Gene Winfield created a custom 1963 Falcon, The Franciscan, for The Ford Custom Car Caravan. I recently picked up a copy of Rod & Custom, August 1964, which had an article by Gene on creating lift-up door handles for this car. Outside of one color photo from the Fall 1965, Popular Customs, and short black and white piece from the Spotlight Books, Custom Compacts, I don't ever recall seeing a full feature on this car. Anyone know if the car still exists?
I remember that car, thanks for posting that.... I bought a 63 Falcon new, 260 v8 and 4sp, fun car, added some Shelby perf. parts to the motor, headers, duals, it ran great for such a little motor.... Later traded it for a 67 chevelle, 327, 4sp, way faster car.... But loved that little Falcon while I had it....
By coincidence, the other night I was watching an awful 1965 beach movie, called Beach Ball. It featured the Silhouette in an action scene, and quite a few other show cars of the day at an indoor car show. I spotted the Barris Surf Woodie among others. And beneath the "Ford Custom Car Caravan" sign, and behind a potted palm tree, I think I spied the kandy green fender of...The Franciscan!
Send Gene a PM at "Gene Winfield Rod&Custom" here on the HAMB and ask him direct. He may be able to provide the information you are seeking.
I was thinking the Aussies styled their more recent Falcons after it when I saw the steering wheel on the right.
We didn't have rectangular h/lights in the 60's,i like the car,but those lights don't do those curves justice,tmo anyway !
No square legal headlights in the 60's.... I think they are lucas accessory lights? Or European at least.
The front looks very European Ford. Can't remember the model but I used to see lots of older Fords with a similar front clip in Finland.
HA! Not unless it's a total wreck! I remembered the car from small pics of the Ford Custom Car Caravan and just wondered whatever happened to it. I don't ever recall seeing a magazine feature on it. If it's still around, I'd love to see it, just because it's a Gene Winfield creation.
As for the rectangular lights, around 1963-5, French Cibie lights started appearing on custom show cars. They were a rectangular light in a chrome oval surround.
It's definitely a U.S. Ford Falcon. The point of the Ford Custom Car Caravan was to sell Fords. All the restyled cars in the show carried Ford logos and were worked in more-or-less Ford styling themes. Some of the other cars were Dean Jeffries Python Falcon, George Barris' Starburst Landau Fairlane, Bill Cushenberry's Astro Galaxie, and the Alexander Brother's Alexa Galaxie 500. Gene Winfield also created the Pacifica truck for the Custom Car Caravan, and well as the '65 Comet Cyclone Sportster for the Lincoln-Mercury Caravan.
I thought I read that most of them were crushed, since they were basically 'concept cars' and Ford would have to pay taxes on them to keep them. Kind of like the Chrysler turbine cars. I can't remember where I read it, so I can't prove it. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Wonder'n that one myself? Possible the color pic is flipped? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Here's my only photo of it. You can barely see the steering wheel on the left so the color pic in the first post was probably flipped. I shot this in 1966. I'm 99% sure it was at a show at the Cinerama Dome movie theater in Hollywood, CA. The display was during the first run of a racing movie -- probably Grand Prix.
I'm pretty sure that story about crushing the Chrysler Turbine cars to dodge import duties was a myth. They felt they had to get rid of them to avoid liability and demand for replacement parts which would have been a nightmare. It was easier just to crush them. If they really wanted to sell them they could have sold them outside the US. In the case of the Ford show cars they were all built in the US so what import duties would there be?
Yes, the color pic is flipped. And I'm the culprit! I pulled my original copy of Popular Customs, Fall 1965 and rescanned the whole page. While I was at it, I found at least five cars in that magazine with the new Cibie rectangular headlights and a how-to article on installing them.
As for crushing show-cars, Ford and GM did do that often, but not always. One reason was liability; many were not engineered for road-worthiness. They also did not want the public looking at styles that were never to be offered after the show season ended. In the case of the Custom Car Caravan, those cars were the property of the customizers, I believe. Several have survived: Gene Winfield's Pacifica truck, for one. I had the opportunity to ask Dean Jeffries about the Python a few years ago. He told me that he thought the car was still in existence and had been trying to track it down, as it was one of his favorites.
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