The number/percent of old Falcons still registered

[GTMOND]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

To the uninitiated that was an insult . To those in the know the reason taxi's , cop cars , emergency services , hire cars , company rep cars and so on were more often than not Falcons . Reliability is the key reason . Down time costs money and even lives . Falcon had that covered in spades . So did Commodores .

Plenty of Falcon taxis saw huge odometer readings without major failures . Falcon fleet sales were a staple for Ford for years .

A bit of fun here ......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uqCFjv19AU ...You'd be at your destination before ya left ..

I think you’re misunderstanding me, that’s what I was alluding to. The high mileage taxis were subjected to may account for quite a few. Hence why I would be interested in total fleet numbers sold.

[roddy1960]

Originally Posted by GTMOND

I think you’re misunderstanding me, that’s what I was alluding to. The high mileage taxis were subjected to may account for quite a few. Hence why I would be interested in total fleet numbers sold.

You're right ..I am misunderstanding you . I don't know how easy it'd be by percentages to figure out how many Falcons over the decades were taxis because taxi companies would probably buy them sporadically as they retired cars at a certain odometer reading and of course lots of taxis that might well have been Falcons were owner/ driver cars in smaller communities and when regulations were different to now . Guessing it'd be a very noticeable percentage though GTMOND . Ford sold countless Falcons to specific markets though..(Fleet sales) and probably why we had the Falcon for so long on the back of the fleet market .

Apart from taxis , Government departments both Federal and State relied on the Falcon and Commodore for a big number of their fleets . My AU ll 's original owner was the Tasmanian Agricultural Dep't. Mine had just over 70,000 kms and retired at two years old in 2003 .Also to a lesser extent hire car companies offered Falcons and such . I know hire car FG's were used but not too many though .However the FG was used extensively as taxi's and where the LPG version was prominent .

Without asking directly a taxi mob or two I don't know what the general method of getting their vehicles is and all the legalities and technical stuff to set it up and register for fare paying services . Being privately run companies might muddy the waters a bit too .

Having been in a few myself over the years all I can say is Falcons have been a massive player in the taxi market for sure and the percentage number would be significant .

Had a look on good ol' wikipedia and found this if it's any help at all

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxis_Australia .

Cheers ...

[jstanovic]

Quite often taxis are bought secondhand, usually 2/3 years old. In W.A. they don’t need to be a specific colour so anything goes. Someone on here bought a yellow ex taxi, the original colour was silver, it was given a quick coat of paint to suit the Melbourne taxi fleet.

[xeeclipse]

Usually....

BF-FG taxi ~600,00klm

AU ~1,000,000

[Rallye Sport]

Originally Posted by happy1

Today I've been driving approx. 150 km along the Perth freeway and Reid highway. I was spotting for older cars, but I didn't see as much as one Falcon AU or any other older Fords. Also didn't see many other cars age 10+ years either. (Saw a few Camry from the 90s that was all).

I take it that owners of old cars don't drive far, don't drive on freeways on Saturdays, or don't live near Perth CBD and western suburbs.
I think many of the older cars are perhaps car #2 and are doing short distances, or perhaps are in more remote areas.

Cheers,

I think that hail storm about ten years ago, followed by the insurance companies sent alot of cars to scrap metal.
It was hard to find cars in the 5-10k bracket, e series and the like for a couple of years there.

[car10002]

theres still a many eb/ed on gumtree and marketplace most are base model which is perfect for project cars to do up and build to how you want or need a cheap run around

[happy1]

Hi Rallye,

Today I spotted one AU and one EF I think it was, near Ikea.

I believe the hail storm in 2008 resulted in approx. 10.000 insurance claims in Perth. Probably approx 1/3 of them was repaired, probably 1/3 was kept by the owners and driven as-is. Probably 1/3rd were uneconomical and went to scrap.

I had a licensed BA as my spare car #4 until last year. Then I sold it as it was my oldest car. It cost money to maintain too many cars, and don't get time to drive them, or care for them.

Again I now have 4 licensed cars. Thinking of which one to get rid of next.

Yes I agree that it is technically possible to drive a BA/BF for perhaps 600.000 K's, but it takes a lot of changing out of parts. (Unless you are comfortable with the typical Taxi clunk-clunk). Before I sold mine I did it up to 100% technical order. It had done under 100k's and it still needed a lot of time and effort on it to get that done. Diff bushings, one front control arm, rear control arms, wheel alignment, oil leaks, brake rotors, some paint repairs, etc. I did all the work DIY, but it wasn't economical to spend all that time to fix it before selling it.

With older cars it always comes to a point where it is cheaper to trade up to a newer car, rather than having endless repairs on an older one.
If you have an ageing Falcon and you are not a DIY person, when you ask your mechanic to look over it he will typically find quite a list of things that should be attended to. Also if a car has been unlicensed it will need full check-up to get it back on the road.

Just a comment to Car10002, No, there no longer many EB/EDs around. Very few if you looked at the statistics.

