Well. After about a year of lurking the boards, i finally have something to post about. I'm buying this 62 Falcon 2 door wagon. My landlord has owned it for the last 20 years. He bought it at an estate sale when the original owners passed away. It's got 80,000 miles. Only 10,000 on the motor (you can still see the cross hatch from boring the cylinders). I have the head off because i snapped 4 exhaust manifold bolts. Welded nuts to three of them and turned them out. still working on number four which i have drilled. It's a through hole and the corrosion is really bad from water pooling at the top of the bolt. But the good news is the body is in really good shape. He had the floors done and rust proofed a long time ago. A couple of small holes in the bottom of the passenger side fender and quarter. A couple of dents, and some heavy surface rust on the hood/rear bumper. But all in all very very solid. Keep in mind, this is a New England car that has seen year round use for at least the last 20 years. Probably it's whole life. It's got the small 144 six. Three on the tree. Not a single option that i can see. Radio delete and everything. I only have space for one car, so this is my daily. I've been riding on two wheels the last year, laid off and in school. No money for a car. But with some tires, a cleaned up carb, brakes to be on the safe side, and some gaskets and head bolts, I'll have my first running driving jalopy for under 3,000
I (or I should say, my girlfriend) just picked up a '62 Ranchero That from the colors and condition could be the spiritual twin to your car. I've also had a '62 62c Sport coupe for almost 30 years now, so I can definitely tell you these cars can grow on you! Our trucklet is getting new floors, and friend and I just finished an adapter to run a Borg Warner T50 five speed trans. Get it all working and enjoy!
The colors in the interior are not color matched to the outside of the car. They were the standard color for non matched interior as far as i know. Someone told me you see a lot of strippo's in brown because it matched the interior fairly well Thanks for all the positive feedback everyone. I'll use it as ammo to prove to my girlfriend that it really is a cool car I'll post some updates as i go
Then put me down as another positive feedback. BTW, this is just another example how cars are better than girls. I've NEVER heard of a guy's car giving him shit about who he dates. -Bill
love those falcon wagons. i had a '62 comet for a while. good little cars. those 144s dont have much to give, but they will run forever.
That would actually be a beater but its just semantics I guess A good friend when I was younger was a surfer. He had one of those that we drove everywhere from the tip of Baja North at one time or another. Gawd knows how many miles it had on it but it was a cool surf wagon. Tuff litte old cars.
Naw man, I just meant the colors were so faded, the two cars look almost identical! Ours was purchased with the motor sitting alongside as well, so the front end is way up high too... I have been instructed to NOT lower this car,( everything I build is lowered quite a bit) but some how that front end is going to find it's way quite substantially down by the time the engine goes in. As far as convincing the girlfriend - mine has been begging for a Ranchero since she saw a friend's three years ago, or a wagon. She is from Hong Kong and had no automotive knowledge before we met about five years ago, and actually was afraid to go out with me because my '48 Plymouth was (is) kinda loud and scongy looking! What kind of guy doesn't drive a new car, right? So there is some hope for her to come around. 'Course if she doesn't, I did tell mine early on that old cars are allot harder to come by than young women....
Rhode Island is actually it's own state Super clean! That little 144 is gonna be in there a good long time. Maybe a big 300 six in the far far future.
You just sold me on painting the little 13" steelies black. I was thinking maybe red, but black with the thin white walls is the way to go. Your car looks great!
Here's a pic if mine. I sold it quite a few years ago. I should have kept it. I prefer the thicker whitewalls.
Also throw it in here... "...Falcons done right...": http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80033&highlight=hot+rods+falcons+done+right&page=86 You can definitely remove the rust and preserve the old paint on the hood and bumper. Start with CLR first. See this patina wagon done like tht and then clear coated... "...1961 Chevrolet Parkwood "OLD GOLD" 108k Original Miles "Patina Rod"..." http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=520460&highlight=project+old+gold
Nice 2 door! I've put just about 2400 miles on her so far. All in all, can't complain. A few minor things to do here and there, but she gets me to work and back every day. Albeit in the slow lane ;-P Fantastic in the snow too. Course i do have some uber skinny snow tires. 155 width
Welcome. Lots of cool shit going on in New England. My 16 y.o. has a 62 Comet we are working on. I would recomend tffn.net lots of good info. Todd
Got rear ended by an Escelade today. His Recovery hook hit my bumper. Didn't bother with any claims as the rear bumper is pretty rusty (read it has a couple of holes). I was sitting at a dead stop and so was he. Then he gassed it while I kept my foot firmly planted on the brake pedal... But...Autozone was out of those nice fuel filters with the 90 degree inlet, so to fit the straight filter in i had to put in a temporary loop of hose. The shock from the impact jostled it, and the way it fell, it kinked the hose. So as soon as i went to open her up on the highway, she sputtered and died. Babied it almost home when it completely died. Pushed it a half a mile to a parking lot and then discovered the kink. did i mention the day started with the electric garage door opener dieing? Oh, and the key to open it manually, well, the whole tumbler was spinning inside the housing. 40 minutes standing under the edge of the roof with melting snow dripping on me. But also, the cutout contact in my voltage regulator has decided that it doesn't want to engage until the generator gets some good revs in her. Murphy was in full force today! but hey, I'm in one piece, and so is the old girl, mostly.
Sounds like one of my days man! Hope the car isn't too badly hurt. Be closely checking everything on the back of the car in the next day or so.
that is a slick little wagon. i have a 63 falcon im buildin as my daily driver too. i like those old wagons. i almost bought one but got a better deal on a sedan
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