The following article by David Hayman appeared in an Australian magazine ‘ Restored Cars’, in 1997, and provides some historical back ground to Australian Fords in the UK.

Lincoln Cars Ltd was formed by Ford of England in Brentford, West London, on the A4 London Bristol Road, as a wholly owned subsidiary, successor to the Lincoln Division which was based in London and imported US Lincolns, with and without bodies, from at least 1925 onwards.

Lincoln Cars had Sir Malcolm Campbell as a director, and imported the various Zephyr V12 models, including chassis for bodying in the UK. Post war Lincoln Cars imported US and Canadian cars and imported the first Mustang car (pre-production car #4 reputedly) and used racing parts meant for the larger Ford sedans so that the car could race in Belgium at the same time as the Mustang was launched world wide. Lincolns had imported the Canadian Falcon from 1959, in RHD form until the 1962 model year, since then LHD cars were imported. Relatively large numbers or Canadian RHD/LHD and lesser numbers of LHD USA Fords were imported until June 1967. RHD Canadian production having ended with the end of the 1966 model year.

The decision had been made by Ford in Detroit that all future RHD large Fords were to be Australian sourced. This also applied to RHD/CKD production in South Africa and New Zealand. Note that the 1969-72 Galaxie/LTD models were Canadian sourced and converted to RHD by Ford Australia, a Ford of Canada subsidiary. By the time that the first Australian sourced Fords were being imported into the UK in the Spring of 1967, Lincoln Cars was being run down and in June 1967, the parts and service department was moved to Slough, Berkshire Trading Estate and the sales department to the showroom at Ford’s HQ in 88 Regent Street, London W1. It is believed that the sales were in fact handled by famous Ford dealers, Dagenham Motors. However, Fords always dealt with the public direct from either Brentford or Regent Street and distributed cars through several specialist dealers who had the expertise and training to sell cars, service them and sell parts. Today (1997), Gates of Woodford are the only source of spare parts in his country and obtain them from a dealer in Sydney. They are the dealers to whom Ford apparently direct inquiries to. Lincoln Cars also exported cars to expatriates etc and imported RHD German Ford cars and US and Canadian parts, especially V8 engines and gearboxes, as used by the racing and customising fraternity. This continued as Lincoln Cars changed their name to Ford Personal Import Export Ltd by 1970, again in 88 Regent Street, until 1974 when they moved to 8 Balderton Street, London W1, a kilometre away, which was formerly Dagenham motors sales and Service garage and had been since at least the 1930s.

1972 was the year when I started work just around he corner and I remember vividly the exotic Ford cars driven out of their underground garage. Fords imported by 1976, the Mustang Ghia II, and the Mercury Monarch, converted to RHD with a chain cross over system. These were the last attempt at selling totally unsuitable US RHD Ford products into the UK market, until the Mazda built Probe coupes. After Ford Personal Import Export closed in the late 1980s, their function was taken over by a small department at Rainham, Essex offices where the mainly sell UK Fords to the dwindling numbers of British servicemen in Germany, and possibly diplomatic sales as well. Incidentally, in case you wondered, the Australian High Commissioner drives a Mercedes, registered ‘AUS 1’, which said number was allocated specifically. All Diplomatic cars now have special number plate codes, though the special Ambassadors cars plates seem to have been retained with the previously used ‘CD’ plate added to indicate a Diplomatic car.

