A Dunedin car enthusiast believes the final Falcon is a fitting farewell to 90 years of manufacturing by Ford Australia.
The 2016 Ford Falcon XR8 Sprint is the swansong of Ford Motor Company of Australia's manufacturing operation, which began in 1926.
The final vehicles will roll down the Broadmeadows assembly line in Victoria in October.
The production of the 2016 model was limited to 850 cars, of which 100 were sent to New Zealand.
Commercial property developer and investor Robert Scott, of Saddle Hill, is the first in Otago to order the new XR8.
The 5-litre V8 engine features a unique build number plaque, revealing he is the third person in the country to get one.
Ford Australia began manufacturing Falcons in 1960 and stopped this year.
"They saved the best to last,'' Mr Scott said, inspecting the car for which he paid nearly $74,000, at Dunedin City Ford on Friday.
"If I got it for twice that, I wouldn't sell it,'' he said.
He had bought several Falcons before, his first in 1980 - a 1972 Falcon XA.
In 2001, he bought his first new Falcon, a "venom red'' XR6.
The 40-year love affair with Falcons began when Mr Scott was 15, and his father, Robert Scott, bought a 1967 Falcon XR.
The bond between man and machine became stronger after his father bought a new 1972 XA.
"They feel right and they look good. You meet some things in life that spin your wheels and they certainly do, there is no point changing . . . but that's the sad thing. This is the last one I'll ever be able to buy.''
