The new Mustang has just arrived Down Under, and it’s already sold out. Yes, Ford Australia has taken orders for 4,000 examples of the right-hand-drive version of its pony car, deposits paid. That volume will take until the very end of 2016 to supply. Consider it a throwback to when a black XB GT Ford Falcon was king. Big, rear-drive, Ford V8 muscle. The new Mustang sensation is Mad Max redux.
The model mix is pretty much what you’d expect from the country that invented the word “hoon.” Eighty-six percent of ‘Stralian ‘Stangs were spec’d in GT trim (read: 5-liter V8, 435-horsepower) and most of those as fastbacks rather than the convertibles. The latter’s probably because it’s too hard to fit little corks all the way around the fabric top. Or because of its vulnerability to drop bears. Ford Australia president and CEO, Graeme Whickman, went so far as say it’s “probably our closest equivalent to the Beatles first trip to Australia.”
Clearly, the globalized Mustang is working for the Blue Oval in Oz. Still, let’s temper that joy with sorrow for the creeping homogenization that’s felled the Falcon: That car was a true blue Aussie, born and bred to scorch through the Outback in Pursuit Special guise, flying Main Force Police livery and trailing clouds of dust amidst the ‘roos. Sure, an American pony can gallop just as well. But we’ll miss the car from Snowy River.