok, maybe by cold chisel and ac dc fans? nobody with taste though.

Older and popular yes. Classic no. No plastic bumpered car can ever be classic. In fact only cars with steel dashboards can be classic. I'll make it simple, the very last classic Aussie car ever built was the CM Valiant. Steel bumpers and steel dashboard.

If you’re disrespecting both AC/DC and Cold Chisel then it’s you without taste, mate. And they’re popular now for their reliability above all else. 👍🏻

@@rossbrumby1957 as time goes on more cars fall in to the category of classic. At the moment they are modern classics but the cars we invision as classic will fall in to the category of vintage. People back then never thought the cars they drove daily would become highly sort after vehicles

We only got the Windsor V8 until 1996 and that was only in Cobra and Saleen Mustangs I believe. You could get it in the Explorer until 2001 and those engines are some of the most sought after 302s from the junkyard.

@@FoolOfATuque the windsor was in the mustang gt from the mid eighties to 1995

Same here mate, my AUII XR8 is easily the best car I've ever driven. It's fast enough, it handles amazingly with the double wishbone IRS and LSD, gets good fuel economy for a 4 door V8, is super comfortable and planted even at high speed on rough roads, has good towing capacity, and a lot of room inside. It's just a pleasure to drive.

Yeah the XR8 quad headlights and grill absolutely fixed the front end

I really would like a S1 AU XR6 VCT 5 speed, in Polynesian green, with the 5 spoke 17” wheels, full Tickford body kit, including the double deck rear wing, and man, I would love that thing forever.

Engine go vroom. Big engine for big trailer. Fuel is expensive. Smooth shape means less fuel.

No shit Sherlock

You can't can't get your mates attention without shouting A...U!

The crossflows and earlier weren't a patch on the Hemi in the Valiants. But once Ford owned Jaguar and started copying the AJ16, they never looked back. I've owned many Valiants and Hemis, and now drive an AU traytop with dedicated lpg. Ford even admit to Jaguar having input on the intech crankshaft design. Good thing too, I've also owned a couple XJ40's and those 3.6 and 4 litre AJ motors are bulletproof- they were originally designed to be strong enough with the intention of a diesel version (which never eventuated)

@@rossbrumby1957 when did Ford buy Jaguar? Wasn't that around 1989?

And the dizzy buried under the intake, a hernia inducting head to remove, and you had to lift the head to get to the lifters. Oh, and you can drop a pushrod into the sump. A mate did it. Plus the genius idea to put the timing cover oil seal INSIDE the timing cover. Real smart Henry!

​@@rossbrumby1957As usual .The Hemi blah blah.Thr Falcon six evolved to the Turbo Barra and with it's proven power potential is horsepower monster

um, the cylinder and conflagration in the combustion chamber is a bit of a U turn.

i am not reading all of that

@@feleon9696 ok

@@AlexSchladetsch simply just buy another

btw some advice never sell your first car, my school teacher once said he did the same thing and he regrets it to this day, it holds alot of sentimental value. you can sell your any car after that but keep your first one

slats

Haha it's actually kinda crazy that people in other countries haven't seen these cars in person but it makes sense. These cars were very common back in the 90's, early 2000's. You don't see those older ones around much anymore

It's harsh that Holden is no longer producing cars in Australia, v8 supercars will never be the same. RIP to the Aussie commodore

@@MrTripleXXX It was the Taxi industry’s main stay ( with the ODD commodore taxi) and a common fleet car especially the wagon version.

They may not have been sold officially in the UK, but there are some on the road over there - there is a British KZfaqr who goes by the screen name "HubNut" who has an AU Fairmont (the higher trim level - also got a better-looking grille), and has made a few videos of it.

I was going to say the same thing​@@bradevans7935

I always wondered why no ever seems notice the similarities

@@stevemulrooney3238 my supposition is that they would deny it because Mercedes-Benz is just the absolute best and doesn't copy anyone (snarky)

We noticed, and we didn't like the look of the Merc either.

I noticed

I hope you're not suggesting MB copied anything Ford ever did because that would be the stupidest comment I've ever heard

Not gonna lie, when he said 'A win for Sunday is a sale for Monday i felt the TC Pista vibes slap me at 100km. This man is amazing.

