Text by Patrick Bell.
Henry Ford was all about basic transportation, and I think he would have been pleased with the Falcon, especially the black ones. We are highlighting the first (1960–1963) and second (1964–1965) generations today, with many good images to view. They touched many lives, so take a look and let us know how they may have touched yours.
Our lead image is what you would have seen if you were a spotter or shopper when the Falcon was introduced in late 1959. This 1960 Falcon Tudor sedan was the least expensive and most popular of that first year, and had some extra pizzazz with the Deluxe Package (chrome side window moldings, amongst other items) and a lady sitting on the hood.
Ford’s pickup based on a car, the Ranchero, was shrunk and moved to the new Falcon platform when it was introduced. Here is a 1960 Falcon Ranchero model from California. It also had the Deluxe Package, as attested by the white steering wheel and chrome horn ring. A 1962 Chevrolet Biscayne or Bel Air sedan was in the garage in the background.
We are now on North Kukui Street in Honolulu, Hawaii, with a nice looking 1961 Falcon Deluxe Fordor sedan parked in a parking lot. The Deluxe Package included chrome moldings on both the upper and lower style lines for this year, only making them a little easier to ID. Across the street were a 1949 or 1950 Chevrolet Styleline DeLuxe 4-door sedan and a Ford P-series Parcel Delivery Van.
Let’s go for a swim. Dad, Mom and the kids were riding in a basic 1961 Falcon Fordor sedan. No frills, but nice and clean, and they were in a nicely manicured mobile home park. On the other side was a 1964 Dodge Dart 170 4-door sedan.
This image is deceiving. It looks like it was set in a dirt parking lot out in the country, but the cars were clean, so it could not have been too far off the road. The 1960 Falcon Deluxe Fordor Sedan, with a bent fender and a New York license plate, was joined at the left by a 1961 Ford Country Squire wagon.
A mother and daughter were out on a cool day in an older neighborhood, standing next to a 1960 Falcon Deluxe Tudor sedan with an Ohio license plate. Parked behind it was a 1946–1948 Dodge that looked to be in nice shape for its age. Across the street was a 1953 Oldsmobile Holiday Coupe of either Super 88 or Ninety-Eight series.
Falcon’s first convertible came out for 1963, as seen by this Rangoon Red 1963 Falcon Futura ragtop. There was a choice between bench or bucket seats, as well as two six-cylinder power plants. This one was a looker.
In mid-1962, Ford added a Thunderbird-style roof to the Futura model that was introduced in mid-1961. Added to the option list were a vinyl roof and a 4-speed transmission, which was available on all 1962 Falcons. The featured one above was a 1962 Falcon Futura from Dade County, Florida (home of Miami). It was hanging out at a Howard Johnson’s. To the left was a 1959 Chevrolet Biscayne, and to the right a white 1961 Mercury Commuter wagon, white over blue 1959 Ford, and a blue 1962 Pontiac Catalina.
A hardtop Falcon was introduced as a 1963½ model. It was available in the upper-level Futura trim series. The new Sprint had the 260 cubic inch V8. This one was modified for the dragstrip, with different front and rear suspension, quarter panel wheel houses cut for clearance, and I’m sure a motor to match. In spite of all that, you can see it lent itself well to the hardtop roof style.
For 1964, the Falcon received a reskin that gave it a more squared-off look. 1965 brought a new grille as seen here, plus new side trim and other bits. This one was a basic 2-door sedan that was the least expensive Ford for the year, along with a happy-looking couple.
This smiling lady from California was standing by her 1964 Falcon Futura 4-door sedan on a sunny day. Across the street, just visible along the right edge, was the tail end of a white 1960–1964 Chevrolet Corvair.
The Falcon goes to Yale. In the background was Ingalls Ice Rink, a hockey rink commonly referred to as “The Whale.” The featured car was a 1962 Falcon Deluxe Fordor Sedan with a license plate I can’t read. It was at least nine years old at this point, but looks rust free. Following close behind was a 1971 or 1972 Chevrolet Vega sedan with a Connecticut license plate that may have been a special issue of some sort. In the right background were two Volkswagens; a 1967–1969 Type 3 Fastback and a 1968 or 1969 Type 1.
To close, we have both ends of a black 1960 Falcon Deluxe Fordor from Colorado. It was 10 years old at the time of these pictures, and someone was taking good care of it by giving it a wash job. It also had full wheel covers and an aftermarket red stripe down the side, and despite a few bumps and bruises, it looked good for its age.
Thanks for joining us and have a great day!
