(first posted 11/6/2017) With Holden Ute production having ended this year, the Aussie ute is now officially dead and joins the Aussie panel van in the automotive graveyard. Unlike American-style sedan deliveries, Aussie panel vans weren’t just wagons with blanked-out windows. Instead, they were based directly on a ute body and were typically taller than a wagon. This is the last Aussie production panel van, the Ford XH Falcon.
To those of you who are unfamiliar with Australian series designations, each redesign or facelift brought with it a new series code and these weren’t always in order. The XH Falcon was actually sold alongside the EF Falcon sedan and wagon but had a different series code for good reason.
While the front of the XH may look identical to the EF sedan and wagon, aft of the A-pillars is entirely different. That’s because Ford never engineered a ute or panel van version of its 1988 EA Falcon or any subsequent series of Falcon until the 1999 AU. This meant the XF Falcon ute and panel van, descended from the 1979 XD Falcon, was trotted out each year to keep Ford in the marketplace.
Holden hadn’t engineered a ute or panel van version of its ’78 VB Commodore or any subsequent series until the 1988 VN begat the 1990 VG Utility (but no panel van). That had left the coupe-utility market entirely to Ford for much of the 1980s. Now, the tables had turned and Ford Australia didn’t have the money or the motivation to spin off a ute from its new large car. The difference was Ford stuck it out anyway and kept offering its old ute and panel van.
The XG Falcon ute and panel van (1993-96) looked little different from their XF predecessors but were helpfully updated with Ford’s new OHC 4.0 six and four-speed automatic, a one-tonne option, and optional anti-lock brakes. Ford also introduced the sporty, Tickford-tuned XR6 ute. Alas, there would not be a sporty panel van in Ford’s lineup.
In 1996, Ford gave the old girl one final update. Front styling was similar if not identical to the EF—the front quarter panels didn’t have the EF’s feature line as the old ute’s doors had to be reused. Under the skin, the EF’s SLALS (short and long arm, long spindle) suspension was added, as was its rack-and-pinion steering. As the back was unchanged, this meant the XH still used a semi-elliptic, leaf-spring rear suspension. However dated this may have been, it gave the Falcon a load-carrying advantage over the Commodore to the tune of 242 pounds (and even more if the One Tonner option was selected).
Ford had axed V8 engines from its Falcon lineup way back in 1982, even though Holden continued to offer them. They had returned in the EB Falcon of 1991 but a V8 wasn’t available in the old ute until the XH Series II of 1997, introduced in the twilight of this long-running platform’s years. Again, the panel van was left out of the fun and stuck with the 4.0 inline six and just one trim level, the Longreach GLi (named after a rural town in Queensland).
Panel vans had once been a hot ticket item in the 1970s but, as exemplified by Ford’s refusal to offer the sporty new XR6 and XR8 trims in van form, they had dwindled in popularity by the 1990s and were no longer seen as cool. In contrast to the striking special edition vans of the 1970s, like the Ford Sundowner and Chrysler Valiant Drifter, the XH Falcon panel van received just one special edition: the bloody boring Tradesman, which just added some options as standard. There were no wild decals or retina-searing paint, just standard air-conditioning and some different wheels that were kind of interesting, I guess…
With the discontinuation of the XH Falcon, Ford stopped offering a panel van after 38 years. Holden briefly excited panel van fans with its 2000 Sandman concept, dusting off a nameplate from the height of the panel van’s popularity. However, it never reached production.
Like shag carpeting and bell bottoms, what was popular and trendy in the 1970s was now uncool. The last Aussie panel vans were almost exclusively boring, white vehicles used for work and not by cool young guys going to the beach to do drugs and women. Dual-cab utes may be the hot ticket nowadays but they have a lot less privacy…
XH Falcon photographed on Chapel Street in South Yarra, Melbourne, VIC. XG Falcon photographed in New Farm, Brisbane, QLD.
Related Reading:
That XH has heaps of ’89 Thunderbird in its front end:
+1
Or ’92 Crown Victoria
OMG, I so want 1 of these Falcon UTES. And 6 or 8? Wouldn’t matter to me.
I want one too 🙂 .
