Anyone from Australia, the UK or New Zeeland have a look please

[60's Bluesman]

Ok,

Ive seen odd posts in this section before but this one ranks up there. Anyways Im looking into the vehicle that are sold only in Australia, parts of the UK, New Zeeland and i have also heard South Africa, Russia and rarely in India and Japan as well. I found this car totally by accident awhile back and it blew my mind with how freaking cool it is, its a 2001 and onward Ford Falcon UTE. Ive done some digging on them and there areNONE in the US as far as I can tell, everyone here Ive shown photos too fell in love with the UTE. Also in my digging i found Ford will not import on right from the line to the US (EPA bulls--- i assume). My plan is this, to travel to one of these places, buy a used one and ship it home and do what needs to be done to make it legal in the states and convert it to right hand drive somehow or another. Not a cheap thing to do but as cool as they are and talk about being unique, if I got my hands on one theres a chance it may be the only one on the entire continent, i think i would be worth it and would be one hell of an adventure.
I have alot of questions about these cars that someone who owns one or is familiar with one or maybe even a mechanic could awnser, such as: How roomy are they on the inside (keep in mind im 6' 3" 260 pounds), what do they cost new and what would a reasonable price be used, how realiable are they etc etc. And really reaching out on a limb if anyone has any experince import/exporting cars to US id like to talk to you. Bass playing is a global thing so maybe that might be my ticket to info on my dream ride.
Sorry if I sound stupid here guys and gals figured I should give it a shot

[theNoseBleedKid]

Cars are much more expensive in Australia than in the states.

A Ford or Holden Ute would run $25,000ish. Used, how long is a piece of string?

[bassybill]

You mean convert it to left hand drive, yes? For driving in the USA.

That would be a huge task, if possible at all (getting parts might be a non-starter if Ford never made a LHD version). Why not just drive it in the US with the steering wheel on the right? My dad had several US cars here in England back in the 70s and 80s, all LHD. I use to drive his Continentals (one was a '62, the other was a '73) on a regular basis back then - no problem at all. Is there a law that says you can't drive a RHD vehicle in the USA?

EDIT - just Googled this for you. It seems that it's legal to drive RHD cars in all states of the USA, but some modification to the rear view mirrors may be required in some cases. That certainly sounds a lot easier than making a LHD car RHD!

[Icey101]

mmmmm.....well you'll need the turbo one, 270kw, no weight in the back means big burn outs. Theres alot of blue ones around, sort of baby bright blue. The standard 6 is a bit of a slug at around 200kw but the 8 puts our 290kw but heavier then the turbo 6 which is quicker

our tradesmen have them as work toys, reliability is a bit sus long term, most people get sick of them after a few model changes and get rid of them. Fords and Holdens get out dated pretty quick over here and their value drops pretty quick after a couple of years. Bang for buck they are good and also make a good track car if you pick one up second hand. You will need to run it on higher oct fuel to get the most out of it too


Ford Australia - Feel the difference with Falcon Ute

[Icey101]

ok heres the FPV which is the performance upgrade that Ford does. This thing pushes 310kw and has brembo's and would be the go if you wanted something abit more special

F6 Ute / F6 Showroom / | Ford Performance Vehicles | FPV

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Full conversion to LHD would be pretty hard, verging on impossible.

Even tho you could get a fully custom made interior, it may not be mechanically possible (within reason) to shift everything to the other side.

To be honest, I've never seen one of those. But the pickup-style vehicle just isn't common over here.

[fingerbun]

Ford and Holden (the Australian subsidiary of General Motors) compete in the family car market in Australia. Ford's Falcon was originally a US design but that's almost 50 years ago, and as far as I know that car is not generally exported. Holden's equivalent, the Commodore, has been sold in the US as a Chevrolet Lumina. They don't look all that dissimilar, so you may be able to take a Commodore Ute and convert it to LHD using Lumina parts. See the Wikipedia article on "Holden Ute" for pics.

The closest US Ford equivalent to the Falcon would be the Taurus, though I think the Falcon is bigger. This based on some trips to the US where I had a Taurus hire car in 2001-2002. At one stage Ford looked at discontinuing the Falcon in favour of the Taurus, and even started importing the Taurus, but it didn't catch on.

Falcon and Commodore are both rear wheel drive.

[60's Bluesman]

Lots of good info here, the other thought i had was to buy a complete body and hang it on an American car's frame compairable to the UTE, i do belive fingerbun is right that the american Taurus is the closest thing we got here, not sure if that would be cheaper then getting a whole one on a boat and getting it back to Michigan from port.