Doug & Kathy's
AU Futura Station Wagon:

Parked in the drive at home...this is one wagon that is not afraid of the odd dirt road!

Okay okay - so it's been a while coming (I can hear ya - 'it's about time!') but here it is - now that I've got it to a point where we're proud to show it!

Left: How it started: Brand new and already out touring!  Photo taken on the Great Ocean Rd...this is how we bought it, crook looking alloys and all.

  Purchased back in 2000 brand new, this was in fact only our second Falcon - and our second ever new car!  The first was exactly the same car (see photos) - 'cept a sedan and Ameretto in colour.  

Kept pretty stock, it didn't take us long to find it's limitations with a growing family and the desire to go camping, we needed something with more space...  Besides, having came just out of a 1969 Holden Station Wagon we knew how handy a wagon could be! Right: our first Falcon, our first Ford and our first new car!  We owned this one for 12 months before we traded it on the wagon...

But to leave it at that would only be telling half the story...  Back in 1998 my wife (Kathy) had purchased a 1992 Corolla to replace the age-ing 1962 EJ Holden that we had used as our every-day transport for the previous 6 years (yep - the same EJ we've just completed the resto on!) and having test driven two AU wagons for 24hrs each (and damaged a AU Forte sedan in the same drive program - but that's another story), we knew we wanted a newish Falcon but had to figure out how we were going to afford it.  

Above: Okay okay so the photo matching ain't perfect - but you get the picture!  We made sure we had it serviced in Alice Springs while we were there so that we now have the Alice Springs dealer's stamp in the service records!  That should keep somebody interested in 20 years time... 

Then it happened - screeech - BANG!  Travelling to Kathy's parents to celebrate discovering we were about to have our first child, a blonde in a red Commodore (figures) failed to give-way at a stop sign and with barely any room to pull up the Corolla brakes weren't anywhere near the task...

Above:  perfect scenery on the way from Alice Springs to Arltunga.  The car is less than a year old in this picture, and already getting a taste for dirt roads.

Left:  Sunset at Woomera. The good news is we got out with only minor seat belt bruising (turned the Commodore 360 degrees but!) but the 'Rolly was a write-off.  That was all the encouragement we needed to go shopping for a new or near new Falcon.  Having driven both the AU, VT and EL we knew there was only one choice - with the VT's poor brakes and the EL's poor headlights,

head gasket & door locking problems as well as inferior handling, plus the ability to get a brand new AU Futura for about the same price as a second hand EL Fairmont - the decision wasn't an overly stressful one...

Right: We even tried a set of 17's off of my brother's AU1 XR6.  They looked good but we decided to go with the 16's instead due to reasons of practicality - including the ease of damage considering what we typically did with the car and the roads we would travel. So back to the AU sedan...one holiday with all the stuff for us and our baby in tow was all it took to realize we needed a wagon bad, but we were horrified when we found just how far the AU had depreciated!

Left: Our two girls behind the wagon in Ben Lomond National Park, Tasmania.  Ben Lomond is Tasmania's main ski-field and resort in winter...obviously, it was not winter when we visited. Finally, we found a 12 month old AU Futura Wagon in NSW (still brand new - had only 120kms on the clock when we got it) - the very car you see here.  Purchased as a run-out model (the AU2 had been released a couple of months earlier) we had a heap of stuff thrown in as added incentive plus the fact that the trade only cost us $5K - not bad for 12 months motoring - especially considering we handed the old AU in the day the rego ran out & dodged the 20,000km service!  Then take the $3K extra it would have cost us to buy a wagon in the first place - it may not have been an AU2 but it would have to do.

Perhaps the first thing we noticed was how well the wagon handled compared to the sedan!  Heaps less body roll was the order of the day - and the rear end didn't sag and point the headlights fair and square in people's faces - so we were thankful there too!

