- Ford weighed importing the Crown Vic to replace Australia’s Falcon.
- The plan was investigated, then dropped before any launch.
- Abimelec Design reimagined the sedan as an Aussie-style ute.
Ford’s Crown Victoria earned its place in automotive history mostly by being everywhere in the US, doing time as a cop car and a taxi. Had a few decisions broken the other way, big body-on-frame sedan with a V8 powering the rear wheels might have been sold in Australia, and it could have ended up looking something like this.
While Ford sold the Crown Vic across the US, it kept the Falcon in showrooms throughout Australia. When the time came to replace the EL-generation model, the automaker considered walking away from a locally built model and bringing in an import instead. The Crown Vic got its moment under the microscope during that process, but the plan went nowhere, and it never reached buyers Down Under.
Read: No One Asked For A GTD Crown Vic, But Now We Kinda Want One
Abimelec Design
In imagining what an Aussie version of the Crown Vic could have looked like, Abimelec Design skipped the traditional sedan and went with a ute, the segment invented in Australia. These designs show it based on the later AU Falcon XR8 Ute, combining elements from the two Ford products into something that looks fantastic.
The front-end of the Crown Victoria used in these renderings is unmistakable, rocking those familiar headlights and the small central grille. Similarly, the front bumper, hood, and front quarter panels are all Crown Vic. Things begin to change from behind the front doors, where the cabin of a normal three-box sedan gives way to a large pickup bed, complete with a silver sports bar.
Underneath, the two Fords weren’t far apart in philosophy, both leaning on old-school V8s and rear-wheel drive. The Crown Vic used a 4.6-liter SOHC modular V8 making 200 to 235 horsepower in civilian trim, with the Police Interceptor eventually nudging 250 hp. The AU Falcon XR8 ran a 5.0-liter Windsor V8, starting at 185 kW (248 hp) before a 2001 revision lifted it to 200 kW (268 hp). The wilder AU III Pursuit ute got a 5.6-liter stroked version of that Windsor. However you spec it, a Crown Vic ute would have had a genuine eight under that hood
Abimelec Design
After production of the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore ended in Australia, the ute was killed off as we know it. Mid-size pickups run the roads now, though plenty of Falcon and Commodore utes are still knocking around.
If there are any brave Falcon ute owners out there eager to make their car look distinct, sourcing parts from an American Crown Vic would be one way to do it. Admittedly, we’re not getting our hopes up that anyone will set out to build a Falcon like this.