The panel van almost looks to me like an aftermarket conversion! Thanks for the article- I knew about Aussie utes but had never seen one of the panel van versions.
Imminently useful vehicles. In the US, this style, (called sedan delivery) died in 1965, with the last Ford Falcon Sedan Delivery. It had a brief revival in the 70s, with the Vega Panel Express and Pinto Panel Wagon, but those were subcompacts.
But vans were for people with practical needs, and they were surpassed by truck-based vans, the Corvair, Econoline, and A-100.
edit: I forgot about the Chevrolet HHR panel wagon, but I think Chevy sold about 10,000 of those; they weren’t very popular.
The only alternatives for many years were forward control Japanese vans with a 2.0 or 2.4 engine, so you can see why some guys would put up with a bit more difficult access to their gear for the performance and comfort.
There are still some Holden panel vans on the road working every day and they were last built in 1984.
Every time I think I’ve learned something about Australian cars from CC or watching Australian shows on TV, along comes something new. I was vaguely aware of these panel vans but leaned so much more here. Thanks! I recently returned from a trip to Baja and was surprised at the popularity of (smaller) car based utes there … VW, Fiat, and Chevy especially. Are any of those now sold Down Under?
None of those little utes are sold here, the closest was the Mitsubishi-based Proton Jumbuck over 10 years ago. Jumbuck is a century-old colloquial name for a sheep.
There are a few small vans sold though, VW Caddy, Renault Kangoo etc.
Nice article Will. The van pictured with the 1 tonne option is probably the ultimate van for work, especially if it has the bench seat.
Not the ultimate for style obviously, the upper/lower tailgate is a prerequisite there plus the smooth sides that are one benefit of lacking windows. Not to forget having a V8! People who ‘build’ panel vans as show cars still go for the older ones.
The electrician where I used to work had one of these as a company vehicle from new.
I can’t remember when I first noticed the rusted door sills,(rocker panels) maybe when it was about 8 years old, apparently the windshield was never sealed properly from new and water had leaked in unnoticed and ended up in the sills with nowhere to go, they were completely rusted out in 10 years.
Every time I see one of these, I always look at the sills but have never seen another one go like his did, sometimes you can be unlucky.
The air intake plenum drains into the unpainted on the inside sills/rocker panels its not the windscreen usually.
That makes sense, but I’m sure it must have been an assembly or manufacturing defect with this particular car.
Yes, the sills should have drains!
They do have drains but they block and unpainted metal rusts
I am an electrician and have an XH Van I bought 6 years ago this Saturday to replace an XF that was rear ended by someone driving a Honda Accord while he was on the phone.
In the first 3 years I have had it the 4.0 6 cylinder was a pain in the butt, blowing head gaskets, or water pumps, I then replaced the whole motor and gearbox, after the original motor blew the head gasket a 2nd time.
This recond motor lasted for a year before it blew its head gasket as well, I pulled the head and had it checked (it was fine), and replaced the head gasket with the supposedly bulletproof AU MLS gasket, only to have it blow again within 2 days, I had lost my sense of humour at this point, an was wishing I still had the XF with the 4.1 EFI crossflow that was as reliable as the sun coming up, I fitted the EFI, XF commercials only had Weber carbs from factory no EFI option.
At this point I bought an EF Wagon with a Windsor 5.0 and fitted this to the XH it was the best thing I could have done to it, the 5.0 is smoother on the power delivery, and generally nicer to drive even though the power output on paper between the 4.0 6 and the 5.0 8 was close, I find the 5.0 to be better when it hits hills or towing, the surprising thing is the 5.0 uses less fuel about 50km more to a tank.
The main thing is in the last 2 years this October the only work I have had to do on the XH is brakes and oil changes/service, and I dont have to worry about it, much the same as the previous XF.
The sill/rocker panels on mine are stuffed as well, I actually have new panels to weld in probably over the Christmas break, and then give it a paint job.
This is not the only Falcon/Fairmont I have, I also have an XF Fairmont Wagon with 5.0 Windsor, an XD Fairmont Ghia with a Supercharged EFI 4.1 Crossflow, and an EL Fairmont that I inherited when my grandfather died (ironically 4 years ago tomorrow).
