(1960 - 1970)

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FORD FALCON

( THE LITTLE CAR THAT ALMOST WASN'T )

The appearance of the Falcon came at a time of prosperity in the automobile industry, the demand for new passenger cars in 1959 was expected to exceed 1958 by more than 40%. The decision to introduce a new type of car by all of the "big three" manufacturers was based on three major factors, the following is taken verbatim from a Ford memorandum.

(1) A growing interest in foreign cars, resulting primarily from the fact that wage-cost inflation made it increasingly difficult for standard-size U.S. vehicles to compete cost-wise with the smaller imports.

(2) A steadily increasing number of U.S. families, resulting in expansion of the potential auto market generally.

(3) Increases in both the actual and potential numbers of two-car families.

The last two factors enlarged the market, increased the demand for variety, and made possible the introduction of new products.

Prior to the Second World War, (pre 1941), 92.9% of Ford vehicles were sedans, after the war, in the period up to 1959, the sedan market segment had dropped to 58%, the remainder being hardtops, converts, wagons, and specialty vehicles ( T-BIRD).

The Falcon then, was a product of market segmentation and the challenge of foreign producers.

Detroit's automotive engineers were required to "re-think" the automobile in the mid to late '50s. What they accomplished was a monumental breakthrough in design, management, and manufacturing.

The decision to proceed with basic design concepts was made in 1951, and by 1952 the project had taken the name "X-600". Through to 1956, market studies repeatedly showed that the demand for a new "small" car was not high enough to support real production.

Onto the scene came a new group of relatively young engineers known as the "whiz kids" that had some fresh ideas about product development. A new approach was taken to market research and several points that had previously been overlooked came to the forefront.

(a) Women were generally driving the family's "second car", and they did not particularly like the steadily increasing

size of the regular full-size vehicles.

(b) Many buyers were becoming more critical of fuel economy; (gasoline was dirt cheap compared to today's prices)

especially lower income drivers who were concerned with operating costs.

(c) Many potential buyers were generally dissatisfied with very small size, general poor construction and fit quality

and high repair costs of most import vehicles of the time.

Various proposal packages were put together representing different overall sizes, inside dimensions and drive trains.

These were presented to selected groups of potential buyers and reactions to different sections were noted. They next proceeded with a "paper car", a 4 to 5 inch thick loose leaf volume containing descriptions and scale drawings of every part that would go into the car and each part is "sourced" and "costed". Advanced planning built a whole fleet of "paper cars" until it arrived at a final recommendation in July, 1957. The original production date for the vehicle now known as the 19XK was originally set for 1960 but was later moved up to late 1959. The final paper car turned out to be amazingly close to the final production vehicle.

From the paper car to the production vehicle, an amazing amount of development took place that takes pages to describe even in condensed form, but needless to say, all of the problems were overcome and the new car came into production.

It has been documented before that both Ford and Chrysler were interested in the name Falcon for their new small cars and Ford beat Chrysler to apply for the right to the name by only 20 minutes.

The new car, now officially named Falcon, went onto the market in the 1960 product year and enjoyed far higher sales success than the Advanced Planning team had ever imagined. A one-year "special" model was produced for the Canadian Mercury dealers under the name Frontenac, and was actually introduced into the market slightly earlier than the U.S. Falcon.

In 1961, the Falcon was somewhat refined and it's almost twin, the Comet was introduced through Mercury dealers. The Comet was the first "spin-off" vehicle to use the basic Falcon "platform" ( chassis and drive-train) which was slightly revised to accept the distinctive Comet body styling.

Comet enjoyed a somewhat modest market success while Falcon sales continued to climb. In 1962, the Falcon platform was modified and expanded to become the basis for the new Ford Fairlane and the Mercury Meteor, which were developed to fill a market niche. The ever-fickle consumer wanted a car "bigger than small but smaller than big" thus causing the invention of the "mid-size" car. Not wishing to go back to the very beginning and engineer a new car totally, Ford used the existing technology developed for the Falcon, and modified where necessary to accommodate the larger body.

The 1960 Falcon was available as a 2 or 4 door sedan, a 2 or 4 door station wagon, and the Ranchero. The same model line-up continued for 1961 but added a 5 passenger (bucket seat) 2 door called Futura and a sedan delivery. Two more new models were introduced for the 1962 product year. A 4 door station wagon with fake, adhesive decal, wood-grain on the side, designated as Squire, and in March of 1962 a new Sport Futura, a Futura 2 door sedan with a revised rear roofline.

The 1960 Falcon line offered only one available engine, the 144 c.i.d. inline 6 cylinder, but for 1961 and 1962 a 170 c.i.d. engine was offered as a an option. All three years used a three speed standard transmission and offered a two speed automatic transmission as an option.

