Looking to inject some juice into the compact Falcon, Ford introduced the Falcon Futura Sprint in 1963 (marketed as a 1963 ½). It carried a 260 V8 and had a beefier suspension. The Sprint began to slowly flourish until Ford (accidentally?) did it in by rolling out the Mustang a year later. The seller has a second-year (1964) Sprint that looks mostly good, though we’re told it has some rough edges to be smoothed out. Located in Eastside, Washington, this beefy little Ford is available here on craigslist for $19,500. A thumbs up to “Curvette” for another great tip!
It wouldn’t be fair to call the Falcon Sprint a dry run of this Mustang, though both cars had to be on the drawing board at the same time. And much of the infrastructure of the early Mustangs came from the Falcon, which was introduced as a ho-hum compact in 1960. Because the Chevy Corvair was offered with some hot equipment along with the Studebaker Daytona, the Ford guys thought a hotter Falcon would find a market. And it almost did with 15,281 copies in 1963 and 18,108 more in 1964. But buyers lost interest when they saw the Mustang on the same showroom floor, and 1965 Sprint sales only totaled 3,196 units. There would be no 1966 Sprint.
The 260 V8 was replaced by a 289 in 1964. The seller explains how the Sprint was used as a mule to develop the Mustang GT-350 with the 271 hp 289 cubic inch V8. And it was a winner in the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally. Sprints were only available as hardtops and convertibles (just like the early Mustangs until the fastback was added). Bucket seats were standard with the Sprint, along with a snappier steering wheel, and a 4-speed manual was optional. Sounds like a Mustang, doesn’t it?
The seller provides a number of photos, but many of them are from Carroll Shelby’s days, and the others are closeups rather than full-length. We’re told the odometer has rolled over at 65,000 miles, and the 289 V8 has been tweaked a bit and a B&M shifter added for the C4 automatic transmission. Factory air conditioning is included for your Summer comfort.
The seller rates the car at 3.5 on a scale of 5 because it needs work on a “few things” – so what are they? One rear wheel well looks like it may have been modified. But it does run and drive, so maybe you can attend to those along the way. If you’re looking for an early Mustang, consider the Falcon Sprint because it’s a rarer car.
Would love to own this car really well done. Did not know that about Shelby and the Falcon. Great write up Russ learned a lot about the Falcon, Thank You.
“0-60 in 5.7 sec. in a Falcon!” – that was the blurb on the cover of Car&Driver when they covered the Monte Carlo Rallye. I’m pretty sure you couldn’t go down to Max Curtis Ford and buy one off the sales floor, but it was impressive.