Cheers,

[roKWiz]

According to those figures, there are 30 000 + AU sedans and wagons still registered in Victoria and I reckon 28 000 of them must be in the country as I see them everywhere, everyday.
Must me a testament to how good a car they were.
17 000 AU utes here as well.

[stock1991]

I drive an old car and even though I consider it roadworthy and safe, I know in some states my car would be considered unroadworthy because it has no working heater inside the car. I was around for the whole super/unleaded petrol changeover and I remember that taking a lot of cars off the road perhaps sooner than they might.

[290v]

only 137 FPV BA GT's
in SA MMMMM

[MrZ]

Originally Posted by happy1

Today I've been driving approx. 150 km along the Perth freeway and Reid highway. I was spotting for older cars, but I didn't see as much as one Falcon AU or any other older Fords. Also didn't see many other cars age 10+ years either. (Saw a few Camry from the 90s that was all).

You'll always see fewer older cars on the freeway, for a whole range of different reasons. If you drive around the inner suburbs of Melbourne you'll see tons of older cars (but also in the outer suburbs). They are primarily owned by people who don't work 9-5, or who don't drive to work. i.e.take public transport, but still need a car to do the shopping in. Most owners of these old crap boxes are elderly - 70+, on the dole/unemployed, or students. None are the type who do long distance freeway driving.

[Whitey-AMG]

Originally Posted by MrZ

You'll always see fewer older cars on the freeway, for a whole range of different reasons. If you drive around the inner suburbs of Melbourne you'll see tons of older cars (but also in the outer suburbs). They are primarily owned by people who don't work 9-5, or who don't drive to work. i.e.take public transport, but still need a car to do the shopping in. Most owners of these old crap boxes are elderly - 70+, on the dole/unemployed, or students. None are the type who do long distance freeway driving.

Agreed
People who hang onto old rubbish isnt always a “testament” to reliability , well built blah blah blah....
It also has to do with not giving a $&)t about what they drive or they may genuinely be struggling to trade up.

I spy plent of old $&:t boxes doing the rounds in the far outer east and the majority are dusty , rusty wheelie bins with 2 extra wheels... from varied manufacturers.

Coming from an immediate and extended family that lived and breathed FORD cabs for well over 35 years , we’ve seen em all. Plenty of issues big and small on all models, cars were nothing special. It all came down to regular and meticulous maintenance. Failure in that dept meant cars were off the road almost monthly. Older cabs had owner drivers, they looked after their cars better than they cared for their kids....lol

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by MrZ

You'll always see fewer older cars on the freeway, for a whole range of different reasons. If you drive around the inner suburbs of Melbourne you'll see tons of older cars (but also in the outer suburbs). They are primarily owned by people who don't work 9-5, or who don't drive to work. i.e.take public transport, but still need a car to do the shopping in. Most owners of these old crap boxes are elderly - 70+, on the dole/unemployed, or students. None are the type who do long distance freeway driving.

They might even be people who don't wish to be in debt owning ???? (usually the bank owns) or (sponging off the tax system to buy new) a crap new tin box full off electronic wizardry no one can fix on the side of the road.
Could be some people like myself like older stuff, cars included.

This logic suggests everyone should bulldoze their old Victorian, Federation, Edwardian houses to make way for leggoland pine MCmansion housing estates.

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by 290v

only 137 FPV BA GT's
in SA MMMMM

138.....

[Sar4890]

Im still struggling with the fact that my BA is considered old.

[MrZ]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

They might even be people who don't wish to be in debt owning ???? (usually the bank owns) or (sponging off the tax system to buy new) a crap new tin box full off electronic wizardry no one can fix on the side of the road.
Could be some people like myself like older stuff, cars included.

This logic suggests everyone should bulldoze their old Victorian, Federation, Edwardian houses to make way for leggoland pine MCmansion housing estates.

You can buy a new car and not be in debt. You simply save up for it. People these days don't seem to understand the concept of saving.

[roKWiz]

Thank you, yes I can safely say I understand the concept of saving.
Geeze all us poor, over 70, dole bulger, single mother, students, public transport, non freeway driving types need to save up and impress others with a new car.

Got it.

[MrZ]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Thank you, yes I can safely say I understand the concept of saving.
Geeze all us poor, over 70, dole bulger, single mother, students, public transport, non freeway driving types need to save up and impress others with a new car.

Got it.

I think you're reading way too much into my comments. I was only saying that if a person wants a new car, they can have one, provided they have patience. You were implying that owning a new car necessitates being in debt. I'm saying that's not true.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by MrZ

I think you're reading way too much into my comments. I was only saying that if a person wants a new car, they can have one, provided they have patience. You were implying that owning a new car necessitates being in debt. I'm saying that's not true.

no s**t Sherlock. I reckon half a dozen here must of read your comments the wrong way as well.

[MrZ]

It seems that the utes last much longer than the sedans/wagons? AU utes are around 66-68% compared to only 33% for the passenger models. With the Holden VU it's close to 90% that are still registered! Even Monaro can't match those figures - with 9,185 still registered it's around 80% of the original numbers (hard to work out exactly, since HSV variants are counted separately on the site, but not in original sales figures).