Right: Ben Lomond in spring - including alpine vegetation and wayward AU station wagons... And so that was the way we drove it for the next three years until the warranty ran out - somewhere in the middle of all that replacing the horrid standard hub-cap immitation 15" alloys with XR 16"s.   Having driven a mate's AU Forte Wagon (you can see it here) with these very wheels and tyres, I was hooked.  I couldn't believe such a difference could be made with just wheels and tyres!!!  With the AU1 continuing to devalue we were in for the long haul - unable to justify the huge jump into the newer vehicle with very little benefit.

With the AU1 continuing to devalue we knew we were in for the long haul - unable to justify the huge jump into the newer vehicle with very little benefit.  Besides, our new car experience hadn't been that good (many repeat failures and having to return after failure to fix first time) - there was no way I was being suckered into doing that again!!!  So we spent the money we would have spent on upgrading on restoring the EJ instead (hope someone from Ford is listening!)  It'd take hours to explain all of the hassles we had during the warranty period, so for the purposes of leaving you with a smile on your face I'll just leave it at that...

Above: when we couldn't justify updating to the newer model Falcon, we spent the money we would have spent on the upgrade, restoring a 1962 EJ Holden instead...could this be the first picture of a Holden on trueblueford?

And then it happened...just out of warranty, and I figured it was time to start getting some mods done.  Let's just say I learnt the hard way not to lay the cold-air ducting on the ground near the kids when I'm working on the car!!!   The piece of metal that took out no.6 cylinder was unrecognizable - but thanks to Daryl Coon (of multiple GTP championship winning fame) the wagon was quickly back on the road - only after one of his spare motors for his race winning AU XR6 found it's way into the engine bay!!!

Above: the way the engine bay looks now.  Five hours with a file and sand-paper took care of all the casting marks on the rocker cover, and there's a strange little 'T' cast into the front of the head.  Come to think of it, the injectors ain't the right colour either...hmmm....

Left: just in case you weren't sure of what that road looked like at Ben Lomond NP, Tasmania.  This was so spectacular, I just couldn't help including it again.  YES - we really did drive up there! With a brand new bottom end and with the head only having done 1000 or so k's under Sam Newman's piloting (if you can call it that).  I was stoked...  Even better still, it came with the XR spark plugs (new), injectors and fuel reg but only a standard rocker cover (now rectified).

The difference was immediately noticeable - even running on the standard PCM.  More torque - more acceleration everywhere!  We had managed to run 16.5 second quarters pretty consistantly at Calder with the old standard set up - with the new engine and Genie extractors / Hi-flow cat / Redback 2.5" sports system, the AU slipped and slid it's way to a 16 second quarter.  I say slipped because with the single spinner, the wheel spin off of the line was evident right up to the 60' mark.  Only got 4 well spaced out runs in that night due to people dumping oil & eventual rain...

Above:  A pretty typical scene when we are holidays - this photo taken up in the clouds (again) at Lamington National Park, Queensland.

Above: who said camping isn't fun?  The kids certainly think so...roast duck for dinner!

Above: more typical Duggy family camping scenes...this one from Longford Tasmania.

Since that time the new engine has ran without a hiccup - making the car a much more enjoyable vehicle to drive.  I make no false claims though - it's no fire breather but has just enough get up and go to make you feel like this was the way they should have made them in the first place...  The Genie headers on the other hand have given me no-end of trouble, with gasket after gasket having to be replaced in the intermediate joint (b/w the manifold and hi-flow cat) and the cat is now rattling after only 1 1/2 years of use so I'm thinking both items will have to go some time soon - when the bank balance allows!!! Left: driving down to inspect the dam up the back-yard (most city slickers call it a lake)...   Dirt?   Who said our wagon was dirty?  - Dirt seems to be our particular AU's middle name!

Above: down & dirty in the bottom of the valley - best garden I've ever had...no 
lawns to mow, hardly any weeds!  Got a good collection of native animals too...
even better don't even have to feed 'em either!  Gotta watch out for those damn roos but...

