V8 AUSSIE LUXO LEGENDS

HERE'S THE RECIPE: GRAB YOUR V8 GT DRIVELINE AND BUILD NOT ONE BUT TWO BIG LUXO BRUTES - 50 YEARS ON, OWNERS RECKON THEY NAILED IT

- GUY ALLEN 

It’s 1973 – a half century ago – and Ford is launching a bold new luxury car line: the P4/P5 Landau and LTD. It’s a more ‘Australianised’ entry into the sector. We’re talking of a time when the locally-assembled Galaxie was being retired.

The inclusion of the Landau was perhaps the biggest surprise. It was done at the insistence of legendary Ford exec Bill Bourke, who had moved from Australia to an international post by the time the car was released.

In the excellent reference book, Ford Australia – The Cars and the People Who Built Them, authors Michele Cook and Douglas Wallace wrote:

“Bourke’s influence had prevailed. He had always hankered after a luxury two-door, with the XB/ZG range he got it. Ford went upmarket again with not only the Custom and Fairlane 500, but now with the LTD; the four-door P5 LTD and on Bourke’s insistence, a two-door P4 Landau.

“The P4/P5 LTDs were designed as though they were bespoke vehicles. “Leather, carpet and woodgrain was everywhere…” However the series was built on more than emotion – this was after all a business. David Ford, who was in the company’s product planning department and became its Chief Engineer, was interviewed for Shannons’ Design to Driveway series (Vol 3, by David Burrell): “There were impending changes to local vehicle content rules and import tariff regulations and when combined with exchange rate fluctuations it was clear production of the Galaxie was in question.

“I calculated we should be able to create a long wheelbase car with a huge rear seat package and replace the Galaxie.