Projects 1962 Ford Falcon Deluxe

Ok, in another thread, I was inspired to write a synopsis as to where I’m headed with my ‘62. I thought I’d re-post here:

It’s not radical, but my mindset is to make the car what I might have if I’d bought it new in ‘62. I’m a young professional and a family man, so gassers and radical customs are out of the picture for me.

I’m not hesitating to update things where they will remain hidden, but it’s important to me that the aesthetic remain all pre-Beatles. I’m installing the 200ci engine from a ‘65 Mustang, but it is externally almost identical to the 144/170ci engines available in the era. I haven’t decided on hop ups, but a period Offenhauser 3x1 intake is likely.

I really like driving a column shifter, and thankfully I’ve acquired the knowhow to put a Borg-Warner T86/R10 3-speed overdrive behind the Falcon six. I figure our early sixties family man could have hauled a ‘57 Ford overdrive trans out of the junkyard even more easily than I got one off Craigslist.

I’m running 14-inch wheels off a Maverick, which didn’t exist in the early-‘60s, but mounted with skinny whitewalls and ‘52 Ford hubcaps they look right in time with the car. A guy in the era would more likely have run 7.00-13s on the stock wheels instead, but theoretically could have done a five-lug swap to get 14s. Another option might have been Nash Rambler 4-lug wheels, which were 15-inch.

A slight lowering is in the cards, probably with cut coils in front and a pair of lowering blocks in the back. Definitely period stuff.

I will be running disc brakes in the front and a dual-jar master cylinder, but that’s largely an out-of-sight-out-of-mind thing, and IMHO a wise move given that today, unlike the early ‘60s, 9.5 out of 10 drivers are also running discs and expect you to be.

The interior on the ‘62 will be taken from the ‘61 Futura I’m currently driving, which will be glaringly obvious to the Falconoscenti, but won’t jump out at people. It’s certainly a plausible period installation.

I’m even running a factory pushbutton AM radio that I had modified with an aux jack. Most people aren’t going to have a clue that my car is anything other than a restoration, but that’s ok. My goal is to have something that resembles a perfected version of the car; much like you saw in period advertising. A period-style tachometer from New Vintage USA is the only thing that will say “modified” to the casual observer.

Paint seems to be a serious issue with nostalgia guys lately, with some arguing that nobody voluntarily ran primer on the street, and others really liking it on period builds. I’ve gone back and forth on it myself. I really, really like flat paint on the right car. It’s probably not period-correct to aspire to flatskin on a finished car, but it really does look good in certain circumstances.

Another advantage is that flat paint resembles the old, worn-out paint so many of us treasure on time-capsule cars recovered from barns, garages, and desert abandonment. In salty regions of the country, flat is about as close as most of us are going to get to patina.

That being said, I think gloss is the only option on my car. It’s in primer currently, and a professional paint job is not in the cards at the moment. I’m also not set up to spray at home. There’s still a lot of time to decide, but I’m currently leaning toward a Rustoleum roller job in Royal Blue. It won’t be perfect, but it will protect the sheetmetal (priority no. 1 for me) and should be presentable.

Sorry if I got a little long winded.

-Dave

 

I had a 61 Falcon in 1969. It was a light blue 2dr with a 144 and three-on-the-tree.

The paint was shiny, but the enamel those days was nothing like the 2 stage stuff we have now in terms of gloss.

In 69, the first thing I did was to use 13" early Corvair rims (6" wide) with some "low profile" C78-13 glass belted tires. I added baby moons and trim rings to the black wheels. I also removed the front bumper. I figured that the car needed the weight reduction and the Falcon had a decent looking valance under there.

For the ultimate in high performance, I installed a Thrush glass pack and a Cal custom air filter. After I had saved a few bucks, I also added a universal 3-spd floor shifter that I bought at K-mart.

I drove it that way for the better part of a year and eventually sold it on to another kid for the princely sum of $150.

 

Nicest Falcon body style, that cove on the sides lends itself nicely to a two tone (or three with the roof lighter) paint job. Good score !!

 

Thought of you and our Falcon projects the other day. Going back to 14" tires to fit wheels with more off set. A friend of ours sent some photos from Bejing a few weeks back, and instead of noticing poeple, naturally, I noticed that the "DUBS" craze has yet to hit capitol China. Most cars seemed to be running around on 14" wheels and... Wait for it... Thin line white walls!

Did some research and found Hankook makes a 175/70-14 that is sold here in the states, has a narrow white wall and looks the part of an older tire. And not destined to be discotinued any time soon. I saw this tire in the flesh at Good Guy's two weeks ago, and even though it's a 70 series, it looks great and figures in at about 24 1/4" tall. Just about right. Only about 65-70 bucks a copy too.

I'm normally some one who wouldn't buy Chinese made stuff, but if you noticed in my thread on the girl friend putting her engine in, I have become allot more comfortable with that idea.(Hint, she's from Hong Kong!) Plus they look to be very nice quality. I know that they will solve some fender clearance issues for us, might do the same for you.

 

The more I ponder this tire issue, the more I question whether I will lower the front of these birds at all. I really like the 195/75/14s currently on the ‘61, I just don’t care for the tail-up stance it has at the moment. A pair of lowering blocks alone might satisfy me.