The first Aussie Fords to be sold in this country were the then current XR Falcon 500 sedans and wagons, six and V8, the XR Fairmont sedans and wagons (V8) and probably the Fairlane sedans as well. What is interesting is that in 1967, Lincolns imported the Mercury Cougar XR7 for the first time, as well as the Aussie XR ‘Mustang bred’ Falcon. I believe that Ford in the US appropriated the initials ‘XR’ for the Cougar, as it was also Mustang based, and thereby started the trend for Ford word wide to use the initials ‘XR’ for performance cars, ranging from the XR2 Fiesta versions to the South African Sierra and Aussie Falcon XR8’s. The October 1967 London Motor Show had the 1968 model Thunderbird, Mustang convertible, Cougar XR7 Hardtop, Fairmont Four Door sedan and wagon models on display on the Lincoln Cars stand (all except the XR7 which had Merc-O-Matic transmission had Cruise-O-Matic, including the Aussies), although the Show catalogue also refers to the availability of the Falcon 500 and Fairlane models and has a photo of the XT wagon face on and the Mustang convertible. I believe that Fords were still trying to emphasize the ‘ Mustang-influence’ on the new Aussie Fords, just as Ford of Australia did with the launch of the XR Falcons in 1966. At the 1968 London Show here were the 1969 models, Lincoln Mark III, Mercury Cougar XR7 convertible, Mustang fastback, XT Aussie Fairmont 4 door wagon V8 Cruise-O-Matic and a German Taunus 20M XL hardtop and 20M wagon. The advert for the Show Catalogue mentions that the Aussie Ford Falcon, Fairmont XT, and Fairlane (ZB) as being available. Also the advertisement quoted, “you’ll find five hot Fords from America, Australia and Germany. The Mustang fastback and Cougar convertibles are famous sprinters, and the two estate cars, the Mustang powered Fairmont and the two litre 20M, dash along like sports car!” Aside from the excessive license, again it is clear that the Mustang influence was being used to sell the large Aussie Fords. Interestingly, the actual show car probably still exists! (as of 1997) It was painted red new and when photographed by the owner a few years ago, it was red with a Rover 3500 V8 badge on the tailgate, the owner thought this was ‘ahem’ American built ! I remember this car when I went to the show as a 13 year old enthusiastic reader of Hot Car magazine ! The 1969 London Show featured a similar line up to he previous one, there were the 1970 models Lincoln MkIII, Mustang Mach 1 sportsroof, Maverick tow door sedan, and Aussie Fairmont XW wagon, again with Cruise-O-Matic as with the other Fords. This time there seems to be no special ad in the show catalogue for Aussie Fords, though the Falcon XW, Fairlane ZC and Fairmont models were all available as before. A Ford Australia executive to who Norm Darwin introduced me a few years ago said that he came to the UK in 1969 and remembers the XW wagon at the 1969 show. The following year’s show stand was run by Ford Personal Import Export LTD, again at 88 Regent Street. There were, yet again, 1971 models Lincoln M., Mustang Mach 1 sportsroof, and a 1971 Pinto two door sedan (the SOHC engine being adopted by Ford of Britain and Germany as an alternative to the push rod ‘Kent’ engine), plus another XW Fairmont wagon with Cruise-O-Matic. The catalogue advert again featured photos of the Mustang his time the 1971 Mach1, and invited calls for purchasers of American, Australian and German Fords to contact the company. As before, Falcon XW, the XY, Fairlane ZC and Fairmont models were available. The October 1971 London Show broke away from the overly apparent Mustang emphasis of previous years, and the XY Fairmont wagon with Cruise-O-Matic was accompanied on the Ford Personal Import Export stand by a ZD Fairlane 500 four door sedan V8, again an auto. The advert in the catalogue had a photo of the Fairmont wagon with a drawing of a kangaroo and the suggestion that the wagon had ‘nearly as much space as Australia.’ Punters were directed to Ford’s showroom or for the first time the specialist dealers were mentioned, being in strategic parts of the country. The German Fords were on a different stand this year, though there were also a 1972 Lincoln Continental MarkIV and a 1972 Mustang sportsroof on the same stand as the Aussies. The Fairmont sedan was of course also available for 1972, as were the XY Falcon sedan, then the following year, the XA. He 1972 Show differed again from previous years, as there were no Aussie Fords exhibited, though Ford Personal Import still imported XA Falcons, ZF Fairlanes and XA Fairmonts, particularly the Fairmont wagon as usual. The US Fords exhibited were the 1973 model Continental Mark IV, Mercury Marquis four door HT, Thunderbird two door HT and unusually the 1973 Mustang Grande HT. The Mustang was featured in the photo in the Show catalogue and American and Australian buyers were directed again to Ford’s showroom or to the named specialist dealers. The following year’s London Show featured an exhibition by Ford Motor Company of Australia Ltd, cars of 88 Regent Street again. However, the importation was again by Ford Personal Import Export. The models featured were an XA Futura four door sedan, 6 cylinder, Cruise-O-Matic; XA Fairmont two door HT V8 auto; XA Fairmont wagon V8 auto, and, very interestingly, an LTD four door sedan V8 auto with air conditioning. All V8’s to then had been 302’s and those exhibited were 351Clevelands for the first time. There was apparently no advert in the Show catalogue this year, though there may have been one in the mooring magazines published around show time. I believe that the ZF and then the ZG Fairlanes were also available. The October 1974 London Show featured, again, a stand managed by the Ford Motor Company of Australia, this time of 8 Balderton Street, which was, as mentioned before, the address of Ford Personal Import Export. The models exhibited were an XB Fairmont wagon with 302 V8 and Cruise-O-Matic transmission and for the first time an XB Falcon GT two door hardtop, with 351 V8 and auto and an LTD four door sedan with 351 V8, auto transmission and air conditioning. I believe that the ZG Fairlane was again available during the year. The US cars on another stand were, in comparison, a 1975 Lincoln MkiV, a Mercury Monarch four door sedan and a Mustang II Mach I, though the three door was also advertised as well as the Mustang II Ghia. Strangely, they sold reasonably well and there are still some converted RHD cars around, dating from 1975 to 1981 models. The Aussie Ford advert in the catalogue featured a photo of the XB Fairmont wagon implying that the car was an ‘economy car using fuel at the same rate as a car one half the size, that would last a lot longer and carry more goods and people than a European car.’ Nice try here to try and reach the market that the Volvo 240 estate car captured in the 1980s. I deal for antique dealers ! Gates of Woodford retained, until at least four years ago an XB Fairmont or Falcon in their dealership showroom for publicity and sentimental reasons. He following show, the 1975’s, featured yet again by Ford Motor Company of Australia at Balderton Street. Exhibits were an XB Fairmont wagon, again, with 302V8 and Cruise-O-Matic transmission, an XB Falcon GT two door hardtop with 351 four barrel V8 and Cruise-O-Matic transmission and an XB Fairmont four door sedan with 302 V8 and Crusie-O-Matic again. The ZH Fairlane 500 four door sedan was certainly available and I believe continued to be until the 1979 ZJ replaced them. The Ford stand next door featured yet again a Lincoln Continental MK IV, a Mercury Monarch Ghia four door with power moon roof and appearance group extras, and for the first time, a RHD Mustang II Ghia with 302 V8 and auto transmission. I do not have a copy of the Show catalogues for the period 1976 to 1979 t o hand, but the XC Falcon four foor sedan and the XC Fairmont wagon were sold in the UK from late 1976 and into 1977. A customised XC GS Falcon was advertised in 1994 for £7500, the only one I have seen advertised so far. As mentioned, the ZH Fairlane auto was available and I assume also the XC Fairmont wagon until he introduction of the 1979 XD Falcon and Fairmont. I believe that some XD Falcons were imported, though I have yet to confirm. The ‘Last gasp’ for the big Aussie Fords here now, though. Ford Personal Import Export decided to import initially 250 1979/80 ZJ LTD’s, though some V8 Fairlanes may have come over as well. I distinctly remember the LTD’s because there was one ensconced in the specialist dealers, Hendy Lennox near Southampton, Britian’s first ever Ford Dealer. Hendys were a specialist ‘Rallye-Sport’ dealers as well. The car had a price of around £14,5000, about £4000 more than a top of the range Granada. The cars looked like a larger Granada, and they were nearly 50% more expensive ! The 50 cars which were imported initially sold so slowly that Ford canceled their order for the remaining 50 cars. The exchange rate had meant that the cars were too expensive.

