Features Falcons done right?

Damn this looks good. got any more pics and info mate? Im building a similar thing at the moment except not so shiny haha.

its an xk and is bagged (in the process of anyway) with a 221 aswell.









just about ready for rego

been chasing one myself for a long time now. finally managed to find one a month ago and picked it up about 2 weeks ago.

needs work but you cant be picky with these bloody things, especially when theyre windowless



it keeps my ute company at the moment haha

 

I did the conversion on mine. The engine is a '68 block. The tranny is from a 1986 mustang SVO. I relocated the shifter to the front location. It comes out of the floor in the sweet spot right where a stock shifter should have been.

I'm getting around 20MPG with my tri-power and 3:80 gears

 

OK...I don't really know shit about Falcons....

....but I just bought this one!

So can anybody tell me about it. I think it's a '62. But the side trim on the front fender is throwing me for a loop. I can't seem to find a whole lot of other examples on the net with side trim like this.

 

Yep, it's a '62. And a kinda rare one too, not that any body cares. What you have is an early production "Sports Futura". You'll probably find when you decode the plate that it was built between say October of '61 and Feburary of '62, 'cause not too soon there after they came out with an entirely different roofline that mimiced the Thunderbird with it's squared off rear window. My car is the later version and it was built in April. Forget trying to find correct stuff to restore it to stock if the arm rests and door panels and stuff are bad. They don't exist, and there is a grand total of about 8 of us that care about these cars. If you how ever decide to part that bad boy, I do need the left door trim for mine I replaced the door and didn't pull the trim off the old one, and somehow the old door disappeared... Wish I could tell you the car is worth millions because of it's relative rarity, but like I said, 'bout only 8 of us know or care.

 

Hmmm....rare....who knew..."Sports Futura"....hmmm

It don't matter....I'm gonna gut it and make a gasser out of it!

I may opt to go full glass fenders, hood, doors, and decklid to shave the weight off of it. If so then I'd gladly sell you all of the above.

Honestly it's really not a good enough car to 'restore'. The interior is roached. There is no motor or trans. The rear end is not the original. The front floors are rotted a bit. The rear quarters have some rust through down low and the typical driveway body filler fix.

 

I am the new 9th member.
Thanks for sharing that interesting info Mr Louvers

 

Funny, that seems to be the fate of early Sports Futuras on the HAMB.

 

I love that car!

 

Man if you do let me know please! I started de-chroming mine years ago, and abou the time the door dissapeared from my yard was when I thought maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep the trim... Could use the drivers side stainless door window trim too if that comes off.

I honestly wish that my car wasn't as complete and as "rare" as it is, 'cause if it was a base level bubble back window car it would be in gasser trim real quickly. I have always thought that sort of thing was way cool. But I did resist Pro Streeting this car back in the eighties, and I damn near cut it up pretty hard to get serious about SCTA land speed stuff in the nineties. It's been with me so long now that I just can't bring myself to do anything permenent any one radical dirrection or the other with it.

When I finally get back to it again, it'll be stock boddied except hood and deck trim and a louvered hood again, turbo'd 250 in. six with a T-5 behind it, lowered as it has always been, and primed or possibly painted black over it's red interior. A set of 16" Halibrand sports wheels and it'll be done.

 

OK you got dibs.

 

Quick question for you Falconers. Tomorrow I'm looking at a '60 Ranchero with the 144 and stick. Pix show a straight body and a good interior.

Is $3000 too much to pay for a vehicle like that? I've been looking for a '64 Comet for several months but haven't found one I like.

I've always wanted a Ranchero.

 

Not too bad a price as long as everything is there and workable. I would kinda expect it to be fairly close to driver status for that money.

 

Here's my ranchero we just finished building, pretty much a falcon.

 

Reaper kid.saw your ranchero at my local show last weekend [back to brunswick]....looking good congratulations nice job .My sedan delivery should be back on the road in the next couple of weeks .

 

saw this on OzRodders. very cool ute mate

 

very cool delivery mate. got any other pics?

 

Sounds reasonable to me. I have been screening Craigslist for Falcons for a few months in a 75-mile radius. I use the free software, SearchTempest and bookmark possibilities.

