One Of The Best Tools Of The Trade
The Age
Saturday February 8, 2003
The humble Aussie ute has never been a more bankable commodity than right now. Even in the darkest days of Ford's AU-based misery in the late 1990s, the Falcon ute was about the only bright light on the blue-oval horizon.
Meanwhile, down at Holden, the new Commodore ute is selling up a storm.
Utes have always had a strong presence in this market, but they also, until recently, had a handy stablemate in the panel van. Tradespeople in particular appreciate the security offered by a panel van.
Manufacturers will tell you that a ute with an after-market fibreglass canopy is the modern equivalent, but it's really not the same thing. There's usually more headroom in a panel van and, most importantly, the load area can be accessed from the driver's seat.
The bad news is that a new panel van is no longer available from either Ford or Holden. For the most recent van, you have to go back to the XH Falcon range launched in 1996 and sold until the AU light commercial range landed in 1999.
The XH line-up included a traditional panel van with better standard equipment and driveability than ever before.
Part of the reason why the XH Falcon panel van was such a traditional effort was the basic vehicle's close relationship to the Falcon XD van launched in 1979. The concept had been improved and refined over the years, most notably with the new front-end and overhead camshaft engine arriving in 1993, but the basic body and overall demeanor was rooted in the old XD.
There was an overall ``tinniness" to the body, and handling was aimed more at carrying a load than winning Bathurst. The leaf rear springs seem dated, but actually worked quite well (just as they do in the current-model BA Falcon ute).
By re-engineering the front-end of the ute/panel van, Ford could fit the 4.0-litre, overhead camshaft six-cylinder as fitted to the Falcon sedan range.
With its minimal mass, the 148kW and 353Nm of the engine endowed the van with serious towing and cruising potential. Many were bought with the optional four-speed automatic, and the best now is the column-shift auto and optional bench front seat.
Whatever gearbox is fitted, the van can easily cope with an LPG conversion.
If the budget will stretch to an XH Series 2 vehicle, you'll also pick up a driver's airbag, remote locking, 15-inch wheels; a one-tonne option (with stiffer springs) was also available.
The trick now is finding a van that hasn't had the best part of its working life belted out of it. Avoid anything that's been used and abused.
The motors are good for many hundreds of thousands of kilometres but the automatic gearbox is the only potential glitch and may give trouble before 200,000 kilometres. The body, though noisy and prone to feeling a bit loose, is basically strong, and rust was less of an issue on the XH than any previous Falcon light commercial.
What to pay
A really clean, low-kilometre van that hasn't been used by a tradesperson (and the advert will probably say as much) can still fetch in the high-teens. More common is the ex-fleet van, which is around in reasonable numbers at mid-teens; a high-mileage roughie is still worth as much as $10,000. Basically, there's nothing else around that matches the Falcon panel van for a variety of tasks. That's why it still commands good money.
© 2003 The Age
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