What year did you get into AU's?

[Mr Hardware]

As the title says, what year did you get into AU's?
This is probably the first year you owned one, or maybe you had an AU fleet car and loved it from there.

For me? 2003.

[rods falcon]

For me, first AU was 2000. A series 1 fairmont.

2nd AU I still have, 2002 XR6 ute purchased in 2007.

[frd906]

For me was in 2007, was a ex company car, Series 1 99 au forte

[The Monty]

Parents came to Brisbane when we were living down south to buy a commodore from the auctions. I was excited, until they got home, and they had bought a series one Forte.
After a drive in it, and having compared it to the VT of the time, I was sold.
Mum still has the Forte, put 200 000k's on it since we got it at 100 000.
Ive had a series one Fairmont (bought in 2005), and now a series 3 Forte (bought in 2009).

[KR1STO]

for me it was 1999...
dad bought home a black fairlane...
loved em ever since!!

[DJM83]

2005 bought an AUII XR6 HP 12mths later i bought my T2

[XR6SQ]

2009

Hated the AU before this, but I wanted a ute that was comfortable and drove like a car and had no intergrated dash crap. After not enjoying any of the commos I had driven prior I looked at an AU, now I can't get enough of mine.

[BuckTooth]

2009

Same boat, i didn't go much on the AU shape. But when it came to the crunch and i swapped my cruiser for my 02 XR8, the smooth lines, power and handling very quickly changed my mind. Now i wouldn't even think about parting with it

[FPV+fteT3]

2002 saw a TE50 didn't have anywhere near the funds to live the dream..... come 2009 got into one for half the price they were new, now living the dream and it is the best car I have ever owned present garage company included.
Cant see me parting with this Gem. AU = Awesome Unit

[UU TS50]

Always liked the series 2/3 XR,s and got my XR8 in 2007 then got the wifes Futura in 2008 and got the TS in 2009 and still have them all

[SSD-85]

2006 saw my first AU. An oxford green 99 futura. Stock as a rock. A very long winded story between now and then. But ultimately as far as contemporary falcons go, I wont have anything else. The AU is truly the pinnacle of design, function, reliability and simplicity in modern Australian motoring.

[galaxy xr8]

2001, bought my AU new and still have her to this day.

[CFOUR]

Always hated non xr au's and disliked au's in general till I drove an au xr8. Then immediately purchased a au xr8.

[Peuty]

1998 for me. My uncle bought a Sparkling Burgundy VCT Fairmont Ghia with the full Tickford bodykit, leather, sunroof, the lot. Was a gorgeous car that I fell in love with. He replaced that with an AU3 Fairy Ghia with a 5.0L, same spec though, bodykit etc.

[Riksta]

I never really gave much thought to AU's.

Was in the market for a car late 2006/early 2007, and was looking at very late e-series models (for example, a pretty mint EL Fairmont I was keen on at one stage). One of my mates (he's on here, he knows who he is!) linked me to a few photos of T-series on aufalcon.com and told me to consider an AU... which I hadn't previously really thought of.

I took his advice, walked into a yard and bought what has become known in my circle of friends as "The Tractor".

So in short, was early 2007 for me.

[irdonn]

2004... bought a AUII Forte repairable write off from Pickles. The love affair began. Onto my fourth.....

Cheers,

Ian

[Jimmyd]

1998 Launch day - was a Ford Service Manager so I got to drive all models and variations daily.

Most memorable moment was 'having' to take a brand spanking new off the showroom floor fully optioned white S1 AU XR6 VCT auto home so I could "figure out how the adaptive shift worked" (sales team could not figure out how it worked even though I had already gone though this process for the NL Tickford Fairlane on the floor...), nailed it off a roundabout and the IRS just hooked up and launched - talk about a full body smile or what. Next morning a fellow with an XH XR8 Ute turned up in the show room with cash in hand to buy the car - seems he was turning onto the roundabout and saw the new XR6 coasting in, figured he would nail it and blow it into the weeds - by the time he got around and nailed it I was disappearing down the straight....

Moved into Ford Fleet Sales for a holiday around when the XR6 VCT ST was released; had a Blueprint on the showroom floor that was pure sex. Drove a succession of wagons, utes, fairmonts, SRs, XRs, etc as demos - formed a firm opinion that the XR6 VCT was the pick of the bunch (for my driving style anyway...) - they felt more balanced and handled better with cleaner turn in and mid corner grip than the XR8s and only lost a car length or so to them at the traffic light dragstrip.

Fast forward to 2009, company car vapourised so imeadiately went looking for a white S1 XR6 VCT with full kit, couldn't find one for love nor money. Ended up stumbling across a Galaxy Blue AU1 update Fairmont Ghia VCT with factory option full leather, Tickford body kit, Tickford sports supsension (inc LSD) & 17" wheels, MoMo steering wheel and gearshift and only 128ks - replaced the std exhaust and fitted XR8 snorkel to release the shackled horsies; same full body smile every time I drive.......


Cheers

James

[Mr Hardware]

Anyone who purchased an AU1 new, especially in 1998, should be seen as some kind of Demi-God imo. Public outcry (even from within the Ford camp!) would see you turned away from the AU at almost every angle, simply due to ahead-of-its-time styling.

Please note this isn't about what year did you first think the AU might be a good car, otherwise we'll just have a ton of votes for 1998.


Jimmyd, I bet there'd be 1000 AU lovers that would envy your experience of flogging VCT AU's in 1998. I thought I got in earlyish - I was driving AUII's in early 2003!

[GK]

Bought the 99 Futura wagon in March 2003, as myself and the Mrs were going to be in the family way. Bought it with 80,000 kays on the clock, now has around 214,000 = 19,000 kays per year. Still love it.