Petrol costs were high at the time as well. For information, there was no special brochure, just an insert on A4 glossy paper placed in the normal car brochure. They were only sold by a handful of dealers, and most apparently sold to Australian diplomats. One car was sold new in 1981 to Lotus Cars in Norfolk and reputedly modified as a high speed tow car. It was then, after several years sold to an ex-pat Aussie BMW mechanic in London and then sold on. My local Ford dealership had one second hand in 1985 and sold it to a pop group in exchange for their Transit van. After Ford had their fingers nearly burnt with the LTD’s, they became much more wary about any further imports. The next model they thought about was the Aussie Capri, which was of course sold in the USA. There were probably some examples imported for testing because I was told by a Ford manager who worked for Personal Import Export at the time that the exchange rate was against them, and the costs of reengineering to suit British legislation, with the small numbers involved, were prohibitive. So ended the saga of the Aussie Fords, and the importation of RHD Fords until the Probe from the USA, which in many minds has not been a success. The Germans have received imports of the LHD US Taurus wagon since the demise of the German built Scorpio estate car, and I believe that the Taurus sedan may well be sold as well. There has been no reference to a RHD Taurus (selling in Australia) here yet, and we probably never will officially. As to publicity material, the UK car magazines frequently ran classified style adverts at the back, especially in Autocar and Motor, and Aussie cars were always included with the American cars. The brochures that I have seen and collected are all the Australian ones, with no alterations for local conditions, though there may have been some in the early years and that is why the Aussie Fords never really sold well ! I assume because Ford Australia were importing numbers of British Fords, there may have some form of trade set off for currency reasons. They did sell to undertakers, the various High Commission and State Government offices, and to those who needed a big, powerful car, especially a station wagon. However, they were conceived as ‘American,’ and consequently were only bought by specialist dealers and depreciated rapidly. They rusted quickly, were costly to run, and parts were difficult to obtain and expensive. Having said that, some have been preserved and they are now very rare. However, that is not the end of the Aussie Ford story! The British company Tickfords have, of course, been involved with the tuning up and improving of the Falcon XR6, and as a consequence, several modern Falcons have been imported by Tickfords to wave their magic wands over. A 1994 red XR6 was tested by Autocar magazine that year against a German built Scorpio, the Taurus like car with now only a 2.4 litre four and a 2.8 litre 24 valve Cosworth V6. The live rear axle coped well with our country roads and the bigger Falcon acquitted itself very well. No doubt there will be further imports as the contractual arrangements continue. Note the ‘XR’ and ‘RS’ codes seem to have been dropped world wide by Fords as being outdated but not ‘XR’ in Australia, and possibly in South Africa as well. The ‘Kalgoorlie Taxi’ we all know over here is still a Falcon! Further, there has, over the last ten years, been a spasmodic importation of classic Aussie Fords through agents. An example is the Zephyr Mk2 wagon imported a few years ago, then re-exported to the USA. Also, several Zephyr utes, including an ex New Zealand one exported new from Australia. I believe that some sidevalve types have also come over. The Zephyr wagon and ute were much better and more practical than the English Abbott ‘Farnham’ conversions and he 49 or so Dagenham built ‘pickups’. With Dagenham now building the Ford Fiesta ‘cone’ the Mazda 121, we wonder whether Australia might receive some alongside our Sunderland built Nissan Micras; Ryton, Coventry built (the French PSA group having acquired the one time Chrysler UK group, descendant of the Rootes Group) Peugeot 306 and the Ellesmere Port built Holden Astra.