[MrZ]

Looks like I made a bit of a mistake in my original post. It seems the Fairmont is counted separately to the Falcon. This means that there are 99,216 AU Falcons/Fairmonts still registered, which works out to 40% of the original number sold, not 33% (I thought it seemed a bit low).

With the EF/EL, there are 48,962 (including Fairmonts), not 38,402 as originally calculated. This would mean that 16-17% remain, not 13%.

And with the ED, there are 6607 (approx. 10% left).

The Fairlane has far greater longevity than it's Falcon equivalent - 2061 NC Fairlanes remain which is about 16% of original numbers. 33% of NF/NL Fairlanes remain, which is double the percentage of EF/EL Falcons! And more than 50% of AU Fairlanes, compared to 40% of AU Falcons/Fairmonts.

[GT0132]

[QUOTE=GTMOND;6248714]I wonder what percentage of the early falcons were taxis, as I remember back then before Prius ect , majority of taxis were falcons.[/QUOTE

Hard to say, but the pecentage of taxis that were Falcons must be around 99.9%. Can't recall ever riding in a Holden taxi since the HZ Kingswood

[xeeclipse]

Originally Posted by MrZ

Looks like I made a bit of a mistake in my original post. It seems the Fairmont is counted separately to the Falcon. This means that there are 99,216 AU Falcons/Fairmonts still registered, which works out to 40% of the original number sold, not 33% (I thought it seemed a bit low).

With the EF/EL, there are 48,962 (including Fairmonts), not 38,402 as originally calculated. This would mean that 16-17% remain, not 13%.

And with the ED, there are 6607 (approx. 10% left).

The Fairlane has far greater longevity than it's Falcon equivalent - 2061 NC Fairlanes remain which is about 16% of original numbers. 33% of NF/NL Fairlanes remain, which is double the percentage of EF/EL Falcons! And more than 50% of AU Fairlanes, compared to 40% of AU Falcons/Fairmonts.

Too many AU's destroyed through absolute negligence or given away to scrappies due to non existent trade in value.

The pristine gas dedicated ones hurt most :(. Even with the old VIALLE lpg they are the equivalent of a toyota corolla to run and virtually go forever even in day to day domestic use.

[MrZ]

[QUOTE=GT0132;6260124]

Originally Posted by GTMOND

I wonder what percentage of the early falcons were taxis, as I remember back then before Prius ect , majority of taxis were falcons.[/QUOTE

Hard to say, but the pecentage of taxis that were Falcons must be around 99.9%. Can't recall ever riding in a Holden taxi since the HZ Kingswood

There were a few, but rare. Here's a VB Commodore taxi in a 1985 episode of Neighbours:

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_684483-...e-VB-1978.html

A VR Commodore taxi in an episode of Bullpit! from 1997:

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_929547-...e-VR-1993.html

[jpd80]

I've got my keeper, a 91 EB Fairmont V8 in pearl black, I'm seeing less and less EBs on the road now...

[MrZ]

Originally Posted by jpd80

I've got my keeper, a 91 EB Fairmont V8 in pearl black, I'm seeing less and less EBs on the road now...

It's actually remarkable that there are any left at all. If you go to the USA, for example, you will not see any domestic Ford/GM product still on the roads that's over 20 years old. Try spotting a 1st/2nd gen (86-95) Taurus the next time you're there - you won't see any. The only vehicles from the early 90s that remain over there are the Japanese. Similar situation in the UK as well (with the Ford Sierra/Scorpio/Grenada).

[Venomous1]

I don't know if i'm the only one but can't help but feel some sadness looking at the figures and knowing how little are left and how quickly they are depleting never again to be made.

[jpd80]

And i can imagine the latter Falcons will disappear quicker having lower build numbers to begin with.

[GT0132]

Originally Posted by MrZ

It's actually remarkable that there are any left at all. If you go to the USA, for example, you will not see any domestic Ford/GM product still on the roads that's over 20 years old. Try spotting a 1st/2nd gen (86-95) Taurus the next time you're there - you won't see any. The only vehicles from the early 90s that remain over there are the Japanese. Similar situation in the UK as well (with the Ford Sierra/Scorpio/Grenada).

Interesting isn't it. Totally agree with you. I was staying in Santa Monica about 10 blocks back from the ocean a few weeks ago and outside my hotel room one morning was an 70's Buick in average condition. All SUV's there otherwise high end Merc. Audi, BMW and a smattering of Dodge Challenger, Mustang and camaro

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by MrZ

It's actually remarkable that there are any left at all. If you go to the USA, for example, you will not see any domestic Ford/GM product still on the roads that's over 20 years old. Try spotting a 1st/2nd gen (86-95) Taurus the next time you're there - you won't see any. The only vehicles from the early 90s that remain over there are the Japanese. Similar situation in the UK as well (with the Ford Sierra/Scorpio/Grenada).

Salt on the roads probably takes care of a large slice of them.