Greetings from Tropical Far North Queensland. I have finally given in and bought a Galaxy Blue 128k 1999 AU1 Fairmont Ghia VCT with the factory optioned full leather, Tickford 17" wheel/sport suspension, full body kit and MoMo steering wheel/shifter handle - only non genuine option is the window tint.....
I developed a bit of a soft spot for the AUs when they were launched - at that time I was a Service Manager for Ford and was surprised how much better engineered the first of the series AU was compared to the end of series EL - basically ran rings around the EL. Warranty repairs were considerably less than what we were doing for the ELs (and we won't even mention the Taurus(Tornarse) warranty issues, and the Transit Vans(Tradgedy Van), and the Explorers (Exploders) - gee can anyone else see a pattern here?)- I was so impressed with the AUs I ended up taking a holiday from Service Dept and spent 6 months as a Ford Fleet Sales Manger selling them........
I originally went looking for a XR6 VCT - personal opinion, better road manners than the XR8 and with very minor tweeking produce more power/torque.... I stumbled across the Fairmont Ghia VCT and went through the whole "I can't possibly drive a Fairmont Ghia - they are for balding, middle aged execs / accountants - oh, hang on, I AM a balding, middle aged exec/accountant." - but as we all know, if you reallly want something, you talk yourself into it anyway...... So, after getting clearance form the broad of control ("see hon, it's not just a ordinary Taxi Pack Falcon - it's the Fairmont Ghia with full service history, only 128ks,
ABS, TCS, SRS, etc., full leather and all these pretty bits, blah, blah, blah...") I finally own a AU.
Good stablemate for the weekend toy - an RS2000 I've had for the last 19 years....
Cheers
James