Thanks to Jason Durand for a scan of article, transposed here.

You may notice that in the early part of this article, there is mention of Lincoln Cars Ltd as being the importer of US Fords that were sold in the UK. The decision to source rhd ‘big’ Fords from Ford Australia coincided with Ford UK’s decision to take the selling of these cars back onboard and dispensing with Lincoln. However, Lincoln Cars Ltd found themselves selling the first Australian Ford’s sold here, the XR range and this advert reportedly appeared in Autocar.

Another Lincoln advert, this time for an XW Fairmont wagon. It appears that this car still has its Australian number plate.

As mentioned in the article above, the original sellers - Lincoln Cars Ltd - had been edged out, and while retaining the ‘Lincoln’ in Lincoln Car Division, the actual sellers were Dagenham Motors, based at Ford UK’s HQ in Regent Street.

By April, 1973, whilst retaining the Regent Street address, it was now Ford Personal Import Export Ltd. Interestingly, it lists your ‘local’ dealers too.

This is from an Essex Countryside magazine from September, 1971.

How the prospects of exporting Australian cars was viewed in Australia with a page from ‘Wheels’ magazine, September, 1969.

This is the same XR Fairmont wagon as tested by Autocar in 1967, as seen here.

The UK registration numbers game

In an effort to track down some of the Aus Fords that came to the U.K. I indulged in a little, and somewhat longwinded, and ultimately pretty sad’n’nerdy, exercise involving the U.K’s DVLA website.

http://www.vehiclelicence.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/?SKIN=directgov

Using the vehicle enquiry option, it is possible, if you know the registration number of the car, plus the make, to find out when the car was registered; year of manufacture; engine size and vehicle colour. By its nature, this information is not on first glance terribly informative, except for the engine size, and the fact that we are looking for Fords. What I did was take a known Australian Ford’s U.K. registration number, and worked upwards and downwards by number.

