People have often remarked on my uncanny ability to stereotype people; I’d argue this dubious skill was sharpened through my observation and love of the automobile. When it comes to cars built and sold before my time, any accuracy in judging people based on their consumptive patterns is naturally lesser, but some models, like this 1969 Falcon have acquired new cultural significance in their old age. It’s likely many of you can also guess the sort of person who drives this sort of car around these days.
I saw this from about a half-mile away during a walk home from the record store yesterday afternoon and knew I’d be putting it up on CC, despite being yet another white find. Who should I find was the owner of this car, but the middle-aged founder of a local indie record label who I’d seen an hour earlier while sifting through records: basically, the sort of person who could be casually, and carelessly, passed off as the prototypical hipster (though in actuality, an outgoing guy with a great sense of humor).
This Falcon makes an excellent counterpoint to yesterday’s Dart; it really was the most lo-fi compact of its time. That quality, which makes it popular with a certain demographic today, was a liability by 1969 and the nameplate was retired by 1971. While the Chevy II model name was quickly phased out by the higher-trim Nova nameplate as applied to its wide-body replacement, the similarly conceived Falcon was completely recast as the smaller Maverick, severing any topical association with its forebear. When you start renaming your cars without truly altering their technology or mission, you clearly have an image problem, and it shows that by the end of its life, Falcon must have been decidedly un-hip to American drivers (sort of like a 1994 Ford Tempo; imagine one of those used as a fashion statement in 2039).
You can see here why some drivers might have spurned the Falcon in the late ’60s; there’s little about this interior which is charming relative to contemporary compacts, though I concede it’s not completely original or well preserved. It’s possibly an unfair comparison to yesterday’s Dart, which was both partially restored and slightly upmarket in comparison, but I’d still argue that even the most basic Valiant was more appealing place to spend time than the cheapest Falcon.
It’s unusual, too, given that Ford’s interiors were often more lavishly trimmed than the competition’s, but it’s likely related to the fact that the Falcon sedan shared its central section with the Fairlane, with undeniable similarities in the roofline. That car, in sedan form, didn’t exactly define glamour in the intermediate class; take away all the trim which distinguished it as a more expensive car, along with some length, and you’re left with this big, empty box. Ironically enough–and luckily for Ford–Chrysler would screw it up with their intermediates’ similarly sparse 1971 replacements, ceding that higher-profit margin segment to Dearborn’s bloat-mobiles.
If the hipster aesthetic was initially based around reappropriating squareness and feigning frugality, I suppose it makes sense that this would be the four-wheeled poster child (though I wonder if anyone non-enthusiast ever thought much about it). This car began life in a different color and pictures don’t do justice to the miserable job done applying the paint. The owner ranted that it looked as though it’d been applied with a roller. When I asked how much he’d paid and how many miles the car had travelled, he said it cost $2500 and that it had travelled 106,000 miles. He only bought it a year ago, making him a follower in terms of vehicular fashion.
That’s a fair-enough price for something you really don’t see every day. I can’t say I wouldn’t pay that much for a fundamentally sound, early ’80s import without significant rust, even if this Falcon seems like it might be too big a compromise for daily use. With 200 cubes of straight six fury routed through a three-speed automatic pulling 2,700 pounds, performance was adequate for the day, but it can’t hold up to modern expectations. That’s sort of the point, though; a desire for competitive performance or any such glamour in your rolling fashion statement is vulgar in the context this car’s appeal. And one could argue that a wobbly late ’60s sedan with a 29:1 steering ratio wouldn’t need much more power, especially with a modern owner looking at their email or Facebook while tooling down modern interstates at about sixty.
But distinction is its own reward. No matter how harshly I judge the hipsters, you look infinitely cooler seen driving something like this than you would in, say, a Nissan Versa. Cynicism carries one only so far before it must be abandoned in favor of appreciation and respect (in this case, at least) in the face of genuine merit. But please, can a new subculture emerge to define the current era?
