Final publicly-available Territory auctioned for $68,500

While the very last Territory built will go into Ford's Heritage Collection, the unit offered by Manheim was the last publicly-available Territory produced at Broadmeadows before the assembly line shut down for good on 7 October.

The Territory, a seven-seat RWD Titanium variant with the 2.7 turbo diesel V6, 6-speed auto transmission, 18-inch wheels and finished in Lightning Strike metallic silver, was joined by three Falcons for the Manheim Final4 auction.

While perhaps the least desirable of the four Australian-made vehicles offered, the last publicly-available Territory still represented a chance to get a genuine piece of Ford and Australian manufacturing history, as the Territory has been the only Australian designed and built SUV.

The vehicle came with a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Ford of Australia CEO Graeme Whickman, as well as a special in-vehicle plaque identifying it as the last saleable vehicle of its kind, produced at Broadeadows on 7 October, 2016.

In front of an enthusiastic crowd of buyers and invited guests at a special space at Avalon airport on the afternoon of 15 October, bidding on the Territory started at $50,000, then progressed rapidly up to $61,000 before bidding stalled.

Kicking off again, bidding rolled along to $64,000 and almost sold at $67,500 before a couple of last-minute bids saw the final price of $68,500 achieved.

The final floor price represents a premium of more than $15,000 over the regular list price of a new Territory in Titanium specification.

 

Combined with the totals achieved by two of the three Falcons, proceeds from the sale of the Territory (minus taxes) will be split between schools in Broadmeadows and Geelong to fund a number of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) initiatives, specifically Student Robotics Programs.

 

The combined total from all four vehicles sold today was $353,000.