The tipping point came when Al Gore released his new documentary: I Was Wrong. Completely repudiating An Inconvenient Truth, Gore showed in minute detail how flawed his previous views were.

The world was not actually warming, he noted,  instead it was cooling – and cooling in a way that was very likely to result in greater crop yields, more favourable rainfall patterns and political stability.

And the cause? From his documentary we learned for the first time that CO2 was proving in fact to be hugely beneficial. The greater CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere were counteracting the altered reflectivity of Earth’s surface caused by widespread urban development and farming practices.

But there were other changes, too. The Federal Government, revealing under Freedom of Information pressures previously unheard of research, showed that speed limits were set ridiculously low.  States were pressured until the open road speed limit was wound back 30 or more years, with the country road limit once again unlimited – but the onus of proof being on the driver to demonstrate that they were driving in a safe manner.

Interstate driving at 150 km/h was once again widespread.

The 40 and 50 km/h limits previously implemented in city and some urban areas were lifted to 80 km/h, and even more important for performance car enthusiasts, the laws relating to street racing were completely repealed.

Once again you could simply gun your car away from the lights at full throttle, shutting down those piss-weak four cylinders…

And developments were occurring internationally as well. The discovery of enormous volumes of tar sands – and, even more importantly, the incredibly cheap methods of extracting oil from them – meant that in one fell swoop, ideas like Peak Oil were made completely invalid.

Fuel prices immediately started dropping and it wasn’t long before a litre of petrol was again a sub-dollar price.

Australians flocked to large cars, revelling in their interior space and ability to tow the ski-boat and caravan. Rather than being the choice of only fleets (with a tiny proportion being sold to private buyers), large car sales grew enormously, families flooding back to these vehicles.

TV ads showed Dads leering over the fence at their neighbour’s new Australian large car. Bars were full of talk about the low fuel prices, impromptu street drag races and – amidst good natured jeers and laughter – how once there was concern about oil running out and the warming of Earth. 

In many ways it was like a return to the Nineteen Seventies – only better.

And into this environment Ford released the perfect car – the FG Falcon. Oh indeed it was the ideal car for the times…