Tinkering with an Aussie icon is one thing. Doing it with an AU Falcon is another, especially at a time when AU Falcons are incredible things online and the old bus has somehow become cool.
Digital artist Abimelec Design has had a crack anyway, this time applying the same cross-pollinated thinking seen in his earlier work by blending the AU with a contemporary US Ford performance theme.
The result is a custom AU sedan inspired by the 2003–2004 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra ‘Terminator’, part of the SN95/New Edge Mustang era. In Abimelec’s own words, the front fascia is a combination of both cars, while the side skirts and rear treatment are bespoke.
The idea also wears a bulged bonnet and large Vossen alloys, while keeping the AU’s basic New Edge shape largely intact. The Terminator connection is not random, either. The real car used a supercharged 4.6-litre DOHC V8, producing 290.8kW and 529Nm, sent through a Tremec six-speed manual, with kerb weight listed at about 1662kg.
That makes this thought experiment pretty tasty. If Ford Australia had ever built something like this for real, it would likely have landed somewhere between an AU T-Series and the stillborn AU 300+ coupe project.
And the latter famously paired a supercharged 4.6-litre quad-cam V8 with a six-speed manual, for around 310kW and 575Nm in a 1660kg package. In that sense, Abimelec’s AU Cobra does not feel completely detached from canon; it feels like an alternate branch of it.
And that is what makes his work appealing. Rather than throwing random cues at a car for shock value, he usually stays within the boundaries of Ford’s own design and engineering mythology.
Here, the AU’s controversial New Edge surfacing is not erased or apologised for. It is simply reinterpreted through a contemporaneous USDM Ford performance lens instead of local Tickford themes.