Related reading:
Curbside Trends: The Ford Falcon – #1 In Classic Cars Among Hipsters
Automotive History: Ford’s “Falcon Platform” – From Falcon To Versailles
Curbside Classic: 1970½ Ford Falcon: Mission Implausible
I disagree that Falcon interiors were sparser than Valiants — perhaps you’re correct when discussing 1969, but earlier in the decade the opposite was true. We had a 63 Falcon 2-door stripper and then a 65 Valiant V100 2-door stripper, and the Falcon’s interior was miles ahead of the Valiant’s in look and feel and perceived quality. The Valiant, with the 225 slant six, was so much peppier than the Falcon, there was not comparison. I think the 67-76 Valiants made a quantum leap in interior quality because our 68 Signet 4-door (273 V8) was like an Imperial compared to the 65! I spent a bit of time driving a neighbor’s 66 Falcon and although the interior was plain, it did seem to be of good quality. This 69 version, seems to have led a pretty hard life so perhaps you’re judging it too harshly!
All that really depends on the trim level. All of these compacts had three trim levels: base/stripper; mid-level, and top level. Comparing apples to apples, I don’t think there were meaningful differences between all the compacts in that regard.
The base models were always depressing, with their thin upholstery, no rear arm rests, rubber floors, etc… Mid-levels were acceptable; the top level like the Futura, Nova and Signet were quite nice.
I quite agree!
Checking off the right options (top-of-the-line interiors, optional engines & transmissions, power steering, factory A/C) turned these basic, boring penalty boxes into quite nice cars.
Car buyers of today wouldn’t understand this “real world” fact of life of the 1960;s.
I spent many hours in one of these during my high school years. My buddy Tom’s father was a dedicated Ford man but was an hourly worker who bought sensible cars. One of them was a gold early 1970 Falcon sedan just like this one, but with a 3 on the tree. An absolute strippo car with rubber floor mats. The AM radio may have been the only option.
I will say that the Falcon was a touch more refined and isolated than the Mopar A body. However, the 200 six was no powerhouse. Tom’s car was also very high miles by the time we were driving, so it had held up quite well. The car had been bought used and its Ziebart rustproofing made a believer out of me, as it was the only rust-free Falcon in Fort Wayne in 1978.
I later owned a 6 cylinder 68 Mustang with a 3 speed and discovered something – they were the same damned car, other than the Mustang’s lower, sportier seating position (and general attitude). The steering, the shifting, the brakes, and even every sound it made was identical with that Falcon. The hipster’s secret is that they get to drive an early Mustang for peanuts. 🙂
This car is from Ft Wayne, too, and I am surprised by how the body’s held up. But I don’t know if that’s a testament to its quality or the life it led, since nothing was completely rust-free back then.
Robert MacNamara should be remembered by Australians for 3 reasons:
– The Ford Falcon
– The Vietnam War
– The F-111. Look up why it was nicknamed the “Flying Opera House.” But it was successful after much fuss.
The F-35 looks to be another example of a multirole-fighter soap opera. Successful multirole combat planes generally happen by accident, not design, e.g. the P-38, F-4H.
Here. There. And Everywhere. (So hip to be square!)
As super cool as this Falcon is I think every hipster’s dream car is the Maverick. Check out those LDO wheelcovers to get this Falcon a little closer to the Mav.
Bitter laughter when I saw those miserable wheel covers. In this pic my LDO was brand new (and ready to leave for CA) so they look fine. But these wheel covers were a very poor design. They protruded too far and at the time automatic car wash rails and curbs dented and caved them in. Also, they required valve stem extensions (missing in that single wheel pic) in order to check the air pressure. The extensions stuck out so far they caught on curbs and broke off, sometimes damaging the valve stem. Another bad idea from Ford. They used the same style on the Torinos as well. All for the Mercedes painted wheel cover look well before the Granada.
“The extensions stuck out so far they caught on curbs and broke off, sometimes damaging the valve stem.”
Unbelievable! Valve stem extensions aside that is one beautiful pre-bloat Brougham you had there. The ’67 Chevy has nothing on it if you ask me.
’66 I think.
The one in front is a 66, there is a Chevelle on the other side of it, but all the way in front of both cars, almost out of sight, is a silver blue 67 Impala. My Dad’s neighbors loved their Chevies.
Actually you just needed a shop that had the right valve stems. They do come in multiple lengths so you don’t need those cheap extension caps to use them on covers that protrude farther in that area.