When someone rear-ended the Laser in 2005, I bought the 2001 SR in December of that year. Bought it with 78,000 kays, now done 160,000 = almost 19,000 kays per year. Still love it also.

GK

[samftr]

Actually, I should have written in there about 2002 or something Drove a S1 Au white auto wagon with the changed grille so might have been a futura. went quite well compared to the vt2 commodore acclaims we had as company poopers. Think I still want an au, but wags in good nick are hard to come by.

[Bushbasher]

Wanted LPG dual fuel and decided it might as well be factory for the integration and dealer for the extended warranty so went looking for an AU after the EL wagon we had was starting to get a bit suspect mechanically. Found it, drove it, loved it. Now the missus swears she'll drive it into the ground before she parts with it. As for me, I thought the AU fairlane was a bit ordinary when I first saw it till I saw my first Sportsman, it was Silver over meteorite. The wheel/suspension/colour combo just made the shape work for me and I wanted one. That was in about 03/04. It took till the end of 08 before circumstances allowed the desire to become a reality.


Bushbasher

[au11futura]

2009 before that i was hooked on the all mighty ED, but i got a great deal on my 2000 s11 futura ex council car.

love it and have no intention on moving up appart from an 220 xr8 soon.

[JC]

Went looking for an SS commodore in 2000, and ended up buying a 10/98 AU1 XR8 manual with full kit including biplane spoiler etc. Actually saw one the other day, and that brought back fons memories....

Anyway, since then, here's the lineup:

1998 XR8 5M
1998 XR6 VCT 4A
2001 Forte V8 4a with Tickford suspension
2000 Forte wagon I6 4A
1999 XR8 auto
1998 Fairmont I6 4A (with Ghia interior)

My favourite? The 2001 model V8 forte (lots of mods, went hard and handled well).

[GS608]

Back in 08, Originally i had enough saved up for a rather shabby BA XR6 as a first car, after looking at insurance costs and a bit of good old common sense from my old man we started looking at AU's, had a look at a burg AU 1 mont, paint and panel was terrible but otherwise a great car, gave that a miss and kept looking, found a diamond in the rough, a galaxy blue series 1 fairmont, had some nice chrome rims and was a really good price. Day i went back to talk business with the car yard he had reversed a ute into the front of it and damaged the bumper, first of many omens i didn't take notice of until much later but oh well. Ever since then I've fallen in love with the styling of the AU, still get many harsh comments about how its a piece of ******** ugly ford but what can ya do but laugh at em when you realise they dont know what they're missin out on!

[ronwest]

In early 2006 my prev cars lease was up and I wasn't sure what I was going to do so in the interim I went to an auction to buy "a car".

I only wanted to spend $15K so figured I'd end up with a car a few years old that I'd sell when I had decided what my next "real" car was going to be.

I just missed a BA XR6 by a couple of thousand bucks but there was an '01 Calais that I was looking at. Actually there were three cars that interested me. The Calais, an S2 SR, and an S3 Ghia. I thought that in order of probability and budget it would be SR, Calais, Ghia.
All three were at the tail end of the auction. The Ghia came up first and I wasn't all that interested - only because I didn't expect it to be within my price range.

Anyhoo, no-one made a bid and I started to rack my brain as to what I should make as an initial offer. I was saved at the last moment by someone behind me offering $10K. Hmm, ok..."$10,100" says I. "Ten-two" says he, and we to'ed and fro'ed up to me on $10,900. Silence... "Once, twice, three times" sold to me!

All up around $11,300 with fees etc. I left a deposit, went to the bank, withdrew the rest and drove it home that day.

Without a doubt the best buy of a vehicle in all the vehicles I've owned. The problem is that now I'm having trouble letting it go. I really like the car

[smoo]

2006. Now on my fourth AU. Combined mileage of my four AUs total nearly 1.7 million km, I've done about 140,000 all up, and apart from servicing, I've only had to fork out for a radiator, oil pressure sensor and O2 sensor. Never looked back.

[TUF-640]

2001, Parents bought it new from the factory, optioned with lowered tickford suspension and tickford 17s. Was given the car my 18th now its just under 150,000 kms on the clock and still going strong! Gotta love the au's ;)

[SLO AU XR8]

I bought my XR8 in late 07, I went looking for a manual T2 TE50, couldn't find one for trying. I then thought, hmmm, I'll grab the next Manual AU V8 that pops up. My current car (08/98 AU1 XR8, Manual, Full kit, 17's and MOMO wheel as optioned) came up, grabbed that, then less than 2 weeks later, a Manual, Galaxy Blue T2 TE popped up for less than $2k more than I payed for my S1 XR8. I'm still spewing.

[skelly]

28/01/2010

got it for my 17th birthday, loved em ever since.

slowly the old girl is turing me from commodores to a falcon man =)

[broken_suave]

2001 for me. Mum bought one just before going for a trip down to Sydney. I liked it from the start. A series 1 Forte in Amaretto, with a spoiler and Fairmont Ghia spoked alloys. It was a beautifully comfortable car, with good power and handling.

Well on the way back to Brisbane, we had an altercation with a Mitsubishi colt driven by a young girl on her P's. This resulted in us hitting the concrete baracade at a 60 degree angle, at 110km/h. The car came to a rest lying accross the first 2 lanes of a 3 lane highway near Ourimbah (if anyone knows the area, it occured just near Ourimbah nursery on the overpass, the mark on the right hand side is still there to this day).

After such an impact, it would be assumed there should be serious injuries, but all occupants ended up with no long term injuries, aside from myself. I ended up with a broken sternum and colapsed chest cavity.

The car was written off, but it cemented my faith in the crash technology of the car. The Forte was replaced soon after by a series 1 Futura in Regency, which I now own.