They were a great work horse though (No particular model)...The Holden ute was easy to work on...Always got you home...parts were dirt cheap,

They are and were ICONIC....They were not all that expensive back in the day, and mate...how they sold....Holdens ruled out west...When it came to performance the valiants ate them...But the dust...Valiants were the worst for letting dust into the cabin...Falcons were good for not letting in dust as well.
I remember dad coming home with the HR with red seats....ALL I HAVE TO SAY WHAT A MOTOR VEHCLE !!! He won the outback with it...
That ute went where Land Drover failed.He used it like intended, went to church then to market so to speak....I can remember the trade in, $800 for the HR on a new HG ute.... $2,226 brand new..he went back for the first service had a radio installed, that cost $226 in 1971....That was a hell of a lot of dosh, 11 transistor push button.

I got of bit off track fellas...sorry.

Isn't it funny the cost of what today you take for granted in even the cheapest car. 10% of the cost of a whole car for a radio! And the cost of aircon in those days, to get it factory fitted to a HK-HG increased the car's cost by a whopping amount.

Put it this way, a HX-HZ Sandman was pretty much the easiest and the cheapest way to get a V8 ute with decent dash. Only catch was no bench seat. Heaps of tradies used them, especially as used cars.

Garbage, a HX-HZ Sandman does not look better than a HQ-HJ! A HQ-HJ is essentially a GTS ute, a HX-HZ is a Kingswood ute with stripes. Why do you think GMH rushed to make the HX and later HZ stripes a delete option - people didn't want them. And what was the first thing people did to them? Stuck GTS guards on them.

I was talking about mistakes in hindsight. It tells me that GMH would have been far better keeping the V car as a Torana and keeping the W car, rather than turning the Torana into a U car and slotting an in between V car between the U and W cars. My point about a UC SLR5000 was that the WA or WB Sandman compared to a HJ Sandman would have looked like a UC SLR5000 compared to an LH-LX SLR5000 (if WA had been built there would have been no HX or HZ, just HQ into HV/HJ then WA).

GMH would have done better not having VB-VL in my opinion, just kept the Torana and the W Holden and Statesman. Then introduce the VN to replace the Holden into the 90's.

The only think going for the VL as far as I am concerned was the continuation of the 5.0L engine and the introduction of the EFI 5.0L. The Nissan engine might have been good compared to a clunky old 202 in a passenger hack, but it wouldn't have been any use in a W size car or as good as Ford's bigger 6cyl engines. The V6's would have been far more suited to commercial vehicles than that Nissan head cracker.

Like you say how good the XG and XH were. Imagine a W commercial, updated as much as the Fords were running injected 5.0L, even continue it as late as 2000. Should have been far more popular than any Commodore ute (VG-VS).

Holden should have done a lot too, but the GFC and near bankruptcy killed it all. The VE platform was meant to be just like the VT-VZ platform with coupes, cab-chassis, dual cabs and AWB. But they simply couldn't do it.

Near the end I tried to buy a Ford FGIII or FX. The salesman was pretty good, rang head office for me but got nowhere. I tried to buy an XR6T auto cab-chassis with the trim update package, really wanted it as a cab chassis but was prepared to take a ute if I had to and turf the back and fit a tray. All I wanted was the 3/4 tonne springs off the XL or even better the 1-tonne springs, rest was the same other than using the wheels and tyres off the XR6 cab-chassis. Sure I could have done it myself using spare part leafs and wheels and replaced the XR6's 500kg leafs and 19" wheels, but I wanted the factory GVW and hence GCM. Reason was whilst the XR6T could officially tow 2300kg, the load capacity meant that by the time you put a towbar on it, the required load levellers, added 230kg of towball load (10% of 2300kg) and had two passengers you were already above the GVW and hence GCM of the combination. They wouldn't do it to get the sale though, and to pay an Engineer to Engineer the upgrades prior to first rego added about $4000 to a $37,000 car without paying over $3000 for the factory rear springs, U-bolts and wheels.

Edited by user Thursday, 15 February 2018 1:02:04 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Interesting you say that Castellan...At the end of 2017 Ford were the market leader in 4x4 sales...albeit with the Ranger...Yes over Toyota Hilux.
I think Hilux were the largest selling vehicle including 2x4's....but not 4z4's.
I live out near Beaudesert Qld,and the guys at Scenic Ford have a yard full of them(Rangers) and Tojo yard has a cpl.They are a tad cheaper of course than a Hilux.
So they have maybe listened to the market as you say but all a bit to late to save the Falcon.
A Bit like GM-H with the WB Stato giving the rear seat passengers more leg room to match the Fairlane....All to little to late.

HZ might have had DL7, HQ/J didn’t need it. The owner could just choose to not fit them. HZ may have had lots of DL7 but there is no way of knowing how many HQ/HJ never had the stripes fitted as the owners also thought they looked bad.
Without the stickers and name, they would have been just as forgettable as a S PAC Falcon Ute really.

S PAC falcon......Now that rings a bell. Was that fords tricked up 250 6 cylinder in the XA's?...I vaguely remember them in a sedan...Saw one once and that was it...I can't google anything about it.Well ford did jump out first first with the 8 not heading a 6 S I guess.Maybe they thought a 250 in a 6 was enough.We had them, they were ok and a 351 in a XD and was a slug...a fuel sucking slug,

I quick edit....Go fast stripes back around 77 78 were a killer for resale...A mate had Falcon 500 v8 the works...
He lost $500 simply because it had stripes on the guards on a trade in .

Edited by user Friday, 16 February 2018 8:47:20 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Sorry my bad HK ...I have seen stacks of those now that you show me....There was a tricked up 6 that was like Holdens 186s...Only had the guard badge to show what it was under the bonnet.

Here is all I can find..Its the 170HP over the 155Hp 250 donk
.https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/250-170-HP-GUARD-BADGE-NEW-for-Ford-Falcon-XY-2V-Inline-6-six-170HP-Fairmont-GT-/222798734776?nma=true&si=HyoMy3mR%252BKZqqnyjNkgQW%252Fx4cEM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

http://www.ebay.com.au/i...-XY-XW-ZF-/301005334162
Go down to the 500 special listed there.

http://www.automobile-ca...lcon_500_sedan/1972.html

Edited by user Friday, 16 February 2018 9:34:02 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Same with UC. If GMH had continued with a V8 in UC the cars that won Bathurst in 1978 and 1979 would have had UC sheet metal on them, yes there would have been a UC A9X. And like WB, UC would probably no longer have been seen as an ugly duckling.

As HZ GTS changed to the luxury 4 headlight front, a WA GTS would probably have sported the Deville's nose. The WA Sandman would possibly have been the same?

VL 3.0L unreliable that's total B/S,
VL Nissan Auto well I drove one from Brissy to Sydney and back and never complained about it, what's wrong about them most I know got more km out of the engines and manual and auto box than 3.3L and trimatic, would of cost more to recon as well for sure.

The AU ute on did not have the room in the tail that I wanted, so that's why I wanted a tray, nothing to do with weight as the XR6 springs would be fine for me a bit over loaded at times for short distance but I could live with that.

Torana's were rubbish regardless, really not much chop at all off the floor unless it was a 308.

The XU-1 was rubbish car really it's only like a TA Torana truly with a good performing engine at the end of the day.

Even the UC Torana had nothing on the VB Commodore.