I forgot that they re-did the interior for 1968, because the 1966-67 interior was quite a bit nicer than this, hence why I was appalled when I saw how, basic, this Falcon was on the inside.
Which probably goes to show how little Ford cared about this model for its last cycle on the American market, compared and contrasted to how all of a sudden Mopar was gung-ho about offering such a variety of ways to spice their entries in this portion of the market.
Perhaps mgmt. saw the Falcon as a Penalty Box for people too cheap (or sensible) to buy barges or optioned-up Mustangs. I say Valiant/Dart was the category best in that era.
BTW, such is the Falcon’s rep, I know a Mustang fan who doesn’t like being reminded of its underpinnings.
I would say the Falcon was at heart a McNamara “Practicality” machine, the Mustang an Iacocca “dazzle them with features” creation.
The Falcon didn’t properly capitalize on the well appointed “sportier” falcon as quickly and earnestly as the Corvair did, or even the Nova did, since it came to market with a Hardtop Coupe and Convertible. Which is the part of the Mustang mystique I have a hard time understanding; it literally is a Falcon Futura with a less favorable driving position.
There’s the reality that more often than not when one Ford model was successful, it came at the expense of another Ford relatively close to it in line-up, which wasn’t always the case at GM, because of their larger market share.
I feel like plenty of 1966-70 Falcons were price leader specials to lure people in the dealership for a new car instead of a nice used car, but after ’65 they were purposely not as diverse or as well trimmed as they had been in ’62-’65 to upsell a customer to a basic Mustang (which, even in base spec did look nice) or to a more profitable Fairlane.
Good analysis. Perhaps MacNamara was the only Ford suit ever really interested in it; maybe the rest only tolerated it as a necessary evil, as you have it. If so, customers got the message.
LBJ called him, “My lard-hair man.” Pentagon types had less kind names for him & his crowd.
As I commented earlier; that was dependent on what trim level of the Falcon you’re discussing. There were three, and they didn’t really change that much from year to year. The base stripper was always depressing; the mid level ok; the Futura pretty nice. But Ford may well have de-emphasized the upper trim levels in the last year or so, as the Falcon really was more of a budget mid-sized car than a genuine compact anymore.
Actually the Falcon was only offered in two trim levels from 1966-70, so I think the de-emphasis was pretty generation wide. There was room given for the Fairlane to have a life while the Mustang ran away with the bulk of smaller Ford Sales.
Granted the Valiant went from having V-100/V-200/Signet to just base and Signet in ’67, but the Valiant was more obviously paired with an upscale sibling in the Dodge Dart, the Falcon was pretty much left to wither on the vine. Agreed it was for more a “Fairlane Light” at this point.
But I guess that illustrates absolute need for a product in a line-up; Plymouth still needed the Valiant at this point (or always did need a car like this, as post-war Plymouth brand image couldn’t help but shake frugality).
Ford only had the Falcon as an concession as one of the traditional “low priced three” for these last 4 years on the market, when quite often you could outfit certain Fords to Dodge/Pontiac levels. The Falcon suffered neglect as Ford pushed upmarket again.
I just wasted 5 minutes checking oldcarbrochures, and from ’66 through ’69 at least, there were three distinctly different interior trim levels for sure: the Futura Sports Coupe, with nice vinyl buckets; the Futura, with decent cloth, and the base with…burlap.
That was your choice to waste 5 minutes….
You’re right. But I just can’t bear to think that my memory has deteriorated that quickly. It was worth it to prove to myself otherwise 🙂
Time spent on that site is NEVER wasted!
“Burlap” is a spot on, accurate, one word description.
There was the Mercury factor, too. While Ford offered both compacts and intermediates after ’62, the shot-lived Meteor meant Mercury only had the stretched – up front – compact Comet in the lineup in until 1966, when the Comet moved up to an intermediate, leaving Mercury without a compact until the Comet reappeared in 1970.
Ford seems to have decided they couldn’t afford both true compact and intermediate bodies (due to the Mustang investment along with the all-new full-sized Fords in 1965?), but the Falcon was still a decent seller, so they stubbed the frame and created the compact intermediate, leaving the sporty end of the market to the Mustang. I remember a lot of ’60-’65 Falcons around when I was a kid, but the later models were rare even when practically new.
