Laurie Ford in 1935. Source: Morris Museum
If you’ve been keeping track of the evolution of our household fleet so far, as of mid-1961 it still included my father’s ’58 Plymouth station wagon (already showing the first signs of the tin worm) and mother’s ’57 Chevy Bel Air sedan, making us a typical two-car suburban family for the first time, although perhaps not stereotypical, as I was an only child and there were no pets in the household either.
I don’t remember the actual sequence of events, just that my father and I ended up at the only new-car dealer in town. Laurie Ford, established in 1925, was located on Speedwell Avenue next to the Morris Plains, NJ railroad station.
The red-brick showroom had large plate glass windows and room to display three or four 60s-sized vehicles. On the day of our visit, I was transfixed by the sight of a cutaway 406 V8 on a stand in one corner. I had never been up close to an automobile engine before, let alone one that had been painstakingly prepared to show off the latest in Ford’s evolving eight-cylinder offerings.
Ford’s 406. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_406_TriPower.jpg
Alas, there would be no 406- or any Ford V8, for that matter- under the hood of our next family car, which didn’t even offer an optional V8 at the time. No, the Ford in our immediate future would be a Falcon.
After it was determined that a Falcon would fill the bill as Dad’s next new car, extraneous trim such as whitewalls, full wheel covers, or a vinyl roof weren’t even considered. Instead, he took delivery of a 1962 Ford Falcon Tudor Sedan ($1985 then, about $17,789 today), powered by the base 144-cubic inch, 85-HP inline six-cylinder mated to the optional two-speed Fordomatic transmission.
The Monroney label has survived, after all these years.
He did go for the Deluxe Trim Package though, which for an added $86.30 (about $859 now), added such niceties as bright window frames, front fender-top ornaments, a cigarette lighter, front and rear armrests and ashtrays, and a “deluxe” white steering wheel with a chrome horn ring. The upholstery, also upgraded, was a cloth/vinyl mix in a gray that nicely complemented the car’s light “Baffin Blue” exterior paint. Oh yeah, and a push-button AM radio for $58.50 ($593 today), which brought the bottom line to just over $2352 (now about $23,430).
Same hubcaps, but otherwise less well-equipped than ours…
We might have gotten about $500 or so for our ’58 Plymouth wagon trade-in. I do remember it sitting in Laurie Ford’s used-car lot (though not in the front row) for a while thereafter.
The Falcon proved to be dependable and reliable if not particularly exciting, just the sort of daily driver Dad needed for his commute from Morris Plains to Rahway, NJ, where he worked in the printing trade as a compositor. It also served as the main family car for trips to Long Island to visit relatives and for our annual vacation “down the shore” to Avalon, NJ. The Falcon surely wasn’t the quietest car, especially when that base inline six was asked to deliver increased speed, and its vacuum-powered wipers ensured that you could have either a rain-free windshield or leisurely acceleration, just not both at the same time.
After some years with us, the car stayed in our extended family. My father sold it to one of my uncles, whose teenage daughter was then in need of her first car. The Falcon went on to serve her admirably for several more years.
The next new family car replaced Mother’s ’57 Chevy. As it turned out, it was also to be her last new car, though of course, we didn’t know that at the time. Before I continue that story, we’ll investigate a different car that in retrospect, may have had a subliminal effect on my eventual career…
IMO the ’62 was the best-looking of the early Falcons, it was the year they finally got the grille right. Ford rushed the “Thunderbird-look” roofline in production for the Futuras from midyear on (like the beige car pictured above) when imo it should’ve waited for the ’64 reskin, but at least all the other ’62 sedans had the orignal bubble rear window roofline, for ’63 the T-bird look jarring with the original rounded lower body infected all the sedans.
Here’s the Laurie Ford location today: Speedwell Ave. & Allen Pl.
I used to park my Comet on Allen Pl. when the RR station parking lot was full.
Here’s the Laurie Ford listing from the 1960 Yellow Pages. I never knew there was a Ford dealer on that corner.
From what I can tell, Laurie Ford was established there in 1925 by a 28-year-old entrepreneur named Alex Laurie. Mr Laurie had operated a taxi and auto service business out of that building since 1917 (when he was 20 years old).
He remained in business there until 1965.
Below is a bigger version of the 1935 shot:
Thanx for going out of your way to share that Stephen!
On Google Maps it looks like Laurie Ford Dealership building is still there, and a plumbing supply store now! It seems like a quaint little town, and I can relate to train travel, and the ‘charm’ of train stations from the 60s, as I, and my 2 younger brothers took a CN train from Vancouver to Windsor, Ont. We were unsupervised, and it was 1965. I was 12 yrs old. That trip, and summer visit with my grandparents was the HIGHLIGHT of my childhood! I met my grandfather’s cousin Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan, and 5-time gold medal winner in the Olympics). He signed a photo of himself with Cheetah the chimp. As a child,
I remember watching Tarzan The Ape Man on TV Saturday afternoons!