The EL is a 4.0 6 that he bought new in December 1996, after I went with him on a trip to Darwin, We had an EF as a hire car, this persuaded him to upgrade from his EA Fairmont Ghia, that surprisingly was quite a good car and never really had any problems despite having about 350000km (mostly country) on the clock.
His previous car to the EA Ghia, was an EA S pack, the only problem that had was overheating when towing, it turned out that it had an aftermarket towing pack.
It turns out that the EAs had 2 types of clutch type cooling fans, one is a 5 blade that was on base models, the other was a 10 blade that was on higher spec cars and was also fitted when a genuine towing pack was fitted, after changing to the 10 blade fan the overheating was fixed.
Both EAs were good considering they get given a bad wrap in general, I think they were a better car than the VN Commodore, with its problems that were as bad as the Falcons, but the press couldn’t or wouldn’t see it.
Many times I have considered commenting but just haven’t,
I will leave it at that for now.
Chris.
Tasty comment Chris. Looking forward to more. From my POV, the EA was a completely underrated looker – better than any of its contemporaneous FoMoCo offerings from either side of the Atlantic.
Thanks for chipping in Chris.
There is no doubt the all cast iron 5.0 is the most durable engine used in that era Falcon, so a good move there.
The head gasket on the 4.0 did improve from EA through to EL, in that the average mileage that failure happened was increased but no doubt it was still a problem. Apparently using anything other than the original/Motorcraft coolant is a factor. Failure in 2 days points to something else being wrong though!
A funny story is a guy I knew was rear-ended in a Falcon panel van when he worked for Telecom in the 80s, he got a ride back to the depot and reported the accident expecting to be given the third degree about what, how and where; but he was just handed a set of keys for another van!
hi johnh,
The EL I have, I did the head gasket in 2007 because it was starting to weep under the exhaust manifold, it has been good ever since, but is starting to show a slight weep in a similar location.
As for the last head gasket on the XH 4.0 I was talking to an engine machinist I use, and he told me that I should have stuck with an EL/XH gasket, because the head and block faces are not machined to as fine a tolerance to what is used with the MLS gaskets, so this may explain why it only lasted 2 days.
I even went to the trouble of using head studs that are not cheap for the 4.0s, and when I saw the capacino brewing after taking the oil cap off, That was it for 4.0s as far as I was concerned.
The EL will stay 4.0 because it is an original car that has some sentimental value to me. That motor has been religiously maintained and only run on Mobil 1 since new.
When I did the head gasket in 2007 the insides were so clean it was like a new motor and it has about 250000km on it.
The XF van that I was rear ended in was an ex Telecom, and I tied the back door up and drove it home, it did not drive like there was anything wrong with it, despite the rear floor and side quarter panels been buckled.
That new Honda that hit me had all the airbags go off, and was pretty well flattened to the fire wall, the rear seat occupant ended up with a broken leg as well.
As for XFs getting pranged, my brother borrowed my wagon last night to cart some doors for my mum, he rings me at 7.00am this morning to tell me hit a truck in his work carpark, it now needs a headlight and front panel, lucky I have paint left from when he resprayed it for me a few years ago.
Again, a Ford product I can’t get here. I’d love one of these, as with my beloved, out-of-reach Mondeo/Contour wagon (UK):
Another once popular van that has vanished from the roads, I bought a lot of old panel vans while in OZ, great for travelling but unlined they drum pretty badly, I had an ex show Holden van it was cheap because of the rough paint and general body condition but it was quiet on the road with a full custom interior.
When the XA Falcon was released in 1972, the panel van was available only with the barn doors, Ford’s market research having indicated this would be much preferred by the target market (plumbers, electricians et al). That was true but within months the panel van craze took off, the surfers (and the probably more numerous would-be surfers) liking the traditional tailgate with the upper section hinged from the roof. Eventually Ford offered that as an option in 1976 when the XC was released but by then the van craze was over, Chrysler also missing the market, the Valiant panel van not available until 1977. Ford did though offer the biggest engine in the utes and panel vans with the 351 available between 1972-1983 while Holden and Chrysler limited the body styles to the 308 & 318 respectively.