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Introduced in 1996 along with the EL Falcon Sedan, the EL Falcon Wagon provided the last iteration of the body style introduced with EA almost a decade earlier. As such there was no doubt of it's superiority over every Falcon Wagon model produced up to that date - and introduced a number of useful upgrades. Bringing with it most of the EL's improvements (see EL Falcon INTRODUCTION for details) brought both good and bad.
Suspension:
The EL Falcon like every Falcon wagon before it, retained the tried and trusted leaf spring
arrangement attached to the rear axil. While this may not please those looking for
high technology solutions, it meant that the Falcon wagon was far more able to cope with a
heavy load than it's coil sprung competition - extremely useful if towing or carrying heavy
loads on a regular basis. Benefiting from the leaf spring's natural tendencies, the
Falcon wagon was still able to keep an relatively smooth ride empty - something not possible with
any coil spring set tight enough to take the weight.
Courtesy of the EF XR6 wagon, a sports suspension option was available which while deteriorating
the ride quality sharply, produced quite a good handling wagon despite the ancient technology.
Combined with Tickford's optional 16" wheels and this meant any EL Falcon wagon was
instantly transformed not only in handling but also in looks!
Specification Levels:
For EL, the Falcon station wagon was available as a GLi, Futura or Fairmont.
One of the major disappointments for the EL model range was the deletion of the XR6 wagon from the line-up. Why Ford chose to do this is still a mystery - all the more so after viewing an EL wagon with XR front fitted. If you thought the EF XR6 wagon looked good - wait until you've seen an EL given the treatment! The suspension still existed, the front end was a bolt-up fit (as is the bonnet) and the interior - with the exception of the rear seat - is a simple substitution of one for another. It seems there are a lot of decisions I will never understand, but coming from the company that stopped producing the GT in 1976 and then discontinued the V8 in 1983, I guess you get used to that. Unfortunately, the EL Wagon also came minus a Fairmont Ghia variant - absent from Falcon ranks ever since ED (EB was the last Ghia wagon built) - see what I mean?
Since the demise of the XR6 version, the V8 Fairmont became the new King of the Hill as far as Falcon station wagons were concerned - and a very worthy recipient at that. You can give me a V8 Fairmont Wagon with Tickford sports suspension and 16" wheels any day of the week! Oh yeah....(drool)...in my books these were much more desirable than the sedan equivalents of the same - even if only for their relative rarity.
Cargo Area:
New for the first time in Falcon wagon was inbuilt cargo barrier mounting points allowing
easier fitment of this potentially life saving device.
Styling Changes:
A small number of changes were made to the rear of the station wagon for EL vs. EF - although
frustratingly small. It makes you wonder whether companies like Ford see Wagon Customers
as second class citizens (Ford were not the only ones to do this as Holden kept the VN wagon's
tail end right through to VS).
Bumper protection strip:
The rear bumper protection strip - carried over from EF in all it's tacky stick on glory - was
now body coloured on all models.
Tail lights:
Probably the biggest change to the rear of the station wagon visually, all EL wagon tail
lights received a clear (white / opaque) coloured turning indicator rather than the amber coloured one of the
EF. Although not to everybody's taste, these brought a welcome - though small - change to the aging
previous design that had been introduced way back with the EA in 1988.
Sheet Metal & Plastic:
Virtually no change to the rear (again!) as the EL carried the same roof, bumper, rear quarters, tail gate
and number plate surround as EA. If anything I guess the fact that it still looked
half decent should be testament to how good that original design was. An unforseen downside
to keeping the original EA sheetmetal was that as the dies got worn the quality of panel fit deteriorated
with the tail gate fitment never as good in EL as it was on earlier models. This was
evidenced by huge gaps either side although some of this is due more to poor adjustment from
the factory than anything else - just another example of Ford's habit of treating it's wagon
customers as second class citizens. How Ford can justify the significant spending
required to turn the XG into the XH and yet totally ignore the Falcon Wagon's rear sheet
metal is beyond me - especially considering the Wagon easily outsold the Ute!!!
Badges:
Yes - I can hear you now (Big Whoopey Doo) but the EL wagon received the same font changes
for it's badges as did the sedan. It's not much but it is another way you can help
identify an EL wagon from the rear.
Conclusion:
For it's added safety and superior towing abilities, the Falcon Wagon wins the bet vs. the
Commodore every time. With a more pleasant interior and Australian designed heritage
it's a car anyone can be proud to own. The only down side is average headlight
performance (great compared to the VR / VS) and an alarming habit of spitting out head gaskets
ever 100,000 - 150,000kms depending on how you drive in six cylinder models.
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