How cool! A barn find that someone has sympathetically put back on the road already with a lot of mechanical improvements! Reader David C. has listed this blue 1962 Ford Falcon with us for an asking price of only $12,500 and assures us that “it won’t take much to make this car perfect, or it’s ready to drive and enjoy as is.” David is located in Pownal, Vermont and if you’re interested in this sweet bird, please use the form at the bottom of this post t0 let him know and get more information!
David is very honest and sent along pictures of the bad as well as the good. There’s not much bad — pretty much limited to this kink in the fender (attributed to a collision with a sapling), a bypassed heater due to a leaky core, and an alignment issue in the front end. Lots of work has been done to the car! I’ll let David tell you: We don’t need no stinking V-8! I bought this car as a basket case in the fall of 2011. At that time my plan was to re-do it as a simple daily driver: 200-cu.in. six-cylinder, overdrive transmission, and disc brakes. In the spring of 2012, my grandmother died and left me some money. We also had a newborn, so I ended up hiring a guy to execute my vision—but he had some ideas of his own.
David continues: The result is almost too much car for the driving I was doing when I lived in Michigan, and it’s definitely too much now that I live in Vermont. As a consequence, I’m now looking to sell it… It will mean taking a huge loss (I’ve got over $25k invested), but I’m realistic enough to know that you don’t make money when restoring or modifying a car.
Issues facing the car currently are minor, as it has only been on the road since 2015 and has been driven very sparingly since. The car needs a front-end alignment as one of the front tires is wearing incorrectly, it has a dent in one fender from a mishap with a sapling, the heater core sprung a leak last fall and has been bypassed, and the custom parking-brake cable bracket fell off and was destroyed. It won’t take much to make this car perfect, or it’s ready to drive and enjoy as is.
Project creep set in pretty quickly, as the builder found a 250-cu.in. engine from a 1975 Maverick that had been rebuilt for a hot-rod project. It has 9:1 pistons, a Comp 260H camshaft, and the coveted Classic Inlines aluminum cylinder head (tweaked copy of the Australian 250-2V head). To this was added a rebuilt Autolite 2100 2-bbl carb from a 289 V-8 and a 1-into-2 exhaust system running back from a cast manifold. Most people hear the duals and think there is a V-8 underhood. There’s no buzzin’ in this half dozen. The physically larger (longer, taller, and wider than a 144/170/200) engine required a dropped center link, offset engine mounts, and a notched firewall for clearance. If you’ve read The Ford Falcon Six Cylinder Performance Handbook, they don’t quite make it clear just how much effort is required to put the 250 into a first-generation Falcon—especially if you want to retain the mechanical fan, as was done here.
Stopping power comes from Scarebird disc brakes up front (Nissan Stanza rotors and Chevy Cavalier calipers—pieces found at any parts store), the original Maverick drums out back, and a dual-reservoir master cylinder. The car rolls on 14-inch Maverick steel wheels, powder coated black, with ’62 Galaxie hubcaps. Tires are 195/75R14 radials. Electric wipers from New Port Engineering were added for safety and convenience as there is no dual-action fuel pump available for the 250. The fuel tank is from a first-generation Mustang and the filler was relocated inside the trunk (Falcons and Comets are notoriously slow to fill with the stock neck). A vintage “Kar-Start” battery box was restored and used to relocate the battery from the engine compartment to over the right rear wheel.
If you’re interested in this running and driving find, contact David through the form below!
Location: Pownal, Vermont
Asking Price: $12,500
Mileage: 66,727.8
Title: Clear (note from David — Please note that Vermont does not title vehicles of this era, but I am still in possession of the old Michigan title, in my name, that I will sign over to the buyer along with a Vermont Bill of Sale document.)
Hmmmmmm…….
Project creep set in pretty quickly, as the builder found a 250-cu.in. engine from a 1975 Maverick that had been rebuilt for a hot-rod project. It has 9:1 pistons, a Comp 260H camshaft, and the coveted Classic Inlines aluminum cylinder head (tweaked copy of the Australian 250-2V head). To this was added a rebuilt Autolite 2100 2-bbl carb from a 289 V-8 and a 1-into-2 exhaust system running back from a cast manifold.
