I don’t know if it is common in other areas, but in Australia you occasionally see vehicles with antennas for communications radios, from the old CB radios to HF radios on vehicles headed into the outback that can reach a couple of thousand miles. You don’t often see a forest of them!
This 2005 Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo has a total of 7, including 2 cell phone antennae, and 4 that appear to be for UHF radio. The large one mounted under the rear bumper may be another, high-gain UHF unit, I’m not sure.
It does not appear to be a HF aerial, that is normally seen fixed to 4x4s that are heading into the Outback; HF radio has a range of a couple of thousand miles, quite a bit more than a UHF.
The car also has a rear wing that is like the one normally seen on an FPV GT, but without the central support leg, as well as aftermarket wheels. This colour is Bionic blue; bright colours were a popular feature of ‘sporty’ sedans in Australia at this time.
I can’t help but mention the turbo version of the new “Barra” 4.0 DOHC 24-valve inline six in this car that made such an impact when it was released in September 2002. This engine was given the code name within Ford of “Gull”, as in seagull, because it crapped on everything! Output for this BA Mark 2 XR6 Turbo would be 240 kW (322 hp) @ 5250rpm with torque of 450 Nm (338 lb-ft) @ 2000-4500rpm, although these figures are notoriously under-rated as they proved consistently faster than the on-paper more powerful XR8. Within 2 years there was a tuning house offering a 1000 hp engine for sale that would run on pump fuel!
The BA Mark 2 model saw a 6-speed Tremec T56 manual gearbox replace the previous 5-speed TR3650, however the BTR 4-speed automatic carried over until it was replaced by the ZF HP26 6-speed with the following BF model in October 2005.
Clockwise from top left: Phantom, Citric Acid, Acid Rush, Blood Orange
As mentioned, Falcon sports models (and Commodores) from this era had some pretty off-the-wall colours available; Rapid Yellow as per this car is a relatively “normal” hue! Note the bottom-right photo above shows that Acid Rush in particular was available across the range, so you could have a company-rep car with hubcaps and this wild colour!
Not only was Phantom inspired by the movie from a few years earlier, but also Wild Violet that was available on the Falcon from 1972-73. This fairly uncommon colour experienced a spike in value during the muscle car revival of the early 2000’s that coincide with the return of the Falcon GT and Holden Monaro.
For the Mark 2 update, Phantom was replaced by a darker Vibe purple as well as Menace as pictured above. Neither new purple had the impact of the original, with sales dropping roughly 2/3 with each passing year. This car is a non-turbo Falcon XR6, which apart from not having Turbo badging is otherwise representative of what a standard car looks like, showing the standard wheels and rear spoiler as a comparison to the feature car.
So to finish off, we have an impressive car from an interesting time in history that has not only been customized but also had a forest of communications gear attached to it – surely there must be an interesting story behind it!
Further Reading:
Cars Of A Lifetime Number Two: 2004 Ford Falcon XR6 – William Stopford’s Phantom purple car
You should see some of the cars from all over the US that come to Dayton every year for the Hamvention- the world’s biggest ham radio expo. The yellow car in the first picture would look commonplace in that parking lot!
You go to Dayton? I have been several times. I got some good pics of those antenna-festooned cars. Also at Dayton the people are often covered with little antennas.
Would not agree with our automated car washes. American’s have become so lazy they need a machine to wash their car now.
Not all of us live in places where washing one’s car in the driveway or street is allowed, because of vigilant homeowners’ associations or (in desert or drought areas) restrictions on water use. So we take our cars either to a do-it-yourself, coin-operated car wash, or go to one of the automated ones. In our case, our car gets washed when I take it in for oil changes.
Not to mention that a car wash is (usually) more energy- and water-efficient than washing by hand.
Same for me here in Austria. €1 for a power wash with a detergent, a quick rub with a sponge followed by another Euro to rinse it off. No buckets to carry or neighbors to argue with. Less than 10 minutes and it’s done.
Bionic Blue looks an awful lot like Grabber Blue here in the U.S.
That 1970s Falcon’s rear end looks so very much like the rear end of the 1970-71 Fairlane and Torino in the U.S. Not the tail lights, but the fender shapes, the shape of the trunk lid, and even the shape of the backlight–they all look like they came from the same mind and the same set of sketches at the same time.
The cars in the U.S. that are festooned with antennae are usually law enforcement vehicles. The CB radio craze of the 1970s came and went, and took its antennae with it.
I am familiar with Grabber Blue, Ford had True Blue here around 1971 that was very similar. Bionic is lighter and a pearl color.
From memory the original proposal for the Falcon was to base it on the Torino but shortening the overhangs to suit Australian requirements didn’t work
Ford AU upgraded the floorpan and suspension on the 71 XY model and the new body had to fit that and the Torino didnt, The XA is a better looking car than the US effort though very rust prone.
Judging from online cellular coverage maps, I can understand the appeal of auto radios in Australia for those driving “Back of Bourke” somewhere.
Definitely. Early this year we did a trip to Lake Eyre, in the north of South Australia. Up there you’re often three or four hours drive from the nearest “town” over 4WD-only tracks where you need to know your stuff – when they’re open at all. In areas like that you need a satellite phone or a very powerful radio.
My Sis and BIL just returned from a two year wander around OZ towing a caravan with TD Pajero they were surprised to find WiFi almost everywhere yet cell coverage is crap.
