AU Falcon Forte
XY Falcon Interceptor.
(Back to the AU1 Intro INDEX.)
BODY sub-index:
New Shape.
Entry & Exit.
Aerodynamics.
Model Differentiation.
Size.
Styling Theme.
Body Kit.
Body Shell.
Approach Angle.
A New
Shape:
Probably the most obvious part to the AU Falcon's update was in it's entirely new body shell,
bringing with it quite a few advantages over the old model as well as a few
small drawbacks - public
acceptance being the main one. As one of the first cars to feature Ford's new 'Edge
Design' the AU was perhaps ahead of it's time - a factor that did not go down well in Australia's
overly conservative market place. While shape is entirely a matter of personal taste,
there were a few other (small) disadvantages to be found within the Falcon's body design -
Entry
& Exit:
That is, compared to the Commodore (dare I say it) many
felt the GM offering was the easier car for first time entry with a more accomodating door
opening - something GMH had spent quite a considerable amount of time on during it's
developement (or so they claimed). The AU's doors
which wrapped radically into the roof tended to get in the way on entry - but you only
banged yourself once as owners and passengers quickly learned how to enter & exit quickly
while avoiding this hazard.
Aerodynamics:
Aerodynamically however, the tables were turned with the Falcon enjoying a significant
advantage although one that would see it cobbled under parity rulings on the race track.
In total a 10% reduction in the Coefficient of drag was achieved by the AU's slippery
shape - down to a low of 0.295 on low series sedans & XR's with thier low
profile bonnet vs. the Fairmont's more upright version.
There is no doubt that was it's slippery shape along with the new engine dynamics that helped
achieve the impressive highway economy figures more indicative of a smaller car making
long trips all the more enjoyable. Fittingly, the AU's fuel consumption was down by
8% - shared between the driveline and aerodynamic advances made - with overall emissions
reduced by a staggering 54% compared with the 1996 EL Falcon.
Model Differentiation:
Stylistically, the AU also presented another Falcon first on the AU Forte (previously named
the 'GLi') with a new grill to differentiate it further from the Futura which also received it's
own unique grill. But it was the Forte's grill that would draw the most remark - with
most of it in the red with comments from 'shark's tooth' to 'water fall' all the way to
'down right ugly' which is perhaps the way most people felt. Yet despite
the obvious negative comments, many came to love the AU's distinctive style -
including the Forte - grill and all, which was transformed by the simple
addition of wheels and body colour to give a great looking car. All in all
there were seven different front's given to AU Falcons - some more different
than others - but individual all the same.
There is no
doubt that the XR & Fairmont's radically different frontal styling had something to do with the
AU's poor acceptance - and while XR owners whooped for joy it was the volume
selling Forte
owner who really felt it the most - with little or no way of ever comparing
his/her vehicle to the great looking performance or luxury variants.
Size:
The AU managed to look much smaller than the outgoing model - an effect the Falcon design
team had been trying to emulate since the EF of 1994 in an effort to detract from the large
car feel of the range and attract more small car customers. Personally, I believe this
could have been
yet another contributing factor towards the
AU's disappointing sales - with large car customers wanting just that - a car that looks
and feels like a large car. There was no doubt that for the first time in
history the Falcon now looked considerably smaller in every dimension than the
Commodore - even if the difference was down to millimeters only.
Making
matters worse was that in another first the Commodore was now an even match for the Falcon's large car
size - given the final upsizing that had arrived with the VT, and in some cases
even beat the Falcon for passenger space! As Ford had been steadily
working towards making it's cars look smaller - even to the point of reducing
their physical size - Holden had been doing just the opposite and so arrived at
exactly the same situation that gave Ford the market in the early 80's - except
that now the shoe was on the other foot.
Styling Theme:
One of the styling themes presented in AU which very few people picked up however was a few
not so obvious retro throw-backs to XY engineered by AU chief designer Steve Park. Can't
spot them? The grill on the Forte is the most obvious place to start,
traveling on to the
ridge in the center of the bonnet (Forte, Futura, XR, Falcon S) and onto the body side 3/4 pressing.
To see what I mean
check these out the next time you see an AU side by side with a XR - XY Falcon.
AU Falcon Forte |
XY Falcon Interceptor. |
The AU Falcon came with an entirely new optional body kit featuring side, front and rear skirts complimented by a boot mounted spoiler. The high light in my mind was the XR version of the same - only slightly different by the addition of a second deck to the rear spoiler. Loved by some and hated by others, it served to emphisise the roundness of the AU's rear end but actually worked when it came to providing very real down force at speed - as evidenced by the water spray trailing on a wet day! Unfortunately the extra weight meant that the screws for these frequently broke out of the base of these - promting extra care to be taken by the owner when closing the boot lid.
 |
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Appropriately care should be taken when opening a spoiler equipped boot lid that one does not lift it by the spoiler itself - another source of grief from this all too fragile item. As usual the after market was not far behind with it's own versions of Ford's spoilers and body kits looking suspiciously close to the factory item and costing only a fraction of Ford's inflated price. While the genuine item contained a rather awkward looking up-side-down triangle as a high mounted stop light, the after market equivalents contained a strip LED set up - a small difference but one to look for for those to whome factory authenticity counts. The AU's spoiler kit was in fact the first to be tested in a wind tunnel receiving treatment normally reserved for GT Falcons or the like - giving the AU customer all the more reason to celebrate.
Unfortunately the wagon customers dipped out again despite GM offering a body kit on it's Commodore wagons - the Falcon would have to wait until the AU2 SR wagon for that and even then - were only a set of side skirts mimicking that of the 75th Anniversary / SR sedan models.