Banca mas gente de Argentina conoce los canales de este pibe? increible

@@GerN7 me alegró la vida cuando dijo que este canal pasaba a ser exclusivamente de autos 🙌🏻

"Here in Argentina the 60’s falcon would remain practically unchanged all the way until 1995" That's cool! Although having looked at it with a 'modern' front end grafted on it, I have to say the styling is challenging and I think it looks worse than the AU, lol. Why do auto makers "modernise" 1960's designs only to make them look worse? (The Volga GAZ is also an offender on this front!)

You know what Ford Falcon is super cool? Ford Falcon XB coupe, very similar to the car used in Mad Max. My dad bought one in the 70's when they were cheap. Sold it recently because the movie made it worth a lot of money.

Aussie JonTron here we come!

@@markm0000 let’s hope Wade doesn’t put his foot in his mouth the way JonTron did.

I guess we can all unite against our common enemy, chinese electric SUVs?

@@Hadgerz Why Chinese? why not just any other electric?

@@zippy3377 Because people started buying Great Walls and LDVs instead of Rangers and Colorados. Not because they were good, they were just dirt cheap.

@@atomicmillenial9728 No not really just less than Ranger & Colorado !

If I understand correctly, Toyota Australia were the only ones who were still profitable when they closed. The benefits of having a world car Camry to build (not an orphaned car like Falcon or Commodore, with development costs that were difficult to make back), and Toyota actually allocating a good number of export markets (unlike the minimal export markets allocated by GM to Holden -- so much pushback from US GM plants over the Chevrolet SS program apparently -- and the **zero left hand drive export markets allocated to Ford Australia by Ford!). ....As to why Ford and Chevrolet didn't drop the Taurus and Impala and make Falcon and Commodore into fully funded world cars that were designed in Australia but also manufactured in North America is hard to say...

You can see a bunch of the older Falcons and Holdens in the original Mad Max. Max's car is a slightly modified XA/XB or XC Falcon, I forget the exact type now.

I mean no offense, but this reads like a DankPods mic testing story.

Also fun fact, that Opel is the first Holden to come to the US as the Cadillac Catera

@@HellYeahCorp yeh i fucked up the flow when I edited it to fix shit

@Joe Shabidu yeah it was owned by GM but so what, they were still an Australian company. Does that mean Saab is an American company? I don't think so

@Joe Shabidu yeah Holden had an American parent company but holden was still an Australian brand I dont know how I can make it clearer lol, if anything Holden is more related to opel then America

Ha ha, paaaasty. Yep my ears pricked up to that one too. 😁

Yeah, there were nine generations of Falcon in Australia (more if you count facelift models). The first three generations of Australian Falcon were (essentially) the same as the three main generations of US Falcon. I see that the Ford Torino was originally the forth generation US Falcon for one year, before Ford changed the name. We never got that "Falcon" in Australia, nor the Torino, instead the third generation Falcon was replaced by a locally designed model called the XA Falcon.

*had. it's all dead. we no longer have a car industry.

@@karlcx shame isn’t it

@@lightningfun6486 in a way. they were making cars for a small segment of the population only, and exports were failing. if their failure to make anything people wanted to buy didn't kill them, ultimately EVs certainly would have. the innovation just didn't exist.

What car industry, Ford and Holden stopped producing cars in Australia and no one else does. Our useless government allowed our motor industry to die.

@@karlcx for a long time our motor industry was great, Holden and Ford has most of the market share. Thanks to governments inability to support the industry by taxing imports they only had a luxury car tax so the Asia cars were cheaper.

Chrysler did too for a short time

Some might say having to own 12 AU’s is equivalent to a stint in Long Bay😂 I bet in your group you’re the “different” one.. just stirring ya Aido, even though looking at them always felt like a stick to the eye I respect your family’s efforts to keep some Aussie motoring alive. Fukn tragic what has happened to our motoring heritage 😖

Seriously durable machines. I'm pretty proud to have been part of designing it now. Less so when it was launched and tanked. You still see them around 20 years after they stopped making them which says a lot about their durability.