When I was up there they had signs on the side of the road to let you know when there was phone signal, approaching towns.
The situation is worse now than before digital phones that only go <10 miles from a tower, the GPRS had a longer range.
For everyone else today is probably considered a golden era for Ford, but for my muscle car biased tastes the 2000s was it. No 5 door hatchback STs or 4 banger Mustangs for me thank you. I remember reading Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords, when I had a subscription as a teen, where one month ran had a full article on the Falcon GT, and with that being the same period GM started importing the Monaro for the GTO there was a lot of speculation and hope among Ford fans they would do the same with the Falcon, which became quite attractive by this generation(compared to the previous XR). I’ve looked at ford.com.au or fpv every year since to yearn for one of these beasts from afar. Going to miss doing that after this year.
There’s a bit of a stigma surrounding CB culture here in the states – if what you’re driving has that many antennas you’re either a trucker, a cop, or someone preparing themselves for the zombie apocalypse. – Social media has effectively taken the place of the 70s CB phenomenon, the remaing holdouts are either using the airwaves for their profession or they’re just lunatics.
Similar here except add in the 4×4 crowd, and I don’t think there are too many survivalist types
Back in the late 70s/early 80s a co-worker had a Fiat X1/9 with about 3 or 4 antennas attached to the rear of the car at different points. Aside from 1 antenna for a CB, he had another for a police scanner, and at least 1 more for “radar countermeasures”. My co-worker and I were in the Navy at the time and in his free time he was working on/perfecting a unit to foil police radar guns. Having worked extensively on radar countermeasures for aircraft, he was hard at work on a unit he said would send a signal back to police radar guns that “told” them you were only traveling, say 55 mph when in actuality you were traveling at 65-75 mph.
His other car was an ex-police Dodge that had a long CB antenna installed on it so it looked like a poorly disguised undercover police car. Being a true “nerd” with a short/military haircut and who always dressed like one, he was often mistaken by the police for being “one of their own”.
I suspect that CB radios aren’t nearly as common in the U.S. as they were 20-30 years ago. Now everyone over the age of five has at least one cell phone and most places in the country has coverage. I’m sure that in some of the more remote areas, where cell service might not be widespread, communication radios in vehicles might be seen more often. It is likely that over the road truckers still represent the biggest market for CB radios.
Twenty or thirty years ago I’d regularly see cars in Maine with a bunch of Ham radio antennas, now it’s very seldom.
I’ve known a couple of ham radio operators whose cars had an array of antennae like that. Not because they needed them while driving, but because they could. Just in case, I guess.
I live in the Golden Plains shire, and they ordered ALL their fleet vehicles in Acid Rush when it was available.
Love that Wild Violet XA Fairmont!
My father had one in a sort of mid-brown metallic which was called Walnut Glow. They sure put effort into dreaming up names back then!
One the subject of the Falcon 6 engine, I once read that the bore centres of every Falcon 6 ever made were identical. Fascinating.
That is true, but what is really incredible is the Holden six has the same bore centres, people have put Falcon heads on Holden blocks!
There was a crank swap trick I read about in Custom Rodder years ago putting a Ford crank into 186 Holden block I forget the final cube but it went like hell apparently.
Yes I’ve heard of that, including being told about a guy who cheated in a speedway racing class that was supposed to use stock motors. He was picked up when someone noticed he had a Ford harmonic balancer on a Holden engine – he didn’t cheat hard enough! I think it gave about 230 cubes or so.
I have a CB in my Ranger, and it is the best real time source for traffic issues, thanks to long haul truck drivers.
The Falcon had a 6 speed auto in 2006 when the Panther died in 2011 with a 4. Just more evidence that the US domestic automakers took every market seriously except the one in the US.
Panther was a unique product—a mostly commercial severe duty (law enforcement, taxi, rental fleet) vehicle. As such, emphasis was never on cutting edge tech. The most important attributes of these cars were their durability, reliability, and low cost. Achieving such objectives requires a conservative approach, which Ford mastered.
Good photos and all I ever had on my vehicle was a 3 foot whip antenna for CB Radio.
John, next time you’re up country way, I think you need to document the phenomenon of the ‘B&S’ ute for a global audience. it’ll make this rather well connected XR seem terribly understated…
A trip to Deni will be needed! The big antenna here would fit in but is still a bit subtle…
Before cell phones, my friends and I all had CB radios in our cars for whenever we took a road trip convoy somewhere. It was great. How time flies; the last time we did that was over 20 years ago! Funny thing is I still carried around a portable CB unit (one of those emergency “Help” units sold by Radio Shack) until 10 years ago when I was going through my trunk and finally retired it.
I was cleaning out stuff at my grandfathers house last weekend. We had CB radios in the car until the late 90’s. I found the one that was on my grandmothers car. She used to tie bright ribbons or yarn to it so she could find her car in the parking lot.
Jeez, all that’s missing is a satellite dish on the boot lid.
My 2004 BA XR6 was painted in Phantom. It was a great, lustrous colour and the matching interior trim looked fantastic (family members likened it to lightning bolts or wheat). Menace always looked dirty and the other purple was a bit too light.
There is a mechanic near me who has a early Rav 4 and 90’s suburban rigged out with huge arrays of HAM antennas. The suburban also has an awning the folds out over the passenger side.
Now that’d be something to see.
…meanwhile, back home, Ford considered us all hot prospects for a
TaurusFive HundredTaurus or a Clown Victoria. No fair!