For sale on eBay in Newington, Connecticut (my home state!) is this fairly nice 1963 Ford Falcon convertible, blue on blue. The asking price is $5,800. In general, this car (with 112,196 miles on the odometer) looks well-used but not abused. It was in dry storage for more than 25 years, during which time a mouse chewed a silver dollar-sized hole in the sail panel of the convertible top (which had just been replaced).

The great bulk of these Falcons (and companion cars like the Mercury Comet Caliente convertible I owned) had the 170-cubic-inch straight six with automatic, and that’s what’s here. It’s not a Sprint! The owner notes a cheapie repaint 20 years ago, so it’s a 30-footer. And a non-running 30-footer. The owner says it needs a starter solenoid and new brakes, but new shoes are included in the sale. “Drums were recently turned and are in good condition,” says the vendor. “There are a few small dings, chips, and scratches.”

The driver’s door window regulator needs to be replaced, and a used replacement comes with the car. The basic interior, with bench seat, looks weathered but not trashed. The seller claims “there is no visible rust to the exterior or the body,” but adds that “the underside of the vehicle was reinforced with plates in several areas. Looks very strong. The passenger floors, and trunk floor are solid. The torque boxes appear intact.” Anyone buying this car might want to get under it with a strong light.

The ’63 Falcon, of course, effectively became the Mustang. Is someone going to challenge me on that here? The Falcon itself goes back to 1960, having been championed by Ford exec Robert McNamara (who was Secretary of Defense during Vietnam!) The Falcon was pretty bare bones at first (a 1960 was our family car for years) and offered only 95 horsepower from its 144-cubic-inch six with single-barrel carb. A three-speed manual column shift was standard, and you could pay extra for a two-speed Ford-O-Matic (the only option on our car!) But with its big bench the Falcon (even the convertibles) could legitimately carry six. Was it really a “compact”? Only by Texas-sized standards.

For 1963, the Futura model was in full flower, with a four-door, a wagon, and both Futura Convertible and Sports Convertible lines. The hardtop and Sprint came a bit later. The first-generation 1963½ Sprint could access the 260-cubic-inch V-8. There were only 4,602 Sprint convertibles in that year.

A year later we got the 1964½ Mustang, which used chassis, suspension and drivetrain components sourced from the Falcon Sprint and/or the Fairlane.

So, is this Futura worth investigating? I’d say so, provided the owner is negotiable at least a little. Classic.com says $23,648 for the ’63 Falcon, but most of the cars studied are Sprint convertibles. A 1963 Falcon Futura convertible sold for $10,250 March 17, 2025 on BaT, and it was much nicer than this one.