I remember mostly plain jane bottom cost stripper Falcons when they were new, they reeked !CHEAP! so I wasn’t a fan .
Time has clearly shown they were not bad little cars and when gussied up with the T-Bird roof line, two tome paints and bright trims they were (IMO) good looking little Econo Boxes) .
These days they’re hipster cars so I can’t really afford to try one .
I have mixed memories of my 1960 (? cat’s eye taillights) Mercury Comet two door with post . it too had the 144C.I.D. and was a total slug .
-Nate
@Nate…L0L How DARE you not go along with the HERD!!??! I tend to agree tho! Of course back in the 60s, as teens, and young men, owning a car was almost ALL about getting laid! (remember drive-in movies?) So, we wanted cars that ATTRACTED the opposite sex! The four door/plain Jane Falcons REPELLED lol the opposite sex (and nearly EVERYONE else! lol) FF 10-15 years, and we we raising families (instead of Cain), and many of us were driving these boxes on wheels, with kids, and dogs hanging out the back windows! Now that I’m OLD, and retired (some say retarded) :P, I still regret selling my red 1965 Mustang convertible (chick-magnet) in 1988! My ALL-TIME FAV car is the 1968 Shelby GT500 KR convertible! The rear roll-bar makes that car! BTW, my dad was sales mgr at a Ford dealer and his driver was a 1971 T-Bird Brougham. That car was LOADED! It was a 2-door.
I’m either lucky or foolish in that I’ve never really cared what others think about what was cool .
Yes, getting laid was a big thing, I didn’t have much difficulty there, mostly blind luck I imagine .
I remember and miss drive ins more than you might think .
When the local drive in in Bellingham Wa. was going to close long ago my father suggested I buy it , I didn’t and now it’s a parking lot .
I never really stopped raising cain when I was married, slowing down a lot these days .
There used to be a joke about ‘re-tard’ meaning a old country boy……
-Nate
The DeLuxe trim package was a lot of bang for the buck on these Falcons, and made almost all of the difference between the car looking like a budget commuter or a nice small car.
I found a shot of what appears to be a Baffin Blue 62 Fordor, with that deluxe trim package. That would have made for a nice looking little car.
I was wondering what a “baffin” is. It seems that there is a Canadian arctic island named Baffin – I suppose that would be the source of the name for the color.
A Fordor??? L0L The ONLY ‘fordors’ I find attractive are the Mafia Staff Cars called 1960-1967 Lincoln Continentals, which have the back ‘suicide’ doors! Of course, for family cars, fordors 😛 are much more practical!
When did Ford stop calling 2-doors and 4-doors “Tudor” and “Fordor”? I don’t remember those terms from their ’70s advertising.
Thanx J.P. ! .
Indeed it looks nice .
Maybe a white roof would have made it even better .
-Nate
My Dad bought two new 1961 Falcons, a four-door with the Deluxe trim package for him and a base two-door for my mom. Both were three-speed manuals and his was the 144 and hers possibly was the 170.
The Deluxe trim package indeed was a great deal – the seats alone were worth the money. In addition to the nice cloth with vinyl trim, they had much better padding than the standard seats. The white steering wheel with chrome trim ring looked much better than the standard black wheel without the ring. Overall a much less spartan interior. I think the base trim even lacked an auto door switch for the interior dome light.
I have all the window stickers but one for my own new cars but I think only one for the cars Dad bought. So cool that you have this one – and in such great condition. Some of the earlier ones were badly printed, pulled apart when removed, and fade over time.
I didn’t know what a “Monroney” is, so I Giggled it….
“What is the meaning of monroney label?
What Is a Monroney Sticker?
According to Edmunds, the Monroney sticker indicates the make and model of the car as well as its unique vehicle identification number (VIN). You can also see where the car’s parts were made and where it was built. Other details in this section include: Powertrain information about the car’s engine and transmission.”
The Manufacturers’ Suggested Retail price sticker is also called the Monroney, after Senator Mike Monroney of Oklahoma. His bill was the Automotive Information Disclosure Act of 1958. You can imagine trying to negotiate a car deal without knowing what the manufacturer’s price really was.
I wonder why your dad didn’t get a 4-door.
When you say he was a compositor, I assume this was hot metal/Linotype? I was a compositor from 1975 to 1992, but the industry was pretty much phototype by then.
Probably for the same reason well over 50% of Falcon buyers (and of course many other cars at the time) bought 2-doors: they were cheaper and kids couldn’t accidentally eject themselves via the rear doors. Childproof door locks hadn’t yet become a thing. Even 2-door wagons were quite popular for the same reasons.
My parents did not buy a 4 door until I was 11 and my brother was 13, for the reasons Paul noted.
