Or is this the actual legendary FEMI-powered ZXGLQ-FU Fairlane? They’re so hard to tell apart. But CC Cohort glen.h. swears this a ZG/P5 Series LTD, an upscale version of the Australian Ford Fairlane, built between 1973 and 1976. And the FEMI six had given way to a brawny 351 inch V8. Progress! Although I’m still trying to decide if that front end is for real, or whether glen is messing with me. So I decided to consult wiki, and it’s true; this is a ZG/P5. And if you think this front end is wild, wait till you see its successor, the P6.
Does it have fine Corinthian leather?
That superfly style front end combined with the granny plate on the P6 is almost too much.
Ah yes the fibreglass nosed Marquis LTD but without the factory vynyl top cracks keep appearing in the roof seams or they did in a friends one with 460 lincoln implant
I’m liking the P5. The P6, not so much. I like my Cordobas with some curves.
Consulting Wiki, they may be better than the 69 Auzzie Fairlane! That looked like the 66-67 US Fairlane. Stacked headlights were SO 1965 by then.
Second year grill looked a lot better. It would have made a nice Cougar.
Looks like I’m one of the rare guys who liked those Aussie Fairlanes with the stacked headlights ^^; I spotted a picture of a 1971 Aussie Fairlane http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/1971-Ford-Fairlane-Pictures-c12747_pi19338498
In Brazil, the Brazilian Galaxie (the 1965-66 model body made until 1982 or 1983 depending of the sources) kept its stacked headlights until 1975.
That car has had someone rattle-can the whole front grille, Ford did not change it.
Ultra rare.
That’s the Landau model. The LTD was basically an extended Fairlane which was basically an extended Falcon. There wasn’t a Fairlane coupe though; and the Landau shared the regular-length XA Falcon coupe body, but with LTD front guards/bonnet/grille/interior. It even shared the Falcon coupes longer rear-side windows, but Ford reshaped the opening with a fillet of metal and covered it up with the vinyl roof. Landaus are very, very rare now – and uber cool too!
Gawd, the Aussies could sure turn out some ugly cars.
Says the man from the country that created the Pontiac Aztek 🙂
Please. That’s a beautiful car.
I had to chop it as a Cougar 😉
More LTD oddity, this one from Argentina, like its Aussie counterpart, the LTD was the top-line model of the Argentinian Fairlane line-up, here a pic of a 1972 model http://www.productioncars.com/gallery.php?car=1443&make=Ford&model=Fairlane
(they made the 1968-69 Fairlane body until 1981).
Here another Argentine Fairlane, a 1974 model http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifhp97/6845014987/ Interesting to note, along with the Brazilian Galaxie, they got the old Y-block V8 under the hood.
The Argentine Fairlane only got a 3-on-the-tree as well, no auto option, ever.
The Brazilian Galaxie-LTD got a 302 in 1976.
Stephane, I was just looking up other LTD Landaus by chance and the Brazilian version came up. It’s like there’s a whole Alternate Universe of Fords out there! Fascinating.
Yeah, we don’t have enough of these alternate universe of Fords as well as Chevrolets and Chryslers. 🙂
The separately grilled headlight covers are just stunningly ugly. Wow, so many great-looking Aussie cars, I guess they can’t all be Nicole Kidman.
No Corinthian leather, will English burr walnut do?
I like the headlight covers, and likewise the hubcaps are so bad they’re good!
Me to, I am fairly certain those hubcaps were stolen off an American Ford/Mercury/Lincoln of some description. Got to laugh though when our American friends call our P5 and P6 ugly. Wish I had a Landau now 🙂
You’ll never hear this American call those cars ugly! I would love to have one of those in my driveway!
I think these are just fine but what I would really like is one of the utes.
Even though they’re real pictures of real cars, both photos have the look of better-than-average photoshop jobs, or perhaps old-fashioned airbrushing. What a couple of strange-looking cars!
Proof that the Brougham pandemic wasnt limited to the North American continent.
One of the key requirements of the Fairlane & LTD styling was that it had to look distinct from the standard Falcon, and more formal. The ZF Fairlane was criticised for looking too much like the XA Falcon, with just the hood and grill differing, which was lightly changed for the ZG Fairlane while the XB Falcon changed substantially (best known in the US as the yellow/blue/red police cars on Mad Max?). The P5 LTD shared its hood with the Fairlane, and the front fenders had the turn signals removed from the leading edge.
The ZH Fairlane and P6 LTD were substantially different, with all front & rear sheetmetal new. There were 7000 P5 LTDs built in 3 years, and just under 6000 P6’s in just over 2-1/2 years. The next model LTD did not have a stretched wheelbase, it was then shared with the Fairlane – no more 42″ rear legroom.
Speaking of photos posted to the cohort by Glen… Someone should do a write-up on that awe-inspiring washing-machine-on-wheels, the Lightburn Zeta…
Yes, I actually looked that up.