1963 is probably the most confusing in regard to available models. The regular 4 door sedan remained and was joined by a new Futura, with bench seat, 4 door sedan. The 2 door station wagon was joined by a Deluxe 2 door wagon. The regular 2 door sedan was joined by a bucket seat 2door sedan, a Futura bench seat 2 door sedan, and a Futura bucket seat 2 door Sorts Coupe. The Ranchero also came as a Deluxe Ranchero. The 4 door wagon now also came as a Futura wagon and the 4 door Squire wagon now was available as a Super Deluxe Squire, all had bench seats. The sedan delivery became also available as a Deluxe model. At the beginning of the new model year, the first convertibles were introduced to the Falcon line. Available as a 6 passenger, bench seat, or 5 passenger, bucket seat, model. Also available at the beginning of the year was a "Sprint" package that included bucket seats, console and an engine "dress-up" package, for the convertible only, even though the 6 cylinder engine only was available.

Part way through the year, two new features were introduced that changed the fortunes of the Falcon, and eventually spelled it's demise. First in January the 2 door Hardtop was introduced as either a bench or bucket seat model. The Sprint option package was available on the early Hardtops with the 6 cylinder engine still the only available power plant. Everything was to change dramatically in February with the introduction of the 260 c.i.d. V8 option. The V8 was offered as an option on all Deluxe and Futura models which are now referred to as '63 1/2.

Lee Iococa was the vice-president of the Ford division and was actively pursuing a fresh new group of buyers known as "young adults". The prosperity of the late fifties had carried into the early sixties and more people than ever were now in the market for new automobiles. Parents having more disposable income wanted to buy their "dimpled darlings" an economical new car instead of a used "clunker". Young professionals and tradesmen were earning the dollars that allowed them to purchase new. And they were fussy. Performance and "sporty" good looks first caught their eye, but economical operation had to be available before they would buy.

Ford Motor Co. designed the new Convertible and Hardtop Falcons to address this market, the V8 engine became a bonus and 4 speed standard transmissions were offered for the first time.

For 1964 the Falcon body was totally re-designed. All new "squared-off" body panels replaced the very familiar but dated rounded panels of the '60 - '63 models. The new breed of buyers wanted a vehicle that did not so closely resemble it's rather staid ancestors. The chassis remained essentially the same but was "beefed-up" in some areas to handle the new engines.

Some of the models were dropped as sales were being split between two radically opposite groups. One wanted basic economy, 6 cylinder, bench seat, 2 or 4 door sedans to drive to work and carry the family. The other wanted convertibles and hardtops, bucket seats, V8 power, four speed manual or the new three speed automatic transmissions, and sporty trim to drive for fun. Very late in the '64 model year a new larger 289 c.i.d. V8 became available.

Before the end of the 1964 model year Ford offered an all new vehicle, they called it Mustang. Built on a Falcon chassis, the new vehicle's design never pretended to be anything other than a drive-for-fun car. The bells that chimed the success of the Mustang rang the death knell of the Falcon. Those "young adults" were drawn to the "Stang" like magnets, the Falcon, no matter how sporty it was dressed up, didn't stand a chance.

1965 saw some subtle changes in the Falcon, but they were mostly cosmetic and could not bring back the young buyers. The "traditional" Falcon buyers were not interested in the sporty models and sales dropped rapidly. Only slightly over 3500 bucket seat Falcons were built for '65 as compared to almost 30,000 in '64. The new 200 c.i.d. 6 cylinder engine was almost standard, very few buyers ordered the 170 c.i.d., and the 289 c.i.d. became the V8 option.

From 1966 to 1970 the Falcon became almost a forgotten car. The Hardtops and Convertibles were to be no more, even the Ranchero was moved to the Fairlane product line in 1967. Falcons were available as 2 and 4 door sedans and a 4 door wagon.

One model of note in the late '60s was the revival of the Sports Coupe. It was available with V8 power, bucket seats, sporty trim, and 4 speed manual transmission, for those die-hard Falcon buyers who still wanted a little "go".

The last of the 1969 Falcons were sold before the end of the product year, which put Ford into a dilemma. They did not want to produce any more of that model because it would be phased out and replaced with a new "compact" to be named Maverick for the next product year. The tooling "dies" for the body panels were already partially dismantled to ready for shipping to Australia, where this body style was to motor on into the '80s with some very interesting power options, but that is another story. The problem was that the Maverick was just not ready in time. The answer was to put some Falcon "badges" onto specially selected Fairlane/Torino bodies and call them 70 1/2 Falcons. There were not many, but some that were built were interesting. One odd quirk of this solution was that Falcon was available with the same power-train options as the Fairlane/Torino, including the 429 c.i.d. Cobra-Jet engine.

There were many landmarks, milestones and unique innovations during the 10 years that Ford Motor Co. offered the Falcon in their sales line-up. The basic chassis developed for the new small car was modified and used to create many new products and is still used for many new rear wheel drive vehicles. The Falcon is gone but not forgotten.

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