All Ford Day highlight – XH Falcon Sundowner tribute

Outside of the annual Van Nationals, examples of the Falcon Sundowner panel van are rarely seen at car shows, so the appearance of this one - a “Sundowner that never was” - at the 2023 All Ford Day in Geelong attracted some attention, even amongst a record entry of more than 1,500 vehicles at this year’s show.

As panel van enthusiasts will know, Holden’s Sandman was the first “recreational” factory panel van to hit the market, arriving in January, 1974, just before the end of HQ Series production.

On a plain Belmont panel van base, the Sandman added various items from the Monaro, including vented guards, rally wheels and a blackout grille outside, with bucket seats, a GTS steering wheel and full instrumentation inside. The finishing touch was Pontiac GTO-inspired decals that set the tone for what was to follow, with ever lairier graphics on subsequent Sandman models.

Ford’s response to the Sandman wasn’t immediate: in fact, it took them more than three years to release a rival and Chrysler actually beat them to market by four months with their ‘Drifter’ that added selected Charger items and other sports parts to a CL Valiant panel van. The Sundowner applied a similar formula, adding a GS bonnet, grille and wheels, special graphics, bucket seat interior, full instrumentation and available 351 V8 to the XC Falcon panel van.

While they were late to the party, Ford at least offered more options for buyers, with the Sundowner package later available on the Escort panel van and Transit van, too.

While Sundowner production came to an end in 1982 with the XD Falcon, the Sundowner shown here imagines what might have been if it was still available in the late 1990s.

The base for this one-of-none creation is an XH panel van, which despite being built from 1996 to 1999, actually had the same back end as the XD van from two decades earlier. To this, the wheels, grille, bumpers and badging from an EL Falcon XR8 have been added.

Decals on this van are in a similar pattern to the XC Sundowner, while an XD Sundowner-style rear spoiler is a notable addition at the rear. Also notable are the barn doors, which by the time of the XH had replaced the horizontally split tailgate of earlier Falcon panel vans.

While this van’s creator hadn’t equipped the interior in true shaggin’ wagon style, at least not yet, there was a Sundowner-branded surfboard out front for its display at the All Ford Day.

For the JUST CARS report from the 2023 All Ford Day, click HERE.