By Tim Odell
I probably overuse the world “could”. As in, you could buy a Corvair and you could put a FWD Cadillac 472/500 drivetrain in with relative ease. Some of those “could”s are an afternoon of hands-on work and some Sisyphean. In short, I see the potential for awesomeness in the end result and I’m tempted by relatively low entry prices. Thus, you can image the effect this $1,000 ’65 Falcon Futura convertible with a 289 and four-speed has on me.
Typically a recently de-tarped car sunk to its wheels in a side-yard invokes images of Flinstones-grade floors beneath a moss-garden interior. However, this one’s located in San Bernardino, CA, which gets about 15″ (38cm) of rain per year. The place is crispy dry. That said, the seller hasn’t bothered to open the door or hood to show what we’re up against. The paint’s wonderfully patina-ed and the top’s shot. That’s all we know. Luckily, you could get a top from these guys and you could rebuild the T-10 and 289 with relative ease.
It looks like this car’s probably a $15-25k vehicle once “done”, so if you could do everything but the paint/body work yourself, you might come out ahead. Of course, that’d be missing the point. Instead, you could clean the tank, replace every line, hose, belt and seal, throw a Mexico blanket on the seat and go for a drive.
1965 Ford Falcon Futura Convertible for sale – eBay Motors
Jeff Glucker
You need this to go along with your hardtop. Right? It's up to $1,275 now, with two days to go.
I'm actually really curious about the condition of the metal.
There's an interesting case study between my car and this one in that mine looks good/right" to the untrained eye from about 20ft away, whereas this one looks derelict. However, mine's got a number of troublesome rust-bubble spots that this one might well not (I'm being optimistic with that hypothesis). It might well be the case that this one's less money/hours of bodywork away from a really nice paintjob than mine is.
Spring's right around the corner, a great time to have a convertible in NoCal. Shouldn't take more than a weekend to move the good bits from your hardtop onto this, right?
That's…not a terrible idea. Though, Falcons are floppy enough as-is. Removing the roof doesn't really help things.
In my world, hardtop = coupe. Tim's Falcon is a sedan.
/Pedantry.
I must object to that equivalence. A coupe has two doors and typically seats only two or perhaps two plus two more in limited comfort, whereas a hardtop lacks B pillars. Both have rigid tops, but beyond that single point of similarity the two terms independently may or may not apply to the same car. I agree Tim's Falcon is a two-door sedan and is therefore neither a coupe nor a hardtop.
I grew up a Chevy guy. Chevy used the term "coupe" to denote a 2 door with no b-pillar. Hardtop is the same. Not saying you are wrong, just that, in my world, you are wrong.
<img src="http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1953_Chevrolet/1953_Chevrolet_Brochure/1953%20Chevrolet-04.jpg" width=500>
That's the Sport Coupe but Chevy also used the terms Business Coupe and Club Coupe to refer to bodies with B pillars but with shorter passenger compartments than the corresponding sedans. Not all coupes are hardtops nor are all hardtops coupes.
<img src="http://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/9e/c0/7e/9ec07ee99d926db34d66368ce6b2ee49.jpg" width="450">
Okay, smart guys. Do you accept the notion of a two door (tudor) sedan? Right or wrong, that is the nomenclature I'm content to run with.
Of course! As I recently stated somewhere, "I agree Tim's Falcon is a two-door sedan…." Two doors, rigid top, B pillars, and a full-sized body.
True, a "coupe", a hardtop, doesn't have a B-pillar. If it has a B-pillar, it's a sedan.
This is a coupe:
<img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6166/6218989654_3ab1084126.jpg" width="450">
It has B pillars. The "coupe vs. sedan" and "hardtop vs. sedan" distinctions are based upon different criteria and are independent of one another.
Just make it run and drive and leave the "restoration" to some other fool.
Or paint it maroon as a Repo Man tribute car?
"Goddamn-dipshit-Rodriguez-gypsy-dildo-punks!" is one of my go-to curses when something isn't going well. Bless you, Harry Stanton!
<img src="http://pics.imcdb.org/4691/RepoMan29.jpg" width="500/">
Why couldn't I do the paint/body work myself?
That was my thought, as well. While I can handle pretty much anything mechanical, paint/body work is where I actually have some professional experience. I'm actually better at that stuff now than when it was my profession.
I might farm out the upholstery if it involves more than hog-ringing new covers onto the seat frames, though.
Be my guest!
I've got the tools and skills (sort of) but have waaaaay too strong of a "eh, close enough" reflex to allow myself to do more bodywork than the floors I'm currently doing on my Wagoneer.
"Car has been idle for 25 years." What a great euphemism for "parked in my yard and forgotten".
I wonder if you could make a fuel-delivery system that allows a car to idle for 25 years.
Dammit. It hurts when beer comes out of my nose… Thanks for the good laugh anyway!
"To be honest, it wasn't exactly MY yard yet/25 years ago"
Actually…. My grandfather worked in the Pennsylvania oil fields from the 1920's through the end of the 1940's. I remember him talking about a Cadillac V-16 engine that had been assigned to pump duty that ran for decades without ever stopping. I -think- it was converted to natural gas coming off the wellhead, although, since I was just a young kid at the time, I could have the details wrong – or I could be wrong about the whole thing frankly. Still, I swear I remember it pretty clearly. The discussion started with old family stories about the Marmon my grandfather owned in the 1930's and then drifted into the glories of the V-16 engine design. My grandfather said that this Cadillac engine had a lot of torque and was perfectly happy chuffing along at low speeds… It had been there in the 20's and was still running when he left the oil business in1950. No, I don't know about the cooling system or lubrication except they they literally had barrels of the finest Pennsylvania oil around – none of your nasty Texas asphalt-base crude, thank you.
I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has ever heard of anything like this. Both my grandfather and my dad are gone, so there's no one left to ask.
Damn. Wrong already. Should have researched first. Caddy v-16 came out in the 30's…. Still
It has green weeds around it, I'm afraid of this thing's floor pans.
I love that body style Falcon, though with infinite resources, I'd do a pro touring wagon version with Cragar soft 8's, a big inch Windsor and a six speed.
Or maybe the Falcon Ranchero is the ticket…
<img src="http://image.mustangandfords.com/f/29907100/mdmp_1009_08_o+ford_falcon+1965_ford_falcon.jpg" width="600">