It’s always a treat to see old cars making excursions, especially in far-away lands. T.Minor posted some shots of this ’63 Falcon Squire wagon that was on a trip to Ellat, Israel, and shot by Benni Haspel. Looks like a shot of an American family on vacation somewhere in Utah or Arizona in 1963; the only thing missing is the suitcases strapped to the roof rack, so that the kids had plenty of space to play in the back romper room.
The Falcon seems to be in very nice condition, and rust certainly isn’t an issue in that part of the world. Given that it’s a Squire, we can hope that it came with the optional 170 inch six instead of the standard 144, especially if it has the two-speed Fordomatic. Either way, it’s still getting the job done, slowly or a bit less slowly. In 1963, a UK-sourced four-speed manual was a rather unusual option for the six, but quite rarely seen. It would have been ideal for a car exported to Europe. And then later in the year the 260 V8 became available too, but there’s no tell-tale V8 badge on the front fender.
The Falcon wagon was eminently popular with young families at the time; sort of the Volvo wagon of the 80s-90s, and the Subaru wagons of more recent times. Adding a Squire version in 1962 (shown) was a smart move. As was using Charlie Brown and company to promote them. Although calling it the “Thunderbird of wagons” was a stretch. More like the Rhode Island Red of wagons.
Happy trails; or whatever one says to wish a traveler a happy voyage in Hebrew.
Kudos to these people for taking their Falcon on a hopefully long journey. Having taken a same model year car on an 1,100 mile journey last spring, I do hope they have a few extra parts with them – just in case.
For taking a long trip, this old Falcon may not be too bad as it would likely facilitate a leisurely cruise to your destination.
Problem is, you never know what spare’s to have on hand, and despite all good measures, you always never end up having what you need.
That is very much my experience, but a little insurance does make you feel better about the journey!
How fun! I love to see an old car like this still in service, from the era when U.S. cars were still competitive and even desirable elsewhere in the world.
It is interesting that here in the U.S., old Henry Ford was such a well-known anti-semite that jewish folks tended to avoid Ford-built cars for many years. So, this one in Israel is ironic indeed, though old Henry’s era was long gone by the 1960s.
I suspect that may have led Ford to choose Israel over the rest of the Middle East to do business in, in the heyday of the Arab-Israeli Boycott.
Beautiful images–it does look like it should be a scene from the western USA desert in the 60’s. Best of luck to these intrepid Falcon travelers!
Seeing the early American compacts outside the USA makes the point of how big they still were in the world context. Looking at Old Pete’s Cortina and all it’s engine offerings in Australia, from the Kent 1600 through the 4100 six one wonders if a few euro Ford four cylinder engines with 4 speeds could have made the Falcon into even more of the world car. I know some Lima 2.3 eventually made it into Brazilian Mavericks but these early Falcons must have been lighter than those.
The Pinto wagon and the Falcon wagon weigh about the same. 4 cylinder Pinto wagons go from 2283 to 2672 (early to late). ’61 Falcon wagon weight is 2575. The 2.0 or 2.3 with four speed trans must be lighter then the Falcons 6 cylinder 3 speed manual trans combination. A conversion such as this would probably work quite well. The car pictured looks brand new. Nice to see it still doing it’s job and looking great after all these years. Good grief, I do remember those Charlie Brown kids working for Ford back in the day. Guess the child labor laws were less strict back then!
The 4 banger UK Pinto engine was tried in the 80s in Falcons it was a dismal failure it drank far more fuel than the 4.1 and never made it past the prototype stage, 3.3 litre Falcons could be got with 4speed and 5 speed manuals and were quite economical there was no need of a four.
The eighties Australian Falcons would have been heavier. For the early Falcon I think that we would be talking about the V4 engine that could be had up to 2.0 liters. Since this was before emissions it might have had just enough torque if it was enough lighter than the Falcon 6. Wikipedia said that engine was pretty rough despite the balance shaft and went through head gaskets quickly.
Ford V4s were awfull we got them in Corsairs and Transit vans and most owners swapped them out for something better.
That just makes me smile, thanks!
A great car in great condition in a beautiful setting.
All our family vacations in NZ from mid ’64 to mid ’70 were in one of these amazingly versatile Falcon wagons – when I think what my dad made his tow it now boggles the mind ..from huge double axle trailers loaded high with everything for the holiday, including the fully loaded full size chest freezer, and other times a horse float complete with horse coming along for the iconic kiwi month long holiday at the beach! The first one (’64 XM 170 in ‘green velvet’ and manual trans got off lightly, but the second one (’65 XP 200 in ‘silver mist’ and BW35 trans) did five years’ of hard work and never once let us down..
(well, the BG35 did give some ‘graunching’ trouble, but dad had it fixed under warrantee, and then it was a perfect family car until I destroyed it one evening after the movies ..’the Battle of Britain’ actually
Oh they’d pull all right. Dad used his ’62 to pull down a dead cypress tree diagonally across the back yard. I still remember the splintering crackling crash as he gunned it up the driveway.
Ford wagons seemed to outclass their sedan offerings in the early ’60s. Little wonder that Ford was the “Wagonmaster” for so many years.
The Falcon Squire was fairly rare. Introduced in ’62 with peak sales of 22,000, it was good for only about 7,000 units a years in ’64 and ’65. Luxury compact was still an oxymoron to most Americans in the 1960s.