The results were fairly surprising as many of the cars seem to have been registered in ‘batches’ and, when you stray outside the ‘batch’ you tend to find that you are still with a Ford, but the engine size has dropped, maybe signifying an Escort, or Cortina, or something similar. Anyway, the results.

The NHV cars

My XB GT, Crawfy’s XB GT and Mark’s Landau all fall into this ‘batch’. What is intriguing is that my GT was a June, 1974 car, but it was first registered on 18th May, 1976, and Mark’s Landau is an August, 1973 car ! I guess the 1973 oil crisis really did bite big.

NHV619P  4950cc 18-05-76 Purple 

NHV620P 4950cc 18-05-76 Blue 

NHV621P 4950cc  18-05-76 Bronze

NHV622P 4950cc  18-05-76 Black 

NHV623P 5752cc  18-05-76 Black  XBGT

NHV624P 5752cc  18-05-76 Red  XB GT

NHV625P 5752cc  18-05-76 Orange XB GT

NHV626P 5752cc  18-05-76 Red  LTD Landau

NHV628P 4950cc  18-05-76 Yellow

NHV629P 4950cc  18-05-76 Turquoise

NHV630P 4950cc  19-05-76 Brown 

NHV631P 4950cc  19-05-76 Brown 

NHV632P 5752cc  09-06-76 Yellow LTD Landau

SGJ9L 4950cc  11-07-73 Blue

SGJ10L 4950cc  01-03-73 Black  XA hdtp 

SGJ12L 4950cc  16-03-73 Bronze

SGJ13L 4950cc  06-06-73 White 

SGJ14L 5752cc  12-06-73 Black 

EYW4J 4949cc  08-02-71 Blue 3

EYW5J 4949cc  26-02-71 Bronze

EYW7J 5756cc  19-02-71 Red 

EYW9J 4949cc  04-03-71 Orange   ZC  Fairlane

ULE2M 5752cc  01-06-73 Black  Ebay-Ldau 

ULE5M 5752cc  08-04-74 Yellow   Landau

KUC538P 4950cc  18-02-76 Red 

KUC540P 4950cc  06-01-76 Red 

KUC541P No details but shown on press cutting. Re-registered ? Landau

KUC545P 4950cc  01-08-75 Brown 

KUC546P 4950cc  01-08-75 Purple

KUC547P 4950cc  01-08-75 Red 

HYN827N 4950cc 01-04-75 Blue  XA ute

HYN801N 5752cc 25-03-75 Beige

HYN826N  5752cc 27-03-75 Red

HYN829N 5752cc 09-04-75 Green

WUW6N 4950cc ? 16-09-74 Green ?  XB ute

WUW3N 4950cc 14-08-74 Black

WUW4N 4950cc 04-09-74 Brown

WUW5N 4950cc  12-09-74 Brown

PYO92L 4950cc 15-02-73 Green Was white, per Neale’s photo.

PYO90L 4950cc  19-01-73 Brown

PYO91L 4950cc  19-01-73 Purple

PYO80L 4950cc  19-01-73 White

PYO82L 4950cc  20-02-73 Blue

PYO87L 4950cc  13-04-73 Beige

PYO93L 5752cc  05-03-73 Gold

MVF801P 5752cc 01-03-76 Gold GT ?

The Extrapolation Game

So, where does all this take us ? Into a land of mystery, and personal supposition. What I have tried to do below is relate the information we have on cars - mostly GT’s - with what we have in registration numbers, and what we have in old adverts. I was lucky enough to pick up some old U.K. ‘Motor’ magazines and some of the adverts are featured below as well.

The XA and XB GT Falcons sent to the UK

18 XA GT’s – 17 hardtops and 1 four door, all automatic

First batch of five cars have an ESD of November, 1972. All five cars are similarly optioned, including mandatory seat belts (Option 03) and front and rear spoilers. All cars have vinyl roofs.

Ultra White, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Red Pepper, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof - HOC9L

Red Pepper, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof - HOB9L

Blaze Blue, parchment cloth interior, blue vinyl roof

Yellow fire, saddle cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Next batch of two car have an ESD of February, 1973. Both cars are similarly optioned. The mandatory seatbelt option is gone, but Option 99 – Export Pack is now present.

Yellow Glow, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof.

Wild Violet, parchment vinyl interior, black vinyl roof.

