Sunday, September 21, 2014

1965 Ford Falcon Futura, my second Falcon (2007-present)

Falcon 2. The day I sold my first Falcon in 1994 I regretted it. Every day since, I've wanted another one. But I  just couldn't settle for a  Falcon of any year or style, I had to have another 65 Futura hardtop or nothing.  I liked the styling, I liked the seating position, and I liked that it was a relatively unique vehicle. I am a big fan of the jet-age styling that the car has with it's twin afterburner taillights. More cars need round taillights. I found this car advertised on Craigslist for $900. It was in some old guy's back yard for almost 20 years. Sadly his health was failing and he knew he wouldn't realize his dream of restoring it. I looked the car over. No keys, signed original pink slip from around 1980, no engine, no transmission, interior absolutely shot, windshield busted, and I couldn't look in the trunk as it was locked and there was still no key. Oh yeah, it had early Toyota Celica rims that looked atrocious. So I bought it. Hey, the body was in-tact and all Futura trim was present. That was late 2007.

                                      
           This was my first glimpse of the car after the owner pulled off the tarps. Mostly straight body. I had to             replace the passenger door, however.

                                     
                                     Those Toyota rims didn't do the car any favors visually.
                                       
The interior was appalling. There were some missing and broken pieces, but I figured I'd find reasonable replacements on ebay. The windows were all stuck from sitting so long. Surprisingly, no mice!
The original engine and transmission- a 6 cylinder and 3 speed auto- were long ago removed from the bay via gas torch.
                                     
Check back to read about the progression to this:
                                             Spoiler alert: this is the current state of the Falcon.