Body
Shell:
For the first time (in live axil'd format anyway) the Falcon was lighter than it's Commodore
counterpart with weight reductions of between 34 and 49kg depending on the model
when compared to the outgoing EL - largely due to a weight reduction
program by Ford with new bake hardened steel outer panels and a new body structure contributing
4kg of that saving. Thinner
yet stronger than previously possible - the heat treated panels when combined with the newer
rounder shape meant improved car park
dint resistance - an important advantage in retaining appearance over the years.
Helping the Falcon achieve this critical weight advantage over Commodore was the fact
that GM had finally conceded one of the Commodore's major weaknesses - by adding 165kg to
the VT in order to 'stiffen' the body shell to satisfactory levels.
An AU Fairmont Ghia sectioned for the 1998 release and motor show season showing
all of it's vital components - and currently on display at the Ford Discovery
Center Geelong.
The AU's body shell also included a new steel radiator 'blocker bar' replacing the previous fibreglass design and preventing those smaller crunches from destroying the radiator - making repairs cheaper with less to replace. The EL's minor impact absorber was replaced with a Ethyl Vinyl Acetate version giving improved low speed impact resistance. For the first time in Falcon history, the new model Falcon also included a brand new floor pan (previous Falcons had just included heavily modified versions of the outgoing model's pan) helping increase the overall rigidity of the Falcon body shell while including many weight saving ideas at the same time.
Note underneith view of the new AU series 1 Falcon floor pan - photo taken at Ford's
Geelong based Discovery Center of an AU Fairmont Ghia originally prepared for
the motor show circuit upon the AU's release...
Instead of including welded-on extra extensions to meet the seat rails, these were now included in the floor stamping saving on weight and complexity - both good for the customer. Further weight savings were made while improving side impact performance by replacing the original heavy side intrusion beams with tubing resembling roll bars built into the doors allowing easier repair and better access for panel beating the door skin of any minor blemishes encountered along the way. Thoughtfully the doors also included increased gaps between the skin & frame further reducing the likely hood of rust producing dirt entrapment (not that rust was a problem on EA - EL anyway)
An AU Falcon body shell on display at the Ford Discovery Center, Geelong.
For the first time V8 Supercar teams were consulted with during the development and build stages of the AU Falcon resulting in a 20% greater lateral bending stiffness, a 13.8% increase in tortional stiffness with longitudinal bending stiffness up by an amazing 17.5%. Considering the weight of the Falcon's suspension when compared to that included in the Commodore, credit must be given to the Ford designers who managed to produce a much stiffer body than the Commodore with a significantly lighter body shell! With the V8 Supercar teams moving to XR8 based styling, the race AU's would give more connection to the performance street versions than ever before. As a side issue, the AU's overall length was also decreased by 11mm though you'd be hard put to spot it!
Note tubular side intrusion bars painted yellow for the purpose of highlighting
significant body structure components - lighter and easier to panel beat around
than before, critically they don't compromise on their most important function -
occupant protection.
Featuring an entirely new body shell designed from the ground up using CAD / CAE technologies, the AU Falcon had undergone many virtual crash tests even before the first prototype was built saving money, time and helping achieve the above successes. As a result, the AU met or exceeded the following safety standards:
Yet despite all of this, the AU1 received only just an 'acceptable' result in independant ANCAP testing putting it on par with the base model VT Commodore - a result Ford disputed at the time asking ANCAP to hold off on initial testing - a decision that would cause controversy and wonderment at what could be Ford's motivation. Despite this, very early AU1's were still a much stronger car than many imported makes / brands giving a significant investment in safety should one become your chosen steed for protecting your family out on Australia's roads.
A final shot as a Ford employee works on one of the new dies for the AU's brand
new floor pan in Ford's Geelong Tool Room - the largest such facility in the
Southern Hemisphere. Photo courtesy of the Ford Discovery Center, Geelong.
Body wise the Wagon finally began to receive some of the attention it had been demanding for a long time with the spare being moved under the floor along side the suspended plastic fuel tank (previously a steel fuel tank with the spare sitting atop of it). - Great for when you got a flat with a full cargo area without the need to unpack a thing to get at the replacement wheel! Such was the change that it demanded a completely new flat rear floor allowing cargo retaining hooks to be built into it giving valuable tie-down points to stop that cargo slip-sliding all over the place. As usual, the wagon featured the same extended Falcon floor pan as did the Fairlane, which in the AU wasn't such a bad thing after all...
Approach Angle:
With the EF & EL suffering considerable from a poor approach angle (a quick inspection looking
for scrapes beneath the front bumper of any EF or EL will prove my point) importantly the AU
provided a decrease in frontal overhang by 14mm and adding a bib spoiler attached to the
undertray which acted as a early warning of a pending collision with the pavement. This of course
was not it's intended purpose - with the 40mm "vertical lip" being meant to improve
straight line stability at speed more than anything else. Later AU's (from
March 99 onwards) were lowered a further 1" due to marketing considerations, further decreasing
the AU's approach angle.
One of the problems of any late model car is in it's sacrificing of practicality in the face
of achieving a smaller turning circle via moving the front wheels back towards the passenger
compartment providing the unfortunate trade off of having a disproportionately large frontal
overhang thereby further decreasing the approach angle. While Ford
continued to get away with this policy due to the fact that everybody did it (barring BMW who fortunately
had
kept their frontal overhang in much better proportions) it's damn annoying none the less.
(Back to the AU1 Intro INDEX.)
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Info By Doug Bevan, site by Anthony
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Copyright © 2000 by Doug & Any . All rights reserved.
Revised: 19 Nov 2002
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