“An established manufacturer of cement mixers and washing machines…”
Zeta’s an Aussie. Better than most microcars, it appears to have four wheels. I think someone down under should write that one up on a long winter’s night.
I’m not sure there’s much to write, the wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeta_%28automobile%29) appears fairly comprehensive, the only other detail I can recall was the removable front seats could be sat on the roof for spectating at sporting events etc. Not sure I would like to try that…
When they sold for just 10% less than a Mini (which didn’t have a 324cc 2-stroke but did have a reverse gear), you can see why they only sold 363 in 3 years. (Edit – actually I can’t see why they sold that many!)
I suppose it does make a change from manufacturers branching into cars from bicycles or carriages.
@ MikePDX
That may explain why it looked like a washing machine and sounded like a cement mixer!
They were terrible, terrible little cars….
I have video about a factory team of three of them competing in a Round Australia Trial, they actually did OK and were quite reliable, still didn’t help sales though.
The prime minister’s car was usually a P5 here through the 70s – the P5 looks deliciously menacing in black!. My brother-in-law has a friend with a P5 which he uses regularly – but for economy he’s swapped out the 351 for a Nissan diesel LD28. LD28 engine swaps aren’t uncommon in older Falcons/Fairmonts/Fairlanes/LTDs, they fit well and the cars are still very drivable. Some of Bryce’s cohort pictures show an LD28 in an XF Falcon ute. And yes, my BIL’s friend has the 351 nicely stored so he can return his P5 to original!
“LD28 engine swaps aren’t uncommon in older Falcons/Fairmonts/Fairlanes/LTDs”. Sacrilege. Letting Piggy Muldoon get around in P5. Sacrilege, again. This payback for all the sheep jokes isn’t it 🙂
Lol, absolutely is payback! 😉 The actual ex-govt P5 that ferried Rob Muldoon around came up on trademe earlier this year – it was pretty tired, but what a history! His personal car through the 70s was a Triumph 2000 or 2500 sedan, which he traded on a new Ford Sierra 2.3 Ghia hatchback in 1983. Sticking it to the Aussies by buying Brit!
You guys were lucky you could buy Sierras new, Ford Australia stuck us with Telstars (Mazda 626), which were good cars, but not Sierras, which people would have bought in great quantities due to the Cosworth Group A cars of the era. Yet another Ford Australia marketing blunder, like their decision to drop V8’s for 8 years 🙂 Also love Triumph 2500’s, such good looking cars, RM was obviously a man with good taste.
Rob Muldoons 2500 was a rustbucket barely roadworthy by the time Ford NZ provided the new Sierra his cars spent too much time on the coast
My parents traded the trusty Mk 5 Cortina wagon on a Sierra wagon in 88/89; I learnt to drive in it. And then I had 3 successive Sierras back in the 90s, they were the type of car you swore by or swore at. Only one of mine was in the swore at category. For an inexpensive family car they had a great ride/handling balance.
And yes, we were and still are lucky with the extraordinary range of vehicles here! We got the Telstar at the same time as the Sierra too, Ford NZ really liked Kiwis, they gave us everything! (except Crown Vics, which I love from afar). Triumph 2500s were still being sold new here in 1980, still loads around, including the wagons (which I don’t think Aussie got?). Actually I wrote to Mr Muldoon for a 5th form history project about famous leaders. I wanted to know what he carried in his briefcase, and he sent me a personally written reply detailing everything! He didn’t mention his car keys though…!
It is interesting how NZ has always seemed to have a greater variety of cars than AU. I suspect it may have something to do with us always having had to prop up Holden, Ford and Toyota etc, I think tariffs in AU in the past may have made some models like the 2500 Wagon not viable as it would probably have ended up costing a lot more that an Aussie Wagon. It was nice of Mr Muldoon to answer your letter.
Anyone here knows the title of a good, decently comprehensive book on Aussie cars? The more I read CC writeups about them, the more I realize there is a whole universe down there!
Norm darwin wrote histories of the Aussie car makers Falcon and Holden have a look on the web
One that comes to mind is “Wheels Across Australia” by Pedr Davis, published by Marque Publishing in 1987. It is a comprehensive review of all aspects of motoring in Australia from early city-to-city record setting to the petroleum industry – obviously no longer fully up-to-date, but covers the genesis of the structural industry changes that have evolved since. There are a good number of photographs but not a comprehensive catalogue of all cars produced. I came across a copy recently, but have not read it all yet.
There are a few marque specific titles if you are interested in the ‘big 3’. A good place to browse is pitstop.net.au – a bookshop in Perth WA that specialises in mail orders. Look under Cars A to L for Chrysler, Ford and Holden.
I don’t know about all Aussie cars, but I have a good one on Holden – called “Heart of the Lion”, by John Wright.