The last batch of eleven cars have an ESD of March, 1973. Ten cars are hardtops and one is a four door. Nine of the hardtops are similarily optioned, including front and rear spoilers and export pack; but one is more heavily optioned, adding tinted rear and side glass, laminated windscreen and a sunroof. The four door did not have the front and rear spoilers.

Skyview Blue, parchment vinyl interior, blue vinyl roof - NOH2M

Yellow Fire, saddle cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Polar White, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Red Pepper, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Red pepper, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Skyview Blue, parchment vinyl interior, blue vinyl roof

Polar White, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Polar White, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Polar White, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Polar White, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof, plus tinted glass, laminated windscreen and sunroof

Cosmic Blue, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof – four door

23 XB GT’s – all are hardtops, 23 are automatics and 1 manual transmission

The first batch of seventeen cars have an ESD of March, 1974. All seventeen cars are similarly optioned, losing the spoilers that the XA cars had but gaining the laminated windscreen. Two cars do not have vinyl roofs.

Polar White, saddle cloth interior, brown vinyl roof

Polar White, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof - MYS842P

Polar White, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Polar White, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof - NHV623P

Polar White, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Mulberry metallic, white cloth interior, beige vinyl roof - MVF800P

Mulberry metallic, white cloth interior, beige vinyl roof

Deep Aqua, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Deep Aqua, saddle cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Skyview Blue, parchment interior - NHV624P

Skyview Blue, black cloth interior

Burnt Orange, brown cloth interior, brown vinyl roof -

Red Pepper, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof - PSU252P

Red Pepper, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Red Pepper, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Tropic Gold, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Apollo Blue, white cloth interior, blue vinyl roof

The last batch of six cars have an ESD of June, 1974. These cars are similarly optioned to the first batch of seventeen.

Tropic Gold, saddle cloth interior, brown vinyl roof

Yellow Blaze, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Yellow Blaze, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Yellow Blaze, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Yellow Blaze, black cloth interior, black vinyl roof

Burnt Orange, saddle cloth interior, brown vinyl roof - NHV625P

The ‘Motor’ Adverts

As noted above, there only ever was one XA or XB GT four door car, a Cosmic Blue XA GT. Here is the advert page for the 22nd December, 1973 ‘Motor’.

This is the only issue I have - of approx 60 - that shows a four door GT for sale, as new. As the Cosmic Blue car was a March, 1973 car, the dates most probably tie in okay with the magazine and that this is the Cosmic Blue car. The dealer, Simpsons Motors of Wembley, is also one of the ‘approved’ dealers for Ford PIE Ltd.

Regarding the Simpson’s advert, it is interesting also to note that they refer to Fairmont two doors as ‘Rallye Pack’. I wonder if this was actually the GS.

The other dealer that appears on this page is Gates of Woodford. Again, their advert implies that they have more than one two door Fairmont hardtop for sale, with ‘rally’ pack’ ? They also, conveniently, list the colours of their cars for sale. Summer Gold, Calypso Green, Pottery Beige and Walnut Glow: all XA colours.

Staying with Gates of Woodford, an earlier advert - 21st, July 1973

Gates are advertising an XA GT - based on the date - that is white with a black roof. There was one November, 1972 XA like that, Ultra White, and three later - March, 1973 - XA GT’s that were Polar White. Would a March, 1973 dated car have reached the UK by July, 1973 to be sold ?

Moving on, we find Simpsons change their advert, and have a Walnut Glow Fairmont hardtop for sale in 9th March, 1973.

And three weeks later, the Walnut Glow car has gone, but a Summer Gold Fairmont hardtop has taken its place.

In April, 1974, another of the approved Ford PIE dealers advertises cars - Hanger Ford.

On the 22nd June, 1974, Gates of Woodford are back, advertising a grey with black trim Landau. I wonder where that one went ?

And then, it all goes quiet as the oil crisis bites. Simpsons are still advertising the Summer Gold XA hardtop in October, 1975, and, while the Yellow Fire station wagon is missing in October, it is still advertised in July, 1975.

But they seem to come bouncing back as here on 14th Februay, 1976 along with Gates.

And, later on 1st May, 1976, advertising utes also.

In the same issue, we also find another of the ‘approved’ dealers, Invicta Motors of Canterbury selling cars, in a  more modest advert.

An Autocar advert from April, 1978, showing that Gates of Woodford were still selling the Falcon/Fairmont.

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