So... Where'd all the utes go?

[weairy]

So lately I've started looking around for another XC Ute project only to be very very disappointed. There are approximately one on the market. What the hell happened to all of the XCs?!

[mik]

They are getting a bit long In the tooth, and I think utes can be a bit more prone to rust due to copping a belting in the tray area, mine was anyway.

[mechanic]

Don't particularly know about utes but my XC sedan rusted into the ground. The plenum chamber, doglegs and front door hinge areas were the worst.
The XD that I had wasn't much better.

[OzJavelin]

Originally Posted by mechanic

Don't particularly know about utes but my XC sedan rusted into the ground.

Utes did too .. my Dad had an XC ute in 1981 and it was rusty. It was rustier than the VH Valiant ute he replaced it with in the late eighties.

[MercurySilver]

red one on ebay as we speak
no reserve by the looks

[KAM120]

yep more than likely rusted away i got one and am in the process of saving it but geez it had some rust in it. No doubt there would be some still hiding away in barns though

[Road_Warrior]

Ended up at the tip and/or cannabilised for parts to keep other XC's on the road.

[2011G6E]

Simple answer: "worked to death", or used as parts for cars. They were from back in the days when a ute or van was a basic work vehicle for the most part...not bought as a status item and certainly not "flashy", apart from a few very limited run number types such as Sandman utes, Drifter utes, and GS utes. The staggering majority of utes were sold to people who were going to use them and drive them until they wore out and died.
That's why it's so rare to find an old ute with an intact rear body area...I spent ages under the body of our WB ute belting straight all the "corrugations" in the floor and straightening the removable panels along each side of the inner body...they were used and abused and sold on to people who also used and abused them and eventually a lot ended up as farm utes.

Until relatively recent years, you would have been thought a bit odd to deliberately buy a ute as a "normal" car to own.

[mechanic]

When I started my apprenticeship I had to service utes that had a timber crate fitted in the back and were used to take pigs and calves to the sale.
Being the apprentice I was the lucky one to get those nice jobs, or even replacing the wiring and lights on cattle trucks that had 10 years of cow **** all over them.
So, yes 2011G6E, you're absolutely spot on with that response.

[weairy]

The red one on eBay was an XB unfortunately.

But I'm even talking reco'd ones. There was always one or two rustydisappeared the past few months. of crap on eBay and a couple of reasonable ones for sale on Gumtree etc. But there's one on Gumtree and none on eBay. Just seems crazy.

I know these things were worked hard and rust was a factory fitted option in XCs, but it seems like theyve really disappa

[2011G6E]

Go to rural areas for a look around on days when the Simsmetal (and similar metal-collection trucks) are around the ridges...you'll cry sometimes at what you see stacked in the back of them being taken away from remote farms and rural towns...

[Magee]

We were looking for a 70,s era Australian ute for project car for my 17 yo son. We quickly gave up on falcons since they were all rusted and not cheap. Valiants were better for rust but were ridiculous for price. Even thought I have been a Ford fan since I was a kid the car we ended up getting was a 1978 Holden HZ ute. Car was from central Victoria and had heaps of km's clocked, but the body was straight with minimal rust and had a reasonable price on it. For us it's been a practical choice but I would still have loved to have a ford ute.

[weairy]

Nothing beats an XC for shape for me. And I've always wanted a muscle Ute. They just look tougher. If I wanted practical, I would buy a Hilux or Cruiser. But that twin headlight front and vented bonnet and GT dash just gets me every time. I considered a WB Ute, but I just can't enjoy it enough. I'm a big Chev engine fan, having seen what a small block can be pushed to do. But XC is just too good to look at. It's a bastard they scrap them and such.

[Tysonv48]

Stripped down and used as donor cars I see them in gumtree all the time bundled with a coupe or sedan.
Can't agree with you more, xc's had the best grille and front end hands down of the xa-xc series

[BPXR6T]

Funny you say that. I've been watching for an xa-Xc ute myself and noticed the same. Kicking myself for passing on an xb in stawell a few weeks back. I haven't found much around at all. There are a few country wreckers I want to check out soon though.

