33 posts tagged “ford”

I was out at Nicole and Paul McKinnon’s today with my friend Cas, and I can now, with their permission, mention that the 1977 Ford Granada (left-hand drive) that was featured on this blog a few weeks ago is for sale, so that they can get a car for the family. Please contact me if you are in New Zealand (or even if you are nearby and you want a Granada) and I will hook you up with Paul. The car is in quite good condition and the interior is original. It has a 302 in³ V8.

I am a sucker for the “could have been” car stories, so stumbling across American designer Herb Grasse’s site was a real bonus today.
   Grasse was associate designer on the original Adam West Batmobile but he worked on many production cars, too, including the original Dodge Challenger, the XD Ford Falcon, the original Ford Laser of 1980, and the second-generation Ford Telstar. He was chief designer at Nissan Australia before its demise.
   Start on Herb’s production cars’ page and link from there—a very fascinating portfolio. It shows the XD Falcon was far more Granada-like at drawing stage, and that the Mazda Familia origins of the Ford Laser were far more obvious in earlier sketches. The first Telstar had shades of the Ford Taurus years before that model’s launch, while a clay for the second Telstar showed strong EA26 Falcon influences.

Not everyone in New Zealand has a brand-new car. At Bristol Motors in Upper Hutt, where I get my car serviced by Stephen Hamilton (one of the rare breed: an honest mechanic, ex-New Zealand Army), there are quite a few classics being looked after. New Zealand does not salt its roads, so many of these have been well preserved. I have blanked out the number plates of the cars shot indoors since these are not vehicles you would see passing by Bristol Motors’ building.

   Two Germans: a BMW 633 CSI (one of my old favourites from this company) and a Hansa coupé, from the now-defunct Borgward company. There’s a small plate inside mentioning Goliath-Werke AG, another name from the past. Next to them is a Bentley.    I am no authority on Rileys but I assume this is a 2½-litre model?    Another rarity, a Vauxhall Velox drophead. A saloon version was parked outside:    If it were not for the SUV across the road, you’d have to ask what year this photo was shot:    And finally, an Australian Ford LTD from the 1970s with a grille that aped Rolls-Royces and Lincolns:

Show us the very last picture you took. No cheating!

This was last Saturday, at the home of Lucire beauty columnist Nicole McKinnon and her husband Paul. Paul likes his American cars and in his garage is a 1977 Ford Granada with a 302 Windsor V8. Neither the German nor the American Granada was ever sold in New Zealand, so this car is unusual here. He was surprised I knew what it was and that I could enter into a decent conversation about these old intermediates and the Mercury Monarch twin. He even says it is less heavy than I had believed, and that he can get reasonable mileage out of it.
   However, it might have to go so Nicole can have a more practical car for herself and their daughter, Hannah.

This is more groovy than a roller-skating date with Olivia Newton-John, having a fondue party or getting Erik Estrada to give you a signed helmet.

Spotted in Alicetown, Lower Hutt, New Zealand, a slightly modified Ford Falcon Hardtop from the late 1970s (1978, at a guess, because of the badging). This is the model that replaced Mad Max’s, and was considered very cool in its day. You might be able to tell that it’s bigger than the compact Falcons in the US from the 1960s, though slightly smaller than the final US model of 1970½ on the Torino platform. They had a terrible driving position but I have an uncle who swore by them for years.

Now that we are nearing the E241 Ford Falcon launch in New Zealand, and in response to a comment Robin made about an earlier blog post I made on the subject, I Googled the dimensions of the new car and compared them with the CD345 Mondeo.
   I’d been wanting to do this around the time of the Australian launch and now I see why the details were so darned hard to come by. There was nothing on the Ford Australia site at the time of launch.
   Ford uses tags such as CD and E to signify the size of car, so the Ford Ka is B class, the Focus is C, the Mondeo and Fusion are CD, and the Taurus is D. Falcon, traditionally the biggest car, is E (as is the Territory SUV). Minivans are given the V tag.
   Here’s the kicker: the Mondeo is bigger than the Falcon in overall dimensions with the exception of length, which might not mean much to buyers interested in a car’s packaging. They want to know wheelbase and width, and interior volume (which I did not look up).