Business has me headed north in 2 weeks. Thinking about busing a 1 way ticket and bringing this south…
Tires and an alignment would be a must.
I can’t believe he has $25K invested yet the seats are shot and it needs new tires, alignment and body work.
Ofcourse, I have something similar: 1965 Falcon Fiutura Convertib;e restored to drivercondition, nice, 289 warm V-8 with muncie 4 speed. fresh brake job.Nice car and I was thinking $17,000
Perhaps I should have been clearer as to what I meant by “basket case.” The whole car was redone to get it where it is. Was it a wise investment? Absolutely not, but I thought this was a forever car at the time. Life changed and I’d like to re-home it, but the commentary here is making me think that’s silly and I’ll probably let it sit and maybe put a V-8 in it at some point.
It takes a serious camber problem to wear a tire like that. I would look for bent suspension components.
Wonder if this has anything to do with the 250 installation. If so, it could turn into a real hornet’s nest trying to correct it.
I’ve worried about that too, due to the dropped center link, but I think it has more to do with the engine setback, the lightweight cylinder head, and the relocation of the battery to the trunk.
Wow 25 K on a Falcon! Mission creep!
I have never understood why anyone puts more money in a car than it is worth. If you intend to keep it I guess that is ok.
Newborn + project car= bad idea, especially this one. In 2008 I was “under employed” and with time on my hands. I bought a 1962 Mercury Comet S22 from a local salvage yard. I paid $800. They buy wrecked abandoned and otherwise unwanted cars. They put ones with any “desirability” out front. It had been hit in the passenger front fender. It had the stock six cylinder, 3 speed, redone interior, no rust, dealer AC. . It didn’t have a title. (Funny that they have a sign that they wouldn’t/ couldn’t buy cars without a title, but would sell on without one!).
Luckily it ran and drove, but had a cracked exhaust manifold and wicked leak. ($100 for a replacement), another $500 for a bonded title, around $1000 for a replacement fender, grill and shipping from Desert Valley Auto Parts, a set four of 13″ radial tires from NTB for $100 (they wanted to get rid of them!), and before you know it I was into it for $3k, running driving, in need of a complete paint job but presentable as is. I tried to sell it and dropped it all the way down to what I had in it. No bites. I edited my advertisement to add that I would trade it for a tractor with a loader. I ended up trading it straight across for a 1967 Massey Ferguson 2200 Industrial tractor with a Perkins diesel and shuttle shift (no clutch). I had to do around $1500 repairs to it to get the rear lift to work, but I still think I came out OK. This old MF is a TANK. Cast iron grill shell and fender brackets with 3/16″ plate rear fenders, no computer like the new crap, and best of all, NO MONTHLY PAYMENT!
My parents had a same year Mercury Comet, candy apple Ford red. They loved that car.
In the 60’s, my brother was ogling ladies and ran into the back of a caddy. Wiped out the front of the Falcon and hardly scratched the caddy! These things were very tinny.
My father bought a used Falcon like this but 4 door and silver. Said it was one of his favorite and most reliable cars. He had previously been driving a Hillman. The Falcon had experimental metallic paint which started flaking off so he had it painted blue at Earl Scheib.
My very first car (in 1972) was a 1962 Ford Falcon Futura with a factory installed 4 speed that I bought for $250.00. Three years later (and having replaced just about everything including the engine) I sold it for $50.00 and bought a brand-new 1975 VW Beetle. Ahh, one’s first car.
There was a guy in the Nashville Falcon club who’d done a 250 conversion, and while there are some advantages to that – especially having an external intake manifold! – just seeing how crowded it was in there was enough for me to stick to the notion of a build such as the one David originally had in mind for my 1960 Fordor. As it happened, I didn’t get to do that; after the Fordomatic sorta fell apart I sold it to a family of Falcon fanatics who had a built 200 and four-speed waiting at home for a car. One of the two happiest deals I ever made.
basicly my ’66 bronco is this same, just “4 WDed” (same motor, paint, seat, etc).
This is 50 mi away…hummm. If it was 1/3 less’n a wagon I’d drive over…
I have seen and ridden in this car and it’s a hoot! David is one stand-up guy without question.