[2011G6E]

Yes, it's funny the Falcons all seem to have gone. You see heaps of Holden utes, quite a few Valiant utes, but Falcon utes are very thin on the ground.

When we decided to buy "a V8 ute" we honestly didn't care which it was...Ford, Holden, or Valiant...we're "car people" rather than "badge people", after all. Very quickly we discovered that Falcon utes were all but unobtainable. The Valiant utes we saw...which I loved as I'm a big fan of the 265 hemi engine...were either hugely expensive or already restored or done up and again, expensive. Holden utes were as common as belly buttons...everyone had one for sale, listings on Ebay and other sales sites were chockers with a massive range of all sorts and all standards, so we ended up with a WB.

But yes...it's weird how Falcon utes have gotten so uncommon compared to Kingswoods, when they were both pretty much as popular as one another back in the day.

[castellan]

All falcon XA XB XC were the biggest rust buckets ever ford made sorry to say but it's the truth.
I bought a new XG and had it for 2 years and seen it one day with rust at about 4 years old.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by castellan

All falcon XA XB XC were the biggest rust buckets ever ford made sorry to say but it's the truth.
I bought a new XG and had it for 2 years and seen it one day with rust at about 4 years old.

Anecdotally I guess the XA/B/C Falcons were more rust prone than the others. But like anything else, a lot of it comes down to how it is treated and looked after (and in the case of utes, probably not very well). E.g. my XG ute has very little rust in it but I don't think it has been used and abused as a tradie or farmer's vehicle.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Anecdotally I guess the XA/B/C Falcons were more rust prone than the others. But like anything else, a lot of it comes down to how it is treated and looked after (and in the case of utes, probably not very well). E.g. my XG ute has very little rust in it but I don't think it has been used and abused as a tradie or farmer's vehicle.

I think you may have hit the nail on the head...take a car that's prone to rust, mix in the natural passage of a few decades, and bingo, you have a scarce car.

[mcnews]

I had an XC 351 ute, the rust was absolutely diabolical. In the end it was wrecked as the body and parts of the chassis were too far gone.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

I think you may have hit the nail on the head...take a car that's prone to rust, mix in the natural passage of a few decades, and bingo, you have a scarce car.

Before I bought my XG, I looked at quite a few and they were DOGS. The prices these jokers were asking for these battered rust buckets was laughable. But I tempered this with the fact that they had been used and abused as tradies vehicles, not just by the first owner but for every successive owner after that and in the life of a 20 year old ute, that ownership tally could be quite substantial.

This is, after all, what they were designed and built for. The '88 XF GLS ute I had before it was so rusted, water would flood in from behind the dash if it rained, and small plants were growing in the carpet. I could see daylight through one of the rust spots in the passenger side B pillar

Consequently when the head gasket went on that one, it was the end of the road for it - and the same fate would have met dozens if not hundreds of Falcon utes before it going back to the very first. It's not until years later when they become desirable in the eyes of some that we wonder how and why.

[rog xc]

You looking for a project "project" or a "wash & wipe" project? There's an xc ute about 30 metres from me

[weairy]

Honestly, something that doesn't need paint and body.

[castellan]

Originally Posted by mcnews

I had an XC 351 ute, the rust was absolutely diabolical. In the end it was wrecked as the body and parts of the chassis were too far gone.

A mates big brother bought a XC ute new and he complained at the 1st service it had rust and it was just a full on rust bucket and he look after all his cars like a baby as well. he sold it after 1 year and claimed to never buy a ford again he was so shocked.

In the back tray the holdens from HQ got galvanised steel all the way to the VZ. fords were not.
Holdens from EH to HG were the biggest rust buckets.
Falcon from XK to XY were good the XD on not so bad as the XA-B-C

[79FordEsky]

I saw a XC Panelvan when I was out near the Goulburn Region, Blue with gs grill and side windows, first time in a long time I have seen a panelvan out and about, even with utes and panelvans at car shows don't see many.

[bullfrog]

Try this one.
http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11409409