Around 1970, Pop had a beater ’62 Falcon sedan for his 2-mile drive to the commuter rail station. I was a little too young to fully remember it well, but I do remember that the neutral safety switch was borked, so it wouldn’t start unless he physically lifted the column shifter above the Park position.
Pulling up on the shift to start the car was very common on Fords of that vintage. My 68 Falcon had the same issue.
This car was very popular in Argentina, and was produced until 1991.
In the US, I know it served as the platform for the Mustang, but in Argentina, it was an icon and a sales record. A Falcon could be seen on every block, from the standard version to the sportier Sprint.
It’s a shame the coupe version was never made here.
Yes your images provoked many memories. The Futura was my first favorite dream car. I am still very fond of any six cylinder with 3 on the tree. Primitive by today’s standards.But in those days life was much simpler.
Grandpa had a white Futura with red buckets and floor shift. His idea of a sports car, but also very practical in the narrow streets of Hermosa Beach, California, instead of a big boat of a car befitting his age and income.
This transported me to my early school years, starting 1972, walking to and from, watching the cars go by. Falcons were plentiful, even early ones. I remember thinking the early ones looked like they always felt sad. It was the frown curve of the body side, and the frown curve the hood edge over the headlights. Why, I wondered, would anyone want to drive a car that felt sad?
My first car was a year old 1964 Falcon, it was what was reffered to as an “RPO 64” package, a 2 dr sedan with “chrome” (actually aluminum) trim around the windows to look like a hardtop. It had the 260 V8, fully synchonised 3 speed and factory AC. Dad had purchased it as a second car while I was a Parris Island for USMC boot camp. I was given a choice when I returned, find a car or take over the payments on the Falcon, I ended up doing the latter.
Car was an intersting model, built July 27th 1964, after the Mustang was released and near the end of the 1964 production. It had 289 heads on the 260, all the instruments had C5ZZ (Mustang part number prefix) front lower balljoints were Mustang parts. Being a 19 year old gear head, it didn’t take too long for the car to get “improvements”, Jahns 10.5:1 pistons, a Lunati hydraulic cam close to the Hi-Po 289 solid lifter one, an Offenhouser “dual plane” intake, and the newest “trick” for a carburetor, a Rochester Quadrajet (for a Buick 425 ci Nailhead). I found a Borg-Warner T10 4 speed for a Falcon/Comet V8 in a local junkyard and put it in replacing the three speed. I actually bought the floor section from one of the Ford dealers, and my dad and I marked and cut the floor then installed the panel with short screws after cating it with sealer.
That car later beacme an “unofficial” test bed for Holley products. Beach Ford in Virginia Beach had a Ford Performance section in their parts department, I was a member of Beach Ford drag club (drag racing) and as such got a discount in the parts department, they had a three two barrel Holley setup for a 1963-65 Falcon or Comet 289 V8, I bought it, it had the linkage, fuel rail and air filter, and even had the spot for either the road draft tube or PCV valve. I did a few more things with it like Hedman headers and dual exhaust, a Sun “Super Tach”, Mark ten CD ignition and a recurved distributor.
In 1970 it was replaced with a 1966 Shelby GT350.
Ours was a Falcon family. Our first family car was a green 1961 Falcon station wagon, which served us faithfully until my dad wrapped it around a light pole. The replacement as a slightly used blue ’65 Falcon wagon, which wasn’t quite as reliable but soldiered on for a few more years before we moved on to non-Falcons in our family automotive journey. Great memories!
In college in the early ’80s I had a ’61 Ford Falcon Deluxe Fordor. Just like the one pictured on Kukui St. in Honolulu. Good car!
That Howard Johnson’s looks like the Sunny Isles store that my Dad managed after WWII and his period of military service. It was a smaller version of the regular stores that were all over South Florida. He also worked at the 1100 Biscayne Blvd store.
Love that “Ho Jo’s”, shot!
Hard to believe every HoJo’s in Ameriaca is gone (the restaurants; not the hotels which sometimes include unrelated built-in restaurants for overnight guests. They slowly went dhownhill starting in the late 1970s when sesrvice cuts were made. The HoJo’s hotels are still there but the nestarants are all gone. The last few times we ate there the waits were lontg. We started seeking other eiteries, never to return.
My mom and dad had a 1960 Falcon four-door in dark blue (bought brand new). They traded it for a new 1964 Falcon four-door station wagon. And then, for my first car (in 1972), I bought a used 1966 Falcon Futura four-door. They were all underpowered even in their day, but apart from that, great cars.