Would take owning 12 to have one that worked.

I see I have a long way to go to reach your elite au ownership portfolio , having just bought my third au wagon ( all lpg ) my first one is still going strong after 18 years of ownership , used regularly to raid council cleanup days where the car runs all day , idling , drive 100 metres , repeat , with air con on & towing a trailer which gets filled with all manner of treasures & then towed home with up to 2 tonne behind , maintenance is religious & yes I have a reco auto , power steer pump & alternator among other things but the “ ugly “ inside is fine with me because it just doesnt break , the missus bf interior has a different track record . The wagons on lpg are getting hard to find in decent or even resurectable condition now , most had a shitful maintenance record due to many male owners wanting it dead so they could buy a flash dual cab or suv . I treat them like gold as far as maintenance goes , including a fabricated tray below the power steering pump to stop the alternator dying due to fluid/dirt ingress from leaks or possibly even catching fire , magnefine filter in the power steer return line ( easy as piss to do ) using Mobil 424/8 fluid & NOT transmission fluid makes the pump quieter & the rack last longer , that one is nearly 500000 & untouched except for a pressure switch , oil changes every 5000k & filtermag magnets on the filter , check diff breather hose & change diff oil every year , again easy as to do especially with a pump on a 20litre drum of LS90 gl5 oil , replace most of the cooling system every 10 years including the gas converter ( these can fail in such a way as to push coolant in to the engine along with the gas , happened on the bf & thought it was the head gasket ) , genuine air filter at about $10 is easy & inexpensive yearly job . Transmission serviced not exceeding 40000k Yeah I look after them but then where can you get a large comfy car that will tow 2 tonne & fit a shit ton of crap in the back as well as a 10ft fishing rod inside & run it for less than the cost of a Holden barina or similar ? , yep with lpg at 84 cents a litre currently where I live , it’s ridiculously cheap to run for such a large car . On KZfaq , it might be funny & even eye opening as to the punishment they will take to some but to see people destruction testing these cars on youtube gets to me , the parts I can see being shitcanned brings a lump to my throat . Mechanically , I reckon they will outlast me ( corrosion needs keeping in check with rustproofing ) , in fact I hope that if I live long enough to see the end of ice cars maybe someone will invent a hydrogen conversion kit so the au can roll on into 2030 & beyond . Long live the most despised falcon in ford Australia’s history , it’s a bloody ripper.

Unfortunately, unlike with General Motors, I don't think Ford US ever approved the funding for Ford Australia to make any of the modern Falcons (or Territories) in left hand drive, so exports of Falcons were much more limited compared to the Commodore or Caprice.

@@TassieLorenzo Ford ME "Middle East " wanted to bring the AU Ford Falcon but it was too costly to convert them to left-hand drive and start selling them here most western companies always underappreciate the GCC/ME market they did however bring the new Chinese-made Ford Taurus and it was developed with Ford AU and Changan and It looks too similar to a ford Falcon

Us Australians love that you guys enjoy Holdens! I'm part of some Facebook groups where people share their Commodores and Statesman's from all over the world, and ME people are regulars! You guys are crazier than us with cars and that's saying something

Many middle easterners in Australia drive Aussie Ford. Stupid parent company.

@@madkills10 Sorry for the late reply but Thanks we do love Holdens here and they are still driving on the road with most changing the Chevy badges to Holden ones and most use it in drift events and drag events sad to see them being discontinued

Exactly, also the camaro was built on a holden zeta platform yet its known as an all American muscle car but yet the commodore shares a platform with an opel and all of a sudden the commodore is called a rebaged opel, a bit harsh to say the least

@@bashyamate2613 I think he was exaggerating a little bit as he currently owns a Commodore, though it's still a little harsh...

Apparently when they brought the first Opel over (for what would become the VC) it lasted about 50km before it started to fall apart on our country roads. It deservers more credit than to be called a rebadged Opel.

Australia was just the chosen location to do the design and engineering for a global car. If they were actually designed for Australia, the fuel filler would have been on the left like the Falcons- which weren't designed as a global car. The later Commodores were designed to supply larger lhd markets that hopefully make the Australian market versions sustainable. In the end, it didnt support the aussie holdens enough.

