1961 Ford Falcon Futura

Description for Ford Falcon 1961

I've been playing with this Falcon for a couple of years now, ut I don't have the room for three old cars and I just got a '39 Ford convertible sedan to restore, o...I need to find the Falcon a new home. The car came out of Colorado, nd while it was described to me (on eBay) as "rust-free," it really wasn't. It had rust through in the trunk floor, little bit in the driver's floor (not enough to be structurally damaging, ut enough to produce some annoying holes...), nd in the right rear fender. The fender was fixed with steel, ut not well...never hire a guy to do a job based on the assurance that "sure, can fix that." The floor and trunk floor were cleaned to bare metal, reated with POR15, nd patched with fiberglass; not as good as new metal, ut OK for the foreseeable future. The interior is completely new: headliner, oor panels, eats, nd carpets--all the same color and construction as the original. All the instruments work as they should, ven the radio. OK, admit that the radio is not a 1961 tube radio; it's a 1963, hich looks identical to the '61, nd if you are a purist, ou'll get the '61 radio with the car so you can repair and install it. The dash could really use repainting, s could the steering wheel, hich is perfect but the white paint is chipped. The car has an acceptable coat of new paint (single stage enamel, hite as original), ut really could use some body work to smooth out some little waves and wrinkles in the front fenders and the right rear (where the patch panel was put in badly). It looks OK for a driver, ut you'd probably want to improve the body work for show. The chrome is very good for a driver, ut not show quality--it's getting old. The generator, he carburetor, nd (I think) the starter have been rebuilt and operate as they should. I didn't tear down the engine because it appears to be functioning fine--it doesn't smoke or make weird noises, nd now that the carb is rebuilt, t runs and idles nicely. The brakes are all rebuilt, ith new wheel cylinders, o it stops reliably (manual brakes, o you have to step on them...). The transmission shifts cleanly, nd the clutch seems fine. The car has the tires I got it with; they are in good shape with a lot of tread, nd they are the correct narrow whitewalls for a Futura. The hubcaps are the correct, ne year type for this car. The heater is completely rebuilt with a new heater core--no worry about working...or leaking. The trunk has been refurbished with a new mat, nd the car has all the correct badges. The car's major laws are in it's glass: it has a new windshield, hich promptly cracked, nd so will have to be replaced. The driver's door window is also cracked (it would cost around here about $150 to get a new window cut and installed).
1961 is the first year of the Futura, esigned by Ford to complete with the Corvair Monza. They upped the displacement of the engine from 144 c.i. to 170 (101 horsepower!), nd jazzed up the interior with modern stuff like bucket seats with a console in the middle, nd genuine carpets instead of mats. Ford advertised this model as "Thunderbird's little brother," but if they are related it's more like very distant cousins (although, f course, his is the grandmother of the Mustang...). Falcon in it's first years was sort of a reincarnation of the Model A: a simple, ependable going-to-get-the-groceries car. Futura was just an attempt to make it a little more glamorous. It's fun, ut it's certainly not a muscle car...
This is a nice, olid little car that you can enjoy as it is, r you can tinker with its flaw and improve it to show status.