Love the shot in HNL. Random nugget: my grandfather (Territorial Physician No. 9) had a home/office on North Kukui. Pre- and briefly post-WWII. Raised a family there, in what was then a residential area. Looked nothing like the subject pic back then. Doesn’t look like that now. Gave me a morsel to chew on. Thanks for the photo, and for indulging this selfish reply.
Circa 1960 my parents lived a bit to the east on Piikoi Street in Honolulu, just before I was born.
They told this story about an famous cat-burglar who scoped out his victims during the day with binoculars, from the hills above town.
Mom and Dad and a houseguest got hit by this guy, and all three of them slept right through it. Scary.
Fords “Falcon” was ‘born in the USA’ but its greatness was achieved, not in its birth country, but in Australia.
Ford Australia sold the Falcon from 1961 as the XK model which apart from being right hand drive otherwise identical to the US version. However the Ford Falcon went on to become a world class car in absolutely every respect and continued until at least the early 2000s.
Ford Australia had many highlights with its Falcon which included a 2 door hardtop body during the 1970s and a long wheel base version sold as a Fairlane and high end luxury LTD.
But perhaps a greatest achievement of the Ford Australia Falcon was the 1971 XY Phase III GT Falcon, which at the time was the fastest 4 door sedan in the world with its 351 V8 engine. Yes the Falcon in Australia was developed into a world class car that stood its ground with anything Europe could offer.
But my choice of Australian Falcons, would be a black with red interior 1964 XM Ford Falcon Futura coupe. In 1964 it was one only a few pillarless hardtops sold in Australia.
I’ve never thought much about Hawaii, so a drab warehouse district in Honolulu is disappointing. I unconsciously assumed it was all beaches and palm trees.
Watch your self some of the old “Hawaii 5 0”, shows. You’ll see a lot of “HI” wasn’t the beaches.
We had family friends that lived across the street when I was little, and the husband had a black or dark blue Falcon Fordor for quite a few years, from around ’61 to ’68, when it was replaced by a Fairlane in dark blue for sure. The Falcon had an AM radio, a heater, and that was about it. Whatever the cheapest auto transmission and engine were, it had it. The Fairlane had an AM/FM radio and A/C, and I think it had the 289 V8. Later on, he had a Cutlass, a Tempest and then back to Fords for the first year Taurus
They were almost too frugal for their own good. They famously ignored my dad’s advice and bought a pool table with the “Honeycomb” bed, instead of a slate bed, and every Christmas Eve until 1975, we would go over there, have dinner, and one of the highlights was trying to shoot pool on that table, which was seriously warped. That joke cue ball they sold at Spencer Gifts was about the same as a normal ball on that table. They bought base cars almost exclusively until the mid ’80’s, when suddenly, they seemed to know they were pretty well off, and bought a loaded up Taurus as the hubby’s last car. The wife had a Sable wagon that was a lemon, and her last car was a loaded up Grand Cherokee, a ’96, I think. Those last cars stuck around, and the wife was planning on buying something new around 2010, when her health went totally bad both physically and mentally. My mom called her and she had no idea who she was, her daughter had moved in with her until she passed, and said she didn’t know anyone at that point. At the end of their lives, they had socked away an awful lot of money, upwards of 10 million(nobody who knew them had a clue, including their kids), which was split between the two kids. The daughter married money, the son didn’t and was pretty broke until he inherited that boatload of money. One of the very first things he bought was a Bullitt style ’68 Mustang.
A couple of weeks ago I was walking down the street in front of my home in Quezon City, Philippines. A silver colored 2-door post like the one in the top picture goes rolling by. Obviously restored. I just gazed at it transfixed as it went by. It might as well have been a stereotypical grey alien walking down the street.
Anyone who has been here would know why. Almost 100 percent small Japanese sedans, SUVs and AUVs, mrelativly new, and 60 percent of them Toyota products
I had a distant aunt & uncle who were spend thrifts to the extreme! They had a bone white ’60 or ’61 Falcon two door wagon with a dealer installed radio as the sole option. Living in the Deep South, air conditioning in a car was still a novelty at this time.
No sooner had my uncle passed away in 1971, my aunt showed up at a family function in a brand new metallic green Dodge Coronet with every conceivable option possible including A/C and an AM/FM radio. She only drove 200 to 300 miles a month and traded in the car after 2 years. Who ever got the Coronet on the second hand market got the deal of the century.
When new I thought Falcons/Comets looked cheap and the tiny ?144 C.I.? engine was no goo unless going down hill .
Happily, time has shown how wrong I was .
-Nate