I’m definitely glad to know about the 175/70/14s, though, as it remains a possibility that when the ‘61 gets a V8 it may also get a rubber rake.

-Dave

 

What's the bolt patten on these falcons?

 

4 on 4.5"

-Dave

 

Love that Falcon! Have fun with it.

 

I think it'll look good just lowered in the back- like a small, vintage runabout boat plowing through the water, if you will.

 

Brought home the '62:



To share garage space with the '61:



Which should hopefully permit me to nibble off a little work each evening.

-Dave

 

Baby steps. While the '61 was warming up this morning, I quickly jacked up the front of the '62 and yanked the wheels. If the lugnuts were any indication, though, I'm going to have to take advantage of the sale at the auto parts store on PB Blaster.

 

Well, after monkeying around all summer, the '62 is back on four wheels and wearing disc brakes:







Still trying to figure out the anti-rattle clips. *Anyone have an '89 Cavalier shop manual laying around?

 

You might be able to find one online easily enough.

 

Awsome decals! where did ya find 'em?

 

I love these cars so much potential to do what ever you want with Gasser Kustom Slamed etc..

 

Do I see another license plate paint job? Killer car!

 

The Photoshop thread! I'm hoping I can find someone to make them up for real.

You bet. The '62 seems to be trending toward a 500XL-inspired phantom performance model; and the '61 is going to be a gasser.

If I find a '62 plate!

 

Lemme see what I have.....

 

Craigslist deal:



'70 Maverick Grabber 8". Should hold up better to the 250 than the Falcon rear.

 

One thing about a Falcon parts have come a long way you can do just about anything you want with these little Birds and you can get a set of nice rubber under them

 

My 250 on its way home yesterday.

 

Sorted out all the parts for the '62 Friday night in preparation to haul it down to Street Dreams Speed & Custom. Discovered this on the top of my front bumper:



It says Selfridge, which is an Air National Guard base near Detroit. I assume that means it's been a Michigan car since at least 1968.

Saturday morning, my father-in-law and a square bird owning friend helped me load everything.



It was hard to turn things loose, but I'm looking forward to seeing some progress!

 

Good progress David. Keep us posted. Hope to see you Wednesday to hear all about it.

 

A weekend update:

I went down to visit the Falcon on Saturday and bring streetdreams (John) some parts: a pair of Autolite 2100s, a Classic Inlines 2V adapter, the glass, and the alternator bracketry off a 250 I bought off a friend for parts:



When I got down there, the first thing I noticed was that John had some lines taped on the hood:



Turns out things are a little tight when shoehorning a 250 into the engine bay of a Roundbody Falcon. The air-horn on the carburetor is touching one of the hood braces.

You can see how much height the 250 and the Classic Inlines intake add to the engine:



If this were a '60 or '61, I think there's a good chance the front edge of the valve cover might cause a problem as well. We kicked around a few ideas, including splicing in the hood bulge from another Ford car - potentially a '52-'54 Merc to gain some more room.

I really hate to mess up the stock lines of this car, though, and so I've been racking my brain since I came home as to what I can do to keep the hood stock. I am inspired by the '60s Mileage Maker sixes found in full-size Ford products, which also had hood-clearance issues:



There's obviously no room for that large air-filter unit on the side due to the shock tower, but look how closely the top of the air-cleaner housing resembles a carb hat for a forced-induction setup:



I think I'm going to see if we can't do something that's a cross between the Mileage Maker six air cleaner and the VS 57 ductwork. I'm really hoping to create a factory appearance in the engine bay.

All in all, it was great to see the car coming together. This is the first time I've seen it with an engine in it, and it's kind of exciting to see the trans hump and firewall cut away to clear the mild engine setback that John is incorporating to permit a mechanical fan:







The next update will be when I get all the clutch linkage and the three-speed column shift pulled out of my '61. I need to keep the '61 together for a couple more weeks until my daughter is out of school.

 

I'm running 15-7" wheels on the front of my 60 Wagon without probs can't remember the tires off the top of my head

 

By slotting your mounts a bit and dropping stuff down you can get that 250 a good inch or so lower. Are those the Maverick style mount that are in right now? Most I've seen use the early or '62 style mounts. I do have one of the Milage Maker six air filter housings around the shop here, but I do think that you will be better off going to one the bonnet style hats with a tube running forward and a filter out side the engine compartment. Might as well kill two birds with one stone, and keep cool air in the intake tract.

 

The engine is on Maverick mounts now. Per the Schjeldahl book, we sought them out first thing.

I agree. I think this one looks sufficiently factory (or will once painted to match the valve cover):

 

Mini update: With the engine in its final position it looks like we may be able to get away with just clearancing the hood braces and not modifying the skin of the hood.* This is much more to my liking.* We had a good plan for subtle hood mods, but the stocker the better as far as the sheetmetal goes on this one.

Also, Mr. Model T sketched up this plan for a remote air cleaner setup.* The filter canister is from a Twin H Hudson or Studebaker V8 turned upside down:



I'm kinda back to waffling between the hot-rod look and the factory look under the hood.* The carb hat I'm planning to buy is polished and it seems like a shame to paint it...

 

Not* sure* where* all* the* asterisks* came* from*...