Also, it’s true that the Valiant lineup was bobbed in ’67, but only because the A-body based Barracuda added a convertible and hardtop; Dodge had no counterpart, so the Dart line kept its hardtop, convertible, and wider range of trim levels.
It’s amazing that Ford pegged the correct compact formula in 1960, and pioneered the intermediate in 1962, only to cede sales and market leadership to GM and Chrysler by the late sixties. Came back in the 70s, though.
For the Falcon interior experts I have a question… is that the ignition key switch way over yonder to the right? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one so far from the driver. I believe ’69 was the last year before the switch went to the steering column but remember a ’70 Maverick that had it on the dash somewhere??
Early production Mavericks did have the ignition switch on (well, kinda more hanging underneath) the dash. The Maverick was a mid year introduction (April ’69) so it was on the market before the ignition/shifter/steering interlock standard went into effect. I always wonder why Ford didn’t just go ahead and build them with the key on the column from the get go, as they surely already knew about the upcoming mandate.
Maybe to use up the remaining dash mounted switches, or the new column and attendant pieces hadn’t gone into production yet? It does seem silly to not use what you knew you were going to have to switch to in the next few months. On the other hand when they started designing the regulations many not yet have been finalized.
Thanks, I thought so but wasn’t sure. I liked the switch on the dash because manufacturers could move it around. There was a blue ’66 Chevelle down the street and I would bike over just to look at the switch at the top of the dash. I thought it was the coolest thing. Not so sure about the one on the Falcon I could imagine having to ask your passenger to fasten their seat belt and start the car.
I also recall the below mid-dashboard location of the very early “1969 1/2” Mavericks,
Thought I was the only one!
🙂
There are 3 1970 VIN model cars with dash mounted key switches, all Ford products. The 1970 Maverick, Falcon and Shelby Mustang. The latter was really a re-serialized and retitled leftover ’69. The Falcon wasn’t switched over because they knew it was going away, the Maverick didn’t have a column switch likely because, as pointed out, the parts weren’t ready.
One thing to note is that at that time the regulations were such that they took effect on cars built on or after Jan 1st, of the year the regulation went into effect. Now it is by model year, though you can still build a car that doesn’t meet the new regulations until Dec 31st but you have to call it the previous model year. So for example Ford kept making the Ranger, that didn’t have stability control, until Dec 22nd 2011 since they called it a 2011. Now with the Panther they did start making ones that were sold as 2012s in Sep 2011 since they were export only models.
My first car was a ’66 Falcon. Even in base vinyl, it was a much more attractive space than the ’68 and ’69. The dashboard revision was phenomenally ugly. I’d actually like to get my hands on a ’66 or ’67 Futura or Sport Coupe.
Nice,I could easily live with this car.
Call me crazy, but somehow the smell of Pabst Blue Ribbon is suddenly emanating from the vents beneath my laptop!
Wouldn’t an Indiana hipster be more at home in a Lark? Or perhaps an early model SIA-built Legacy?
That Ford Falcon would be a beautiful car if the bumpers had a professional rechrome and the interior was restored. A piece of automotive history preserved.
In 1970 I was stationed at Fort Detrick, Maryland and our Navy Unit had one of these. A black four door. Hated gas and would cover lots of ground. It may be cooler than a Nissan Versa but time has a way of changing things. In a way they might be thought of as the same car. Stingy and dependable transportation. In another 20 years all the falcons may be gone and the kids may think the versa is the perfect hipster car.
I can see the the future Granada in this Falcon 4 door. Imagine if Ford simply rolled out the new styled compact as a new Falcon, instead?
Nah, having an all new name gave the ’75 Granada some poshness to average Ford buyers.
Well by 75 the Falcon had been out of production for a while and at the end of the Falcon’s run it had the reputation of the car you bought because you were a cheap skate. The Granada was the Maverick’s replacement but Ford found that Brougham compacts sold and were profitable with the LDO Mavericks. They also got a surprising up tick in Maverick sales with the energy crisis. So they decided to make the Granada a premium compact and let the Maverick soldier on for the cheapskates since it was fully amortized. It turned out to be one of Ford’s better ideas of the era as the Granada sold very well at premium prices w/o being attached to a stripper version and the Maverick was there for the cheapskates.
