John Robertson has been a Ford man for 25 years, but it's not only him and his fellow Ford drivers who were disappointed with the car company's announcement it will cease manufacturing in Australia in October 2016.
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Not even his arch-rival, Holden-driving friends have capitalised on the announcement.
It was ''a mate who has a Monaro'' who called Mr Robertson on Thursday to break the news. He was calling not to gloat, but to lament the announcement with him.
"He wasn't too impressed that Ford was going to shut down, because obviously that's going to ruin the rivalry between people who like Fords and people who like Holdens," he said.
Mr Robertson's first car was a Ford XB Ute, which he still owns. He also has a limited edition 1978 XC Cobra, as well as a Falcon XR8, and is disappointed the Falcon brand will be disappearing.
But the bulk of his objection comes from the fact there hasn't been more done to preserve the market for local car manufacturers.
"I was disappointed more than anything that the Australian government's going to allow this to happen, they're not going to step in and say 'all right, this is the problem, let's do something about it', they're going to say, 'who gives a rat's' and just let it go.
"I'd like to see the government actually start putting tariffs back on these Kias and everything else that come into Australia and take the taxes off the Falcon … to make it so it's more affordable for people to have them.
"How do you compete with Thailand and all that when they make a car for three bucks and send it over here?
"[If] they keep importing all these cheap cars from overseas, then what are we going to make in Australia? Nothing. We'll have to import everything.
"At the end of the day we're all going to be driving around in Kias and Cherys," he said, referring to the Korean and Chinese car companies.
