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Welcome to my site and thanks for dropping in.

This is my Falcon story.

"THE EARLY YEARS"

Well it started Jan 8,1960 when I was 4 years old. My Dad bought a new car, A Ford Falcon.  I did have all the paper work from the dealer but now I cant find all of it, but I do know the car cost $1,925. The only option on this car was the heater, at a whooping $68.00. The car did not even come with a radio or a cigarette lighter. The first Falcons came with a 144 cid with only 85 hp, not enough power to pull a small hill without coming to a complete stop just to change to 1st gear. By the time 1966 rolled around the engine was replaced with a remanufacture 170 cid engine. My Dad and cousin was doing the work themselves. After they bent up the swing set trying to lift the engine it was agreed to lay the engine on the ground and push the car out of the way. A few months later the 3 speed shifter broke and it was replaced with a floor shifter.  Well that shifter did not fit correctly so another brand was used, a long with a bigger hole cut in the floor board. Now  everything was working great for now.......until.

This is the original Bill of Sale, click on picture for a larger view

...You never guess what I got for my birthday!   Yelp, the old Falcon. But it was all mine. One of the first things I did was put an Eight Track tape player/speakers, glass pack muffler, and bucket seats from a Chevy Vega that I got from the junkyard. And later I found some chrome reverse wheels from a guy who had them on his Chevy II. They fit all right but the center hole was a little bit larger. So now the little "A-70's X13"  white letter tires really made the car look sporty.

"HIGH SCHOOL DAY'S"

Now I had my own car and a job pumping gas. Every payday I would spend it on something for my car, like gauges and buying more 8 track tapes. Once I put a 2-barrel carb on the little 6, it didn't go any faster just used more gas.  I wrecked it on a rainy day after school, The car rolled over on it's side in a ditch, smashed in the 1/4 panel, broken the windshield, put a dent in the front fender, but somehow the door came through without a scratch. I went and got another windshield from the junkyard and drove it banged up until the next school year where I took a body shop class and I repaired the damage and  while I was at it I put a scoop from a '66 GTO on the hood. Then repainted it a gold color. This guy I worked with said they was a Falcon in there backyard that was junk and if I could start it up he would give it to me. I went to look at it to see if I wanted it or not. It was a '63 fordor with a V8! Just what I was wanting. (...the motor, not the four door) After about 30 minutes trying to get it to run I decide it had to be the coil. I took my coil off my car and put it on the other car, sure enough the '63 fired right up. I pumped up the tires and took it home and started taking it apart. About that time I was about to graduate from school, my family and friends was giving me money for graduation. More money to help pay the cost of rebuilding the V8. I though I had a 260 but after getting the heads off I knew by the bore it was a 289. I read in a Hot Rod Magazine how to make a 'cheap' shift kit under a dollar, remove a ball bearing / stick a cotter pin in a hole in the valve body to hold back a spring. Now I could hit passing gear (..2-speed trans.) at 60 mph and almost go through the windshield. In other words, it wasn't pleasant. I bought a 4 speed from a guy my sister's boyfriend knew. I found some black slotted mag's that came off a Maverick Grabber but I had to use an adapter up front to go from a 4 to 5 lug. I threw away the front end from the 63 along with the rest of the car. The Thrust side pipes was acquired from a friend who worked at a auto part's store. He had a '64 Falcon  with a 6 cyl with a bad transmission. I told him that I'll would rebuild his trans if he gave me the side pipes that was on his other car. A deal was made. I took out his trans, took it home and threw it in the shed, got my old 6 cyl. trans out of the shed, ate a sandwich, went back to install it in the '64. To this day that guy still thinks that I can rebuild a transmission real fast. The best part was it went rite in the first try with no problems.

"THE ENGINE"

This is a early 5 bolt 289 cubic inch small block. It is bored 0.040 over and TRW 10 1/2 to 1 forged pistons with Perfect Circle rings, the crank has been turn and polish along with the rods been shot pinned and true. The fuel lines are 3/8" from the tank to carb. A Holley high volume mechanical fuel pump and the 5130 Holley 650 cfm duel line double pumper dumps the fuel into an Edelbrock Tarantula manifold that I bought new back in the mid 70's. A Mallory duel point distributor also from the 70's still fires the Autolite's. As you can see in the photo above the Mickey Thompson valve covers are also from the same time period. The heads are from a '68 302. I had them ported and shaved and the valves have been replaced with stainless steel Chevy valves along with harden seats. Roller rockers from Cam Dynamics requiring valve guides and chrome molly pushrods. The cam is a Erson hydraulic with a 497 lift and 280 duration. The exhaust is Hooker

The rear end is a 9" with the common 28 spine axle from a '68 Cougar with a 3:70 gear from a '76 F150 truck. I do have a 4:57 that could be put installed in case I needed or wanted. The rear wheel openings was cut for the wide rearend and the sharp edges was finished with 1/2" electrical conduit and fiberglass to give it a stock looking appearance. The driveshaft was custom made from a local racing shop. The transmission is a Borg-Warner T-10  4 speed from a '66 Fairlane. A Hurst competition plus shifter manipulates the gears.

In 1976 I bought a new Cougar and parked the Falcon in the backyard. It was just getting around 7-9 mpg because of the 4:57 gear, (along with something breaking every time). I didn't do nothing with the Falcon until '89 when I started to restore some of the major things that was in need to get back on the road. I rebuilt the engine, I also replaced the weatherstripping around the doors and windshields along with new window channels. I had my wife sew up a headliner, replaced the carpet, made some door panels from 1/8" plywood and vinyl. One day while looking in the junkyard I found some bucket seats and console from a '62 Falcon Futura. Later on, in 1994  I bought a '69 Mach I and shifted my attention to it. Looking for parts one day for the Mustang, I found a '69 Boss 302 body, stripped the 'stang to fix the Boss, sold the Boss, (...I miss it too), pulled out the Falcon again. This time around the poor little Falcon was in need for a floor, the fuel tank was also rusting, the brake lines was leaking from the rust. I replaced the floor and had the fuel tank dipped and sealed, and replaced the brake lines along with everything else to do with the brakes. I got the parts from  Melvin's Classic Ford Parts (770-981-2357), just 20 mile from here. These guy's are great to deal with and they know Falcons. I replaced the front shocks with Mustang shocks because they are about half the price of Falcon shocks. The top mount had to be a Mustang part and the bolts that hold the mount down are bigger too.

"WHAT'S NEXT?"

I got a lot of things that I would like to do with my Falcon to make it more enjoyable to drive. Like installing Granada disk brakes up front, with a Geo power brake booster. I can see a bigger radiator is in the future too! The seats are about shot, the foam is rotten and falling out. My 6 cyl suspension is touching the starter just enough to scratch the paint off of it. I'm also going to be checking in using the Granda 1" sway bar with LTD end links and Mustang LX mounts.

Here is some other Falcon related links:

Generator to Alternator conversion

 - Ford Falcon On The Web - Autokrafters - Classic Ford Sales  - Obsolete Ford Parts Company - Original Falcon Interiors - Dearborn Classics - Falcon Enterprises - Falconman - Northwest Classic Falcons - Kanter Auto Products-  - Red's Headers & Early Ford Speed Equipment  - Dennis Carpenter Reproductions -  FoMoCo Obsolete - Mike Dennis Ford Parts - Highway Classics - Mac's Antique Autoparts - Midland Auto Products - Meto Mustang - Springs 'n Things - Jim Osborn Repoductions - Falcon Vin Decoder Page

"Something To Play With While You're Here"