I spent two summers in Castine, Maine in my early teens in 1978-79, where there was a Ford dealership (at the corner of Pleasant St., maybe Main St., and Perkins Dr.) which like Laurie Ford was the only new car dealer in town. Despite that, there didn’t seem to be a higher percentage of Fords there than anywhere else I’ve been. That surprised me some, since I would have thought having nearby service would be of high importance. Perhaps they didn’t sell enough cars to matter; they were gone by the time I was there again in the late ’90s.
a] I seem to remember that the “Moroney” that the price sticker was named after was a congressman who authored a bill regarding pricing transparency in automobile sales. But I’m not finding anything to back up that idea.
b] the window sticker backs up my thinking that a vast number of buyers, even of the least expensive models, were so “over” clutching and shifting their cars that they were willing to pay an 8-9% surcharge over the cost of the basic vehicle to avoid the activity that many folks thought of as a chore.
Congressman Mike Monroney. The Bill went into effect in 1958, and eliminated lots of hidden fees and other shenanigans that were common then.
Full story here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroney_sticker
I’m sure Senator Monroney is continuously spinning in his grave over the workaround shenanigans that car dealers invented in the wake of his bill.
At least the “Polyglycote” and ScotchGard of the ‘80’s Honda is now unambiguously “Additional Dealer Markup”.
Bear in mind Evan that back then manual transmissions had non synchromesh first gears, for those in traffic it usually meant a constant clunking if not grinding into first gear .
I remember them well and as a child seriously pissed off most ‘adults’ by asking ‘why can’t you shift noiselessly into first gear ? ‘ .
It takes practice and paying attention, those of us who care(ed) learned easily and still manage fine, I remember as a young Mechanic a never ending parade of $50 ~ $75 used cars in good shape that needed a new transmission or to be started off in second gear due to first having been wiped out .
-Nate
I learned how to drive on and spent many years driving 3 speed manuals with non synchromesh first gear. With the car at a complete stop you slide easily into first. If the car was moving at all second gear was low enough. This encouraged a lifelong habit of coming to a complete stop at stop signs.
Yeah ;
You and I and maybe a few Vintage VW Nutters .
Interestingly, my 2001 Ford Rangers 5 speed box takes a long time to smoothly shift into first at a dead stop .
I ass-U-me this is because the gear box uses ATF instead of gear oil which is thicker .
Then as now most simply crunched into first or reverse .
-Nate
Could just be the color and “artwork”; the plain, green one has more “eye appeal” then does the “dressed up Futura” coupe..
The fancier one has a rather “staid, stogey, aura about it.
The green one just looks like a “Pinto’s , older relative”.
Mom was from Morris Plains, growing up about 4-5 blocks from the railroad station, which my grandfather walked to for his daily commute into Newark. It’s nice to see that the downtown area retains its charm after all these years.
Regarding the 1962 Falcon, the mother of an elementary school classmate and neighbor of mine drove a four-door version of this up until 1968 or so, when it was replaced with a new Pontiac LeMans. The Falcon was very Spartan inside (lacking even armrests, so therefore a lower-end model) and even its driver complained that the weak power plant was noisy and slow. In comparison, our 1966 Dart wagon seemed so much nicer in terms of its interior finish and dynamic qualities, at least as experienced by a backseat passenger.
My distant aunt and uncle had a ‘62 or ‘63 two door Ford Falcon wagon with only a radio as an option. My uncle was a penny pincher from hell!
Once my uncle passed away, my aunt wasted no time and bought a brand new Dodge Coronet with all the bells and whistles, even air conditioning. When she pulled up in the driveway for a family function, nobody recognized the car.
That’s about what I paid for my first new car, a 71 Ford pinto. Dark metallic green With a black vinyl top and floor mounted stick shift.. Whitewalls, full wheel covers, am radio and heater… Good little car, although I had a hankering for a mgb… Sold the pinto to my sister-in-law after maybe a year and got a year old 70 B roadster… Five year love hate relationship with that…
I remember Pinto’s fondly .
Not exciting or speedy but durable and cheap to operate, this is what GM should have done at the time : make basic, low cost econoboxes without stupid and easily avoidable problems .
-Nate
That you have the window sticker, imo, is so cool!
Cars in my family were different. Mom never drove, two of my four sisters (all six years older than me) lived out of town, and dad was itching to get me ready to get my license. He owned a couple of cars; his daily was a 76 Sedan de Ville that was a lemon, a 67 Country Squire that I was allowed to use, a 57 Chevy 2 door that needed the Blue Flame six rebuilt and a 73 LTD that he had loaned my sister. Of course the 57 is what I begged for, followed by the LTD. Sadly he sold the 57, and the LTD gave the Country Sqiure to another sister and traded the Cadillac on a new 1978 Buick Electra which he let me pick out!!