I have noticed that in my area, Falcon prices are all over the map, but $3000-4500 seems to be the sweet spot for nice, clean, low-rust drivers.

 

Thanks! I didn't know about Search Tempest.

 

I should be able to drive it today. I must admit I'm a little worried about the power of a 144. I've always had V8s.

 

It certainly isn't a V8...but they will move that light little car down the road fairly good. I had a 170 (the next step up from the 144) in my '65 Sedan and I loved it. Economical, dead reliable and easy as all heck to work on and get parts for....and cheap to! I think the 144 was around 85 to 90 hp while the 170 was at 105 hp, but they had lots of torque....tons of it! I've pulled a car or two out of the mud or ditches with mine before.....with that "granny" like first gear in those little 3-speeds

..Of course I was a kid and would never do that now

Those little 3-speed gearboxes are also great transmissions. They are really small, stout and surprisingly light. They also have a great sound to them...they have the heavy gear drive "whine" like an old truck. First gear is also straight cut and non-syncro...so you can't just down shift into first on the fly with double clutching or coming to a complete stop....and it will complain if you try

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

it'll only give you a few warnings though. peanut trannys don't take abuse well! in fact, i think the one i put in my '62 is having issues. might have to pull it and put the old one back in. that's what i get for not taking the top off and having a look inside.

 

Dad tought me how to drive a stick shift 1960 Falcon...going back and forth in the driveway "practising" I only crashed into the porch once....Fond memories.

 

Your welcome ...wanted to save you the headaches of trying to figure "Why won't this trans down shift into first?" *grind, grind*...and your new trans too

That is true, but they were stouter then they are given credit I think. They are certainly not a A-833, a T-10 or a Muncie.....but they were a sturdy little gearbox.

I missed a few with mine...and "forgot" about that no syncro thing once or twice .....but mine still looks great inside.

I guess it all depends on the transmission..and what kind of life it had previously

Now clutches...those are another story. I had the WORST time with those...my '65 would go through them like it did oil filters. They would just start to chatter, keep getting worse and eventually just let loose.

Went through 10 or 11...had everything checked, double and triple check everytime and never found out why. Most of the Falcon guys I have talked to didn't have any idea either....never even heard of one doing that.

The 6-cylinder clutches tend to chatter a little bit starting first, but mine was something else.

...must just be my car

 

damn. i hadn't given a thought to the CLUTCH being bad. hmmm. HMMM. shit. i started the '62 and drove it about fifty feet (backyard into driveway) and it had a rythmic knocking sound (not the engine) while running in gear with the clutch in. clutch out, it still made the sound but not so loud; out of gear, it went away. while running, the engine just has plain old lifter chatter (144 has solid lifters). clutch bad?

sort of stops me doing the planned work for now.... doesn't something ALWAYS?

 

Doesn't sound like the clutch itself...sounds more like a Release or "Throw-Out" bearing to me. It could be bad or it may have lost the little spring clips that hold the bearing to the clutch fork. My '65 did that allot..would shear both spring clips then the release bearing would just spin around on the input shaft housing when the clutch was depressed.

When my Dad was a kid, he and his buddies used to test clutches for slippage by winding it out in 1st and shifting straight in to 3rd while going up a shallow grade. You will know right away if the clutch is slipping.

When the clutch was good in my '65, it would lug down and just bulldoze up grades like that without a falter.

 

TOB seems to be the problem from what i'm hearing back. the car has been sitting idle most of the time since i installed the tranny, so i'm thinking that's the issue.

 

I check this thread out every time it comes back. Found a couple of old Polaroids from the mid '70's this weekend. The red convert was my buddy's. He paid under a grand for his running. I bought my white Futura in Maysville, KY with a grenaded 6 banger for $600.00, delivered to Cinti. I sold it a couple years later to a guy who just walked into the shop. It was just a used car then. Those were the days.

 

On the clutch issue: What about the clutch adjustment and the Z bar?

 

Thanks mate we had an awesome weekend down there! Always loved deliverys, hope its on the road for ya soon bud.