E241 Falcon
L: 4,955 mm (up 25 mm)
W: 1,868 mm (up 4 mm)
H: 1,453 mm (up 9 mm)
Wheelbase: 2,838 mm (up 9 mm)

CD345 Mondeo
L: 4,778 mm
W: 1,886 mm
H: 1,500 mm
Wheelbase: 2,850 mm

   Ford and the other manufacturers know that ultimately, people judge a car’s size by engine capacity, in which case the Falcon’s base four-litre unit is more substantial than the Mondeo’s base two-litre (in the New Zealand market).
   Hence, the Chevrolet Impala also suffers from the tape measure stakes compared to the new Malibu in the US—but the Impala is not exactly a new car. Here we are talking about a brand-new design that, in global terms, should be bigger than the Mondeo.
   If you start looking at the Mondeo Turnier (wagon or estate), the measurements are even more substantial for length and height.
   Ford was probably wise not to renew the EA169 Falcon wagon this year, and leave it as a workhorse model. The Mondeo Turnier probably suits that market very well anyway and with the diesels, it will appeal to fleets.
   But it is tempting to start talking about the death of the full-size Australian car when the mid-size European car can no longer be considered mid-sized.

The fog that delayed all those flights in Auckland on Friday didn’t seem too bad in the morning. A view from my apartment there:

   I only really noticed it when heading out west for the Ford Focus photo shoot. On the way, I spotted this lovely Ford Consul Mk II:    I couldn’t see any rust on this car: it was beautifully maintained. And no, I have no idea why this place is called Koala Auto Services since koalas are not native to this country.

Australians won’t find this as cool since they’ve had this model for a few months, but it was a treat for me to see the E241 Ford Falcon (or FG series) prior to its official New Zealand launch. These are at Manukau, Ford Motor Co.’s New Zealand HQ, along with a classic Model A in its reception area.
   The models are the top-of-the-line G6E luxury model and the performance hero, the XR8.
   In the metal, they look nice but not that big, especially as the CD345 Mondeo has grown considerably. The slab sides make for a less aggressive look, which I don’t think is that good an idea in 2008, but such gentler shapes will probably be perfectly timed for 2010. The Ford family look is very apparent, as well as VW–Audiesque touches such as the rising feature line in the doors’ lower sills.
   It will have its loyal fans and the cabbies will love the LPG versions, even if the Japanese are moving into that market like crazy.
   I can’t wait to drive it as I hear Ford is on to a winner and dynamically, the Falcon is better than its chief rival, the Holden Commodore. And it’s certainly better than any Ford sedan available in the Americas.
   But if it were my money, and I had to get a Ford, the Mondeo makes more sense considering it’s basically now the same size. I don’t need a big four-litre six or a V8 under the bonnet and while I prefer rear-wheel drive, I’m willing to sacrifice that for the better fuel economy of the Mondeo.

   Finally, a step in to the past:

Here is the Ford Focus that I was lent, but these are not the film shots, just low-res phone-camera ones. It looks a lot nicer than the previous model and is better screwed together. From the front, it has the Ford family look that started with the Galaxy and S-Max, and for the first time in many years, there’s now a consistent grille between Focus, Mondeo and Falcon (E241). It’s a typical Ford strategy to make the base model look more high-line at facelift time, and this is no exception. Plus I love the colour.

Don’t you hate it when the place you are staying at has dodgy wifi and no SMTP server? It’s probably the most troublesome wifi I’ve had ever: I can’t connect yet three viruses managed to come through via the wifi system. At least the weather is nice, as is my lovely 2008 Ford Focus 2·0 organized by the lovely Brie Elder of the Ford Motor Company.
   I’m also back at my regular haunt at the Cintra Lane apartments, where I always stayed at the beginning of the century. I went to other properties between 2005 and 2007 out of curiosity, journalistic duty and the Cintra’s owners’ decision not to upgrade to broadband. Now I am back, I notice that they at least have wifi installed, but it’s very patchy.
   Still, better patchy wifi than dial-up, my antivirus (AVG on this laptop) and spyware scanners are up-to-date, and I love having my familiar penthouse view (Richard Gere: ‘It’s the best’) again. Whomever runs the place now has upgraded or replaced the TV, TV channels, DVD player, curtains and carpet.
   Thanks today to Simon and Marie Young for letting me use their office’s server to send off emails today!