IN the late-1980s an all-wheel-drive, twin-turbocharged prototype of Ford’s XF Falcon was built ahead of a planned production run.
Developed in 1987 when Ford didn’t have a V8 offering in its Falcon line-up, plans were afoot from two different camps to add a turbocharger (or two) to add some excitement to the Blue Oval’s family hauler.
One of those was Dick Johnson, who through the early 1980s had backed the Grand Prix built in 1982 after working with Japanese turbo whizzes HKS, and was destined to be put into production until Ford pulled the plug late in the project due to concerns around warranty.
Following DJ’s attempt was another wilder effort turning the sedate XF Falcon into quite the beast built by Australian Automotive Technologies.
Featuring twin T3 Garrett turbochargers on the 4.1-litre inline six-cylinder motor developed by Advance Induction Technologies, the estimated 268kw of power was sent through all four wheels by an English sourced Ferguson Formula Developments system mated to a German ZF five-speed manual transmission.
Stopping power was provided by an AP Racing brake system all round and alloy wheels custom machined in-house at AAT.
Test drives by Australian motoring journalists were at the time favourable to this new concept, with performance sending the Falcon from 0-100km/h in the mid-six second mark.
Just one prototype was built and it was actually written off during testing in England. Fortunately, it was re-shelled and restored more than a decade ago.
At the time in 1987, the approximate cost for one of these turbocharged, all-paw beasts was to be around $75,000 (or approximately $221,000 in today’s money).
A combination of the expense to develop such a variant and Ford’s new EA Falcon set to be released in 1988 scuppered plans for the model to be produced. Of course, the recession of the early 1990s in Australia meant, in hindsight, it was a good idea not to proceed.
There was eventually a turbo Falcon variant starting at the release of the BA model in 2002. The XR6 Turbo and the G6E Turbo that followed, alongside FPV’s F6 Typhoon, Force 6 and F6E, proved popular among buyers throughout the 2000s.
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