Falcon XY 4WD
in [Aussie Drivers]
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From: Noddy on 21 Oct 2007 22:27 "jonz" <fj40(a)diesel.com> wrote in message news:471c068b$1(a)dnews.tpgi.com.au... > ive yet to see a locking hub that utilises syncro rings...pissy or > otherwise Why am I not surprised at all? -- Regards, Noddy.
From: Daryl Walford on 22 Oct 2007 00:17 JD wrote: > Daryl Walford wrote: > >> Noddy wrote: >> >>> One thing that certainly doesn't make any sense to me at all is that Ford >>> would be seriously contemplating the idea of such a vehicle for >>> production when the market for them at the time would have been next to >>> nothing. >> Just as well Toyota didn't think that way when they started making >> Landcruisers all those years ago or they would have missed out on a lot >> of money. >> The market for 4WD utes may have been small in the early 70's but its >> huge now and if Ford had known that they could have developed a good >> product over the last 30 odd years that could have been a competitor to >> the Japanese who have a strangle hold on that market. >> >> >> >> Daryl > > The Landcruiser, of course, was developed at the request of the Japanese > government for government use (I seem to remember originally for police > use), and Japanese government civilian and military sales propped it up for > the first twenty or so years of production. Ford in the US had been in a > similar position in the US during the war, but opted not to pursue it after > the war, leaving it to Willys, so there is zero likliehood that Ford > Australia would have tried it without government backing. I doubt the Landcruiser was "propped up for the first twenty or so years", 10 maybe but I doubt even that, AFAIK the first Landcruisers (there were earlier versions but they weren't named Landcruiser)were built in 1954 and by the mid 60's they were selling more than 50,000 per year. Daryl
From: Daryl Walford on 22 Oct 2007 00:20 Noddy wrote: > "Daryl Walford" <dwalford(a)internode.on.net> wrote in message > news:13hmf1hq65ota0a(a)corp.supernews.com... > >> Just as well Toyota didn't think that way when they started making >> Landcruisers all those years ago or they would have missed out on a lot of >> money. > > Yeah, but a Landcruiser ain't a Falcon ute. > >> The market for 4WD utes may have been small in the early 70's but its huge >> now and if Ford had known that they could have developed a good product >> over the last 30 odd years that could have been a competitor to the >> Japanese who have a strangle hold on that market. > > True enough. > > The Falcon 4wd ute was fairly unique in that it was built for the specific > task of getting into reasonably remote areas while having a decent carrying > capacity. 4wd's of the era were limited to carrying people into such places. > > The "twig" for a combination of both didn't come until a *long* time later. True but with the XY they potentially had a winner but they missed the opportunity. The XY 4WD ute may have been a bit rough but it could have developed into a great farm vehicle if Ford had a bit of foresight and had bothered to market it properly. Daryl
From: Noddy on 22 Oct 2007 00:33 "Daryl Walford" <dwalford(a)internode.on.net> wrote in message news:13ho920j8mg0n61(a)corp.supernews.com... > I doubt the Landcruiser was "propped up for the first twenty or so years", > 10 maybe but I doubt even that, AFAIK the first Landcruisers (there were > earlier versions but they weren't named Landcruiser)were built in 1954 and > by the mid 60's they were selling more than 50,000 per year. Worldwide. -- Regards, Noddy.
From: Noddy on 22 Oct 2007 00:36
"Daryl Walford" <dwalford(a)internode.on.net> wrote in message news:13ho97kik214ia4(a)corp.supernews.com... > True but with the XY they potentially had a winner but they missed the > opportunity. Not so much missed it as about 10 years in front of it I expect. > The XY 4WD ute may have been a bit rough but it could have developed into > a great farm vehicle if Ford had a bit of foresight and had bothered to > market it properly. They didn't market it at all, and that's the point. If the story in the book is to be believed, and it sounds the most credible to me, they never intended to do anything with it other than meet the terms of a special order contract with the bonus of using up a shitload of the remaining XY ute tubs that hadn't been sold. -- Regards, Noddy. |