But recently has been one of the most significant (from a looks point of view) changes to the car - with the installation of a AU3 XR front nose cone off of a XR6 ST.  Given to me (thanks bro) as a damaged bar, I soon had the cracks repaired and torn threaded inserts replaced giving me at least the most expensive bit (ever had to price a XR bumper lately?) Right: just about to have a nose job...fortunately without the usual destructive circumstances (although my bank balance would like to dis-agree!)

  Next, I figured it was time to fix a few of my pet hates of the AU2/3 XR front end by carefully cutting the pathetically small fake brake ducts (they actually supply the radiator) out to a far more usable size - roughly three times the original!!!  

Next cab off the ranks was to modify the bottom bar to half it's original thickness - more for looks but with the additional benefit of allowing more air to the radiator with nearly 25mm extra air space at the back of the splitter.  I felt criminal taking a hacksaw to a perfectly good XR nosecone but some of these things just have to be done!!!  Alloy brackets were made to strengthen and extend the joins in the bar required by this mod (the AU XR bar cannot be plastic welded - it is made of a different type of plastic to the normal bars), and both riveted and urethaned into place.  

Above: the finished product - and yes that grass is whiter than usual - it's frost!

Finally the joins were lightly body filled to get a factory look and the lot painted...which brings us to the silver bars!  Just an idea I had, it took some serious convincing and hours spent on Photoshop to get the missus to agree to it (as she would be doing most of the driving in the car)!!!  The finished result has brought some interesting comments - with some saying it looks Territory-ish (maybe a reference to the high ride height?) and others saying it has a hint of T-series to it.

But to me, it just looks different - and that's what I wanted.  I am amazed at how many people (even enthusiasts) walk past without even noticing the changes - perhaps a product of it looking like the factory had designed it that way in the first place.  But importantly, as we found after the fitment it has some critically important benefits with significantly more air to the radiator verses the original bumper / Futura grill - to the point where it exposed a faulty thermostat which consequently had to be changed as the motor ran too cool!  Great for the summer... Above: Just in case you missed that front end...and Andrew's backyard!  Taken on the great June 2005 TBF get-together in Ballarat.

But it's the headlights that I've been most impressed with - finally getting the opportunity to be able to adjust the inside pair independent of the outside (you BA owners don't know just how lucky you are) producing a more evenly spread light that has fewer distracting hot-spots and giving much greater roadside lighting on high-beam - great for detecting kangaroos as are so prevalent in the hills around where we live.  Further more, as they light the edges of the road better they are brilliant for the sort of tight corners we have to navigate on a daily basis!  

Above: as the car now stands, and will be for some time until I get some more of 
the house paid off!

Then there comes the ability to upgrade the globes without having to worry about cooking the plastic lenses and reflectors (the XR items are glass).  And somehow - this is the one I can't explain - they manage to cut through the dark on a wet rainy night so much better too - all with the same globes that were fitted previously...  

Above: yep, it's Ben Lomond again - how could I not put this picture in?

We had the mirrors and rocker cover painted at the same time - with a spare rocker cover off of the damaged motor I spent five hours filing casting marks off and smoothing the lot before submitting it to the painter for it's obligatory coat of body colour!  The instructions were to block sand the ribs after colour application and to cover the lot in clear to prevent the ribs from corroding and dulling off over time - and it looks a treat too.  Kathy even dipped in to remove some of the casting marks when time was short and her skills required (she is a tool-room fitter by trade)!

Above: Yeah it sits like a 4WD but we kinda need the ground clearance!  It sure would look a whole lot better low but...

A very big thankyou must also go to Darryl Noble and the team from Geelong Panel Beating Works for filling and painting the XR bumper!  Top stuff fellas...

So that's it for the moment - until the budget recovers a bit.  After that there's plenty more to do, but for the sake of not being called a 'gunner' - I'll provide updates once each is done.  With 160,000 on the clock and resale being about zilch, you can be sure I'll be with this one for a very, very long time...

Time to reflect...

Discuss Duggy's Collection here!

(back to AU Visitor's Cars)