To clarify, I can see how they made the Granada from the Falcon platform. Take a ’69 Falcon, add some Lincoln-esque front lanterns and rear tails, and voila! a new ‘luxury compact’!
Nice car different to our Aussie Falcons around the tail lamps but of course ours were facelifted again in 71 and got the 250 cube engine the doors are shared with Fairlanes but the body is stretched for the upscale model, Rubber floor mats were standard fitting in OZ you had to go to Fairmont trim level to get carpet, NZ Falcons were carpet floored and the carpet sets were exported back to OZ along with exhaust systems tyres upholstetry sets wiring looms etc that how we paid for the CKD kits. These were our large family car size offerings here any bigger had to come from Canada so Kiwis a Aussies got taught that these were right sized along with Valiants, Holdens, & UK Zephyrs and Vauxhalls all competing for our dollar.
Aussie Falcons from the ’69 XW on had a different roofline as well, with thicker pillars and a recessed rear screen.
I spotted a interesting trivia, in South Africa, the Falcon was renamed the Fairmont
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ifhp97/5305416611/
http://www.africanmusclecars.com/index.php/ford/fairmont-gt
I guess the previous-gen Falcon sold in South Africa had some quality problems and Ford decided to not taking chances by changing names.
I think Ford had missed the opportunity to jazz up the Falcon sedan with some “pizzaz”, they could had created a Falcon Brougham, well before the Plymouth Valiant Brougham and the arrival of the Granada or a sport sedan, I think Ford Australia was on to something when they did the Falcon GTHO with the 351 Cleveland under the hood.
They did create a Brougham Maverick with the LDO or Luxury Decor Option, which set the stage for the Granada. When the Falcon was still around there wasn’t much call for a pseudo luxury compact, that was a product of the energy crisis and the death of the muscle car. Buyers started wanting a car that would make a statement, but that didn’t have a huge appetite or have insurance costs higher than the payment.
The South African Falcon/Fairmonts were ckd exports from Australia, with local trim etc.
I don’t think I’ve ever taken notice of a US 1969 dashboard before. Here is a photo of the Australian 1969 Falcon dashboard – the next-from-base 500 trim level, above which came the Futura, then Fairmont and Falcon GT. The GT had round gauges where the vertical line of warning lights are, plus a centre console for the floor-shift.
The Fairmont name was also applied to plusher grades of the Australian Falcon. The early XK Falcons had developed such a bad reputation that Ford was considering dumping the Falcon name entirely, although they never actually did.
I owned a 1968 Falcon very much like this. The paint was better but it had an interior from a Ford Tempo swapped in. Doubly uncool? I only paid $450 or so. Watch for an upcoming COAL on it in the next few weeks!
Like the seats only?
Yes the seats and carpet. Neither fit well as the Tempo is more narrow.
The car looks better in 2 door form. Red bumpers and trim do it no favors. But to each his own, I guess. Should be a reliable driver, these cars are getting really hard to find. If it really only has 106K miles on it, it was a good buy.
The subject car reminds me of old Donald Duck cartoons – that red front bumper is like lipstick smeared on a duck. If I was going to do a paint job with left-over house paint and a dirty broom, I’d at least splurge for a can of black.
They did splurge for 1 can of black paint to use on the grille and make a stripe on the back between the tail lights. After that can ran out…well we’ve got a lot of this orange.
My only real experience with a Falcon was a pretty positive one, actually. A buddy of mine in H.S. was dating the girl across the street from me…a childhood friend of mine from way back. He had a black on black 2 door hardtop, maybe ’64-’66 or so, if I remember right. It had a swapped in 302 that was mildly warmed over, 4 in the floor and centerline wheels. Really a clean and fast little ride. Was it as sexy as a Mustang? Hell no, but it had a very clean and purposeful look that was devoid of any added frills. A handsome car that looked the part of a no nonsense hotrod, much like a Dart or Chevy II similarly equipped. I really, REALLY liked Ricky’s Falcon, even though I never really warmed up to Fords.
OTOH, a bone stock 4 door Falcon’s rep as a hipster sled seems to be 100% deserved, based on what I see in Portland. 4 door Valiants and Darts piloted by hipsters seem to be thick on the road too. But they also seem to have caught on with the rockabilly/pinup girls too. I saw a turquoise Valiant sedan piloted by an inked, red lipped Bettie Page clone some while back. Too bad she was coming the other way on the road!
