Explanation of Falcon X model designation

[roKWiz]

Silly question but this has had me curious for so long that I had to ask.
Can anyone tell me why early Falcons in Oz started using XM XP designation through to XT XW etc in the 60's - 70's then proceeded to XA XC up to 90's XH.
If there is an explanation here in the forum someone can link me to ?

[solarite_guy]

Seems like an X-cellent question.

[Rallye Sport]

I'd be X-cited to hear the answer.

[HO 3]

XY = MAN. Some say it's in our DNA.

Cheers Mick

[commodorenutt]

Years ago I heard someone claim XK to be "eXport Kits" but with local manufacture of the XK, I dismissed it as rubbish.

Considering XA apparently denoted "eXperimental Australia" then there may be some merit in it.

I think they simply ran out of letters after XY & XY, so they started back at the beginning of the alphabet - like Holden did after the VZ (missing any confusing, rude, or crude connotaion combinations), although there was a pattern to the Holden model codes in the 50s & 60s that provided reasons.

I still like to think that AU stands for "Absolutely Ugly" and BA was "Bloody Amazing" for the makeover that it achieved with such a small budget, but that's just me.

[hackney]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Silly question but this has had me curious for so long that I had to ask.
Can anyone tell me why early Falcons in Oz started using XM XP designation through to XT XW etc in the 60's - 70's then proceeded to XA XC up to 90's XH.
If there is an explanation here in the forum someone can link me to ?

It originally came from (in it’s early inception) from Falcon XK T-Bird(code name)(to confuse the opposition @ the time) The initial XK-T Bird designation for the Falcon survived when the 1960 tooling for the Falcon was shipped to AUS.The XK designation was picked up off drawings to identify the first Australian Falcons in 1962.A bit of trivia as well to go along with this.Chrysler also wanted to use the name.Ford beat Chrysler by twenty minutes to register the name.Cheers

[hackney]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

Years ago I heard someone claim XK to be "eXport Kits" but with local manufacture of the XK, I dismissed it as rubbish.

Considering XA apparently denoted "eXperimental Australia" then there may be some merit in it.

I think they simply ran out of letters after XY & XY, so they started back at the beginning of the alphabet - like Holden did after the VZ (missing any confusing, rude, or crude connotaion combinations), although there was a pattern to the Holden model codes in the 50s & 60s that provided reasons.

I still like to think that AU stands for "Absolutely Ugly" and BA was "Bloody Amazing" for the makeover that it achieved with such a small budget, but that's just me.

XA does stand for “experimental Australia”. Cheers

[Seasoned One]

FG ? friggin Good? FG 11. Twice as good?

[commodorenutt]

Originally Posted by Seasoned One

FG ? friggin Good? FG 11. Twice as good?

eFFing Great.
eFFing Great too.

[Olbucko]

Ford was very logical naming Falcon models XK,(after it's American code name XK thunderbird), XL, XM, XP, XR, XT, XW, XY, XA, (first completely Australian designed model), XB, XC, XD, XE, XF, XG, XH. They only left a letter out if they thought there was a big advance between models, or the combination of letters sounded silly, xq,xu xo xz.
Holden's was much less logical at the time, all over the place, FB, EK, EJ, EH, HD(hardly drivable) HR(hastily revised)

[hackney]

Originally Posted by Olbucko

Ford was very logical naming Falcon models XK,(after it's American code name XK thunderbird), XL, XM, XP, XR, XT, XW, XY, XA, (first completely Australian designed model), XB, XC, XD, XE, XF, XG, XH. They only left a letter out if they thought there was a big advance between models, or the combination of letters sounded silly, xq,xu xo xz.
Holden's was much less logical at the time, all over the place, FB, EK, EJ, EH, HD(hardly drivable) HR(hastily revised)

Bit behind the times,already posted the history.Cheers

[Vormund]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

I still like to think that AU stands for "Absolutely Ugly" and BA was "Bloody Amazing" for the makeover that it achieved with such a small budget, but that's just me.

I believe its:

AUstralia
BArra

I think BA nearly was AV, but they wanted to move away from AU as much as possible.

[hackney]

Originally Posted by Vormund

I believe its:

AUstralia
BArra

I think BA nearly was AV, but they wanted to move away from AU as much as possible.

Yes,indeed,that’s what was in the car magazines @ the time.Sounded terrible,sounds like a Honda Quad bike.Cheersj

[Ford17]

I recall the AU was as in ".com.au", with the internet growing rapidly at the time of its inception.

[Sar4890]

I guess it made sense at the time to give them model designations rather than years like the US market as we didnt change models every year. Mind you holdens for a while there were changing models every year.

[roKWiz]

Thanks for the answers everyone,
re Holden..HD stood for hastily Designed due to the ugly pointed front guards treatment.

[EBSXR6]

Originally Posted by Ford17

I recall the AU was as in ".com.au", with the internet growing rapidly at the time of its inception.

Yes same here.

[EBSXR6]

Originally Posted by Seasoned One

FG ? friggin Good? FG 11. Twice as good?

FG was a heritage reference to the departed Fairmont Ghia.

[Sar4890]

I thought it could have been Ford Geelong paying homage at the time for the engine plant getting a stay of execution. But thats a wild guess.

[GO FURTHER]

Originally Posted by EBSXR6

FG was a heritage reference to the departed Fairmont Ghia.

So then FG X stands for FG Xtinction?

[CoupeKing]

My X, she was a HO

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by CoupeKing

My X, she was a HO

Pics?

[Sar4890]

Originally Posted by GO FURTHER

So then FG X stands for FG Xtinction?

Perhaps the first and the last eg fg last and xk the first.

[You Yangs]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

I still like to think that AU stands for "Absolutely Ugly" and BA was "Bloody Amazing" for the makeover that it achieved with such a small budget, but that's just me.

No No No
AU stands for GOLD!!!

[commodorenutt]

Originally Posted by You Yangs

No No No
AU stands for GOLD!!!

I'll let you get away with that, only because your sig suggests great taste in music

Seems to be a dramatic loss of prosperity though, as Ba = Barium. Going from gold to a mineral of much less value.....

[commodorenutt]

Originally Posted by Olbucko

Holden's was much less logical at the time, all over the place, FB, EK, EJ, EH, HD(hardly drivable) HR(hastily revised)

Holden actually had a numbering system in use, which involved the alphabet in forward & reverse order.

The first letter of the code ran forwards (A=0, B=1 etc).
The second letter ran backwards (ie K=1, J=2, H=3, G=4, F=5, E=6, D=7, C=8, B=9, A=0)
Thus the 50s models started with an F.
FJ = 52
FE = 56
FB = 59
Roll into the 60s, and the first letter changed to an E:
EK = 61
EH = 63 etc

History books recount how the blame was put on the media's knowledge of this system for changes that Holden made from the HD, to get away from them being able to predict upcoming year models.

But at least they had a proper system for designating codes up until the HD.

[marty351]

V for victoy! VB-VF.

[commodorenutt]

Sadly VF could also be construed as "Very Final"

[CoupeKing]

My theory is X sounds better, you can say it with conviction. Throw a T or an R in the mix too:

XR GT
A9X
XY GT
XU1

Grew up around cousins that breathed dirt bikes. They had Kawasaki's and their mates had the rivals - KX just sounded better than RM or YZ.

[stock1991]

Originally Posted by CoupeKing

My theory is X sounds better, you can say it with conviction. Throw a T or an R in the mix too:

XR GT
A9X
XY GT
XU1

Grew up around cousins that breathed dirt bikes. They had Kawasaki's and their mates had the rivals - KX just sounded better than RM or YZ.

YZX was good