@@rossbrumby1957 Yeah but at least GM was trying to do something good, even if it was poorly executed... Ford should've done the same thing with its Falcons...

I still love the EF/EL They were great cars to drive new especially the Fairmont, Fairmont Ghia etc

@@change_your_oil_regularly4287 Just in general the Fairmont models were great.

Good post. Know what you're saying there.

Mighty Dank Mods

theyve never really done aussie cars anyway

Holden were too cheap to even make the Commodore look like an Aussie car- fuel fillers all on the wrong side because Germany is a left hand drive country. The last aussie design holden was the wb with the fuel filler on the left.

If I were to import an American car model, I'd prefer one manufactured at a Canadian plant rather than the USA. I think the quality would be that little bit better than a U.S plant and the speedometer would be in metric. My 1992 Aussie Fairlane Ghia has a V8 built in Canada from factory. It's been sitting gathering dirt in the driveway due to ignition problems and electrical gremlins since 2020. Don't know what to do with it.

Wash your mouth out. You should know as a former owner hideous doesn't enter into it unless it's giving trouble.

I love the AU Fairlane Ghia. Was a classy good looking car 🤠👌

@@paulfri1569 I definitely agree , the only thing swaying me away from one is bad petrol prices here in South Africa 😂

Also CTS stands for Catera Touring Sedan, the Catera outlived the Eldorado, Seville, and even the Deville

and Ford Lasers too plz!

Agree 100%. Don't worry though, many of these Tickford XR's & T series are still in good hands. Oo===oO

As bad as the base AU grille/ lights were, to me the XR6/8 round headlights set in holes was absolutely hideous.

@@rossbrumby1957 Really? I quite liked it (especially in the V8 supercar series at the time) it just goes to show, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Hahaha. Have a good one Ross. :)

I'm not much of a ford man so I dont know about the falcons, but certain commodores (with certain trim levels) had some very comfy seats. Its like sitting in a lounge chair.

My Dad designed those seats. This make me happy to read since he's no longer with us.

@@Nicodemus1971 I'm very sorry for your loss...

@@rhyswoodman6781 they’re my dream car, i absolutely adore them, the whole design is simple, it’s an car, and i like cars like that.

I reckon the later ones looked better, like the ba/bf. The FG and fgx was good but towards the end the interior was deffo aged

The “wags” actually looks cool as hell, not so much the rest

AU Ford ex cop car? What Police force in Australia would be stupid enough to use those pieces of shit? Oh.....let me guess, NSW or QLD......that makes sense!

@@garynewton1263 South Australia actually, that’s where I live. The car was an unmarked police car before we bought it.

@@BaileyEthanRawson South Australia had AUs as police vehicles? Very disappointing. AU was one of THE worst Falcon models ever along with the EF. I lived in Adelaide from 92 to 2005 and 2015 to 2022 and never saw any Fords being used by SA police. VP, VR, VS, VT, VX, VY, VE, VF etc. Of course they used VLs as did Vic police. My VX Exexcutive is an ex unmarked SA Police taskforce vehicle. Dark blue. I had a White VS Series II esteem commodore before this one, it was brilliant. The Ford Falcon didn't match Commodores until the BF model.

@@garynewton1263 I wouldn’t remember as I was born just when the AU’s were replaced with the BA’s. It’s possible our AU might’ve been an unmarked cop car interstate, not 100% sure of the backstory but all I know is that my parents bought the AU II second hand at an auction when I was born as my mum needed a wagon to fit the twin pram in the boot, and it was apparently an ex cop car.. We also used to have a 2001 VX Equipe wagon in bronze, from the same era as our AU, except it wasn’t an ex cop car; my grandparents gave it to us as they had bought another car. Funny how we had the two direct Aussie motoring competitors of the same year in our driveway at the time LOL. The VX was a nicer car but it ran into more problems mechanically as it aged than our AU.

@@BaileyEthanRawson Yes, the VT and VX were not free of mechanical issues. The engines in the VR to VY were rubbish and noisy. The Ford straight 6 esoecially the Tickford was excellent.