We had neighbors/friends who were, well, a bit on the “frugal” side, and the wife drove a Falcon, I don’t remember if it was a ’68 or ’69, but it was an awful cream color and looked a lot like the one in this article. I rode to school in it a bunch of times, and it always seemed to be so odd, as it was the polar opposite of the Olds Toronado and Sedan De Villes my parents were driving at about the same time.It became their son’s first car in 1972, and he was mortified to be driving it, he would say, “It just tells everyone that knows us that my parents are tight!”, and the rust that was eating it didn’t help his ego much either. After the Falcon was passed to the son, the dad bought a pretty stripped LTD, and mom had the most stripped Mustang II I’ve ever seen. The frugality continued with other Ford cars, with a stripped 80’s Cutlass of some kind as something new, in an awful weak yellow, until the last car the husband bought, a stripper first generation Taurus, special ordered as no local dealer had such an option free car on the lot, came along. The Cutlass died a quick death as once again, the son got it after he went through a bad divorce. On the way home to the DC area, he fell asleep and literally drove it off a mountain, totalling the Cutlass, and winding up in ICU for a couple of days. Dad had to see the alcohol report that showed he was totally sober to believe that Jr hadn’t been drinking, as he was “famous” for his lack of tolerance of booze, and resemblance to “Deputy Dawg” when drunk. That lack of tolerance gave us holiday stories we will never forget of an enraged “Big Bill” and drunk “Billy” going at it at the Christmas dinner table year after year. That reached all all time peak when one time, due to their daughter and her family being overseas during the holidays, we all had Xmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and Jr arrived totally blitzed with dad yelling at him all during dinner, and me trying to keep from cracking up.Only my mother kicking me in the shin over and over again kept me in control. After the dad died, his widow went “crazy”, as my mom put it, buying a totally loaded Sable, with more toys than she probably ever imagined. It had the “football” in the dash, and it drove her nuts. Two years later, it was gone, with another Taurus, same color, also loaded up. When she got sick a couple of years later, she complained that her husband’s one real fault was his insane cheapness. By the time she died, both of her kids, even the often drunk Bill Jr, were financially well off enough for her to say, “I don’t know why the hell we saved all that money with those cheap cars and never going anywhere!”. The first Xmas after my mother died, I got a call from Bill, totally smashed, blubbering, that “They’re all dying man!”. A mutual friend was there with me, and he said that talking to Bill was the highlight of the 2012 holiday season for him. Inheriting 50% of mom’s money, and it wasn’t a small amount, didn’t change him a bit, he’s still entertaining as hell. Bill is 61 now, and amazingly healthy, considering his alcohol consumption.
Wow, what a story. Thanks for sharing!
I have yet to see a hipster driving vintage iron here in NH.
Remembering these Falcons, Valiants & Chevy II’s of the mid 1960’s (and what they drove like) reminds me what a great looker & driver my 1966 Corvair Monza 4 door is!
I don’t get all the hipster hate. At least these dudes are keeping these cars running and on the street. And they’re not driving cars that mainstream car collectors (aka middle-aged white men) are interested in.
Isn’t it a better alternative that these cars have hipster “cool” factor rather than being sent to the crusher…?
(Full disclosure: I’m a middle-aged white dude who owns a ’62 Ranchero, which I think is currently on the Hipster A-list…)
The Australian-built equivalent of this shape Falcon is still very popular in New Zealand – although good luck finding one with its straight-6 still under the bonnet. The vast majority have been turned into V8 GT replicas – which is fine with me, as the XY and XW Falcon GT is, I think, one of the most masculine looking cars made.
I bought this car for my 20th birthday from a guy in Auburn. Me and my dad were working on it. My mom got sick and I had no choice to sell it because she lives in North Carolina and I live in Fort Wayne Indiana. the guy that did this work ripped me off. I paid 1,500 for it he said he had no use for it. i was pinned in a corner he gave me 500 for it knowing that that was crap. then sold it to this guy for 2500. I love that car. the guy that owns it now hatted the paint job it. i saw it at the DMV it was a rough looking paint job this is what the car looked like when i owned it