'62 Falcon Futura - 2-door Illusion Hardtop

[2003Focus]

Hi Falcon lovers.

I owned a '62 back in the day that came to me third hand. It had 33,000 very hard miles on it. I bought it in 1968 for $375. It was rough, but it had potential. The 170 ci I6 was tired, the three speed on the column was bunned as was the column shift, and the body needed TLC.

It was built toward the end of the production year and came with buckets, factory lap seat belts, console, padded dash and a full factory padded vinyl roof. It was white on white with red interior.

Over the next 6 years I spent too many hours and over $4,000

Originally my Dad and I pulled the engine and trans and rebuilt them. Fixed the body and drove it about 2 years that way.

Then I decided to pull the engine and trans out and install a 260 v-8 with a standard 56 Ford three speed behind it. 4 barrel carb. The bellhousing would accept the 3 speed with a later model front bearing retainer installed that centered the trans in the bellhousing. Used a Hurst flatstick shifter that mounted to the back of the 3 speed.

Re and re'd the rear axle and installed an 8" rear end from a '62 Fairlane with 3.50 ratio and 10" brakes. All the pieces to make it an 8 versus a 6 sled where available at the local Ford parts department where I spent many hours pouring over the parts catalogs.

Ran it that way for about a year and a half and then bought a used '68 Windsor 302 and a '68 Mustang close ratio 4-speed. New custom HD clutch, 271 HP FoMoCo hydraulic cam, 289 - 271 HP exhaust manifolds, custom dual exhaust to the rear bumper (complete with 56 Chevy mufflers for added clearance underneath), medium highrise manifold with a 600 CFM Holley. Dual point distributor was the trick back in the the day. Result: about 270 HP @ 5500 RPM. Would red line at 6500, but not good for the bottom end.

Now, with all the mods my Dad said if it's going to 'Go' it better 'Whoa!' so I pulled the front end out and replaced the springs with '63 Falcon HD's, control arms and the spindles from the '62 Fairlane. ll the rest of the front end was stock '62 Falcon (lower control arms, tie-rods, idler arm, steering box and center link).

Now I had 2-1/2" by 10" drum brakes up front and 2" by 10" drum brakes out back, effectively increasing the swept area by 60%. Also allowed it to run on 5-bolt wheels all around.

G-70 by 14 biased ply with 7" chrome reverse up front and H-70 by 14 with 10" chrome reverse out back. HD rear springs with coil over shock to stiffen it a bit more. Should have had track bars, but I wanted it to remain fairly stock so Saturday night we could blow the doors off folks who thought they could go faster! Not exactly a sleeper, but just enough of a hint that there was some brutishness to the Falcon.

In order to keep the suspension stock-ish but allow enough room for the bigger rubber, I radiused the rear wheel wells using front fender flares from a pair of donor fenders. New carpet, new upholstery, 8-track stereo (gee remember those???) and an array of Stewart Warner gauges and a SUN super tach mounted on the dash.

Lots of fun on Saturday night.

Sad part: sold it in 1974 for $800 after driving it 100,000 miles.