It’s not hard to see how Ford owned the compact market in the early ’60s with the Falcon. Simple classic style that looked like a bigger car made it an easy choice over the Valiant and Corvair. My folks had a ’62 Futura coupe in their garage.
This Falcon wagon appears to be in incredible condition for a 50 plus year old car. No missing parts, all hubcaps, nice paint, no visible dents. And it’s a daily driver to boot. It really doesn’t look any different from the new one in the ad. Would love to know its history.
I don’t think U.S. brands have much of a presence now in Israel. Korean and Japanese seem to dominate.
I think the first generation Falcon wagon was about perfect in size. I wish something similar was made today by an American or Japanese company that is not of SUV height.
Some SUV/CUV drivers claim they like being able to see ahead in traffic, but that assumes everyone else is driving a car.
As far as I’m concerned, a high roll center compromises agility, though traditional American station wagons were no better.
+1
Even our 2000 Honda Accord V6 coupe looks small when compared to today’s parking lot plethora. Less power, less weight, better fuel mileage, and still going at 383,000 miles. Plenty of Falcons can make that claim too.
A good little car , GREAT photos ! .
-Nate
These recent photos of cars from Israel have really been fascinating. Having never travelled abroad, I find it interesting to peer into the car culture of other counties. This car is particularly enthralling, given its location — it’s not being used just for a short drive around town, but for a trip into the desert.
Many thanks to T. Minor for making these available.
Israel✡ having a climate generally similar to So. Cal. (compare their latitudes), I’m not surprised this car survived.
A good read is Mark Twain’s travelogue “Innocents Abroad,” wherein he visited Palestine during the 1860s when it was controlled by the Turks & no one was fighting. What struck him was how small Israel really was.
Terrific story & photos —
Wondering — when & how did the Falcon make it to Israel, in the last 52 years …
Whitewalls, even !
A trip across the Arava would be a challenge for a 52 yr-old wagon, and I wonder about availability of parts & capability of local mechanics.
Mazal tov !
נסיעה טובה! Nesiya Tova!
Great pictures. I love seeing pictures of everyday life in Israel from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The cars were so eclectic because of boycotts and embargoes, but also because of weird fits and spurts of growth.
Hello All
I am the owner of the car. I live in Israel.
It has 170 six engine and 4 on the floor manual gear box.I restored it recently. I took the photos on the 4th rally of the Israel Classic Car Club to Eilat.
I have also 1960 Falcon and 1966 Mustang.
Here is a photo of the 1960 taken near tel Aviv on the Mediterranean Sea coast.
Hi Benni. Thanks for checking in with us. And I’m rather amazed it has the four-speed stick shift, as that was a very rarely chosen option. I’ve never seen one. Was that original? Do you know the history of this wagon?
Beautiful 1960 Falcon too. And a great shot. Thanks.
It is the original gear box. I know little about the history of the car. It had been thrown in an open field near Tel Aviv for some years. As far as i know it had been most of its life in the USA and then imported to Israel.
The 1960 came here on March 1960 and sold by the Ford agency.
Here is an ad from 1960.
“The world’s most comfortable compact” – I’m sure Chrysler would have had a Thing or two to say about that… They did not sell as one would have expected until you remember the assembled in Israel Studebaker Lark which essentially had a subsidized Price.
I was just wondering what the Hebrew add said, I can look up letters but I can not read it.
I thought it would be fun to know what it said
Thank You
Paul, where I live in Vienna there used to be a 1964 Mercury Comet sedan which from time to time would be parked in the street – that had a 4 on the floor also and it did not look like a conversion from a column shift, so These things did exist.
T. There were two very different kinds of four speed in these cars. The first was a UK-sourced unit that Ford offered in its 1962.5 Futura coupe, to compete against the sporty and popular Corvair Monza, which was available with a four speed. That box was also available in 1963. It was teamed only with the six cylinder engine, which was all that was available on the Falcon up to that time.
But the Futura wasn’t genuinely sporty like the Monza, and there were few takers for the four speed. They were quite rare. And that option was dropped either mid way through the 1963 year, or maybe to the end. The Futura story and the four speed is here:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1962%C2%BD-ford-falcon-futura-sports-sedan-ford-sees-the-future-at-chevrolet/
In 1963.5, the 260 V8 became available in the Falcon, And it was available with an optional four speed, but not the UK unit, which could not handle the torque. I believe it was Ford’s new “top loader” unit, although most sources say that came out in 1964. If not, it would have been the BW T-10.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1963%C2%BD-ford-falcon-futura-v8-the-economy-compacts-enter-the-v8-era/
The ’64 Comet sedan you saw was never available with the UK four speed teamed with the six. The four speed was available with the 260 or 289 V8. needless to say, a factory four speed in a sedan would have been very unusual, but not impossible. More likely it was converted, but only a careful look would confirm that.
Hmmm… If it ever shows up again I may try and have a closer look or ask the owner about it. If the car was sold new in Austria then a manual may not be that strange – there were quite a few people back then having aversion to the early automatics due to them being inefficient (=power loss, higher fuel consumption).
Well there used to be quite a lot of US-made cars in Israel all the way to the late 60s and even after that, but the malaise years had the an effect on their reputation in Israel, too, and by that time there were European and Japanese cars to chose from even at the more expensive end of the spectrum (which until then US made cars had all for themselves).
That Squire makes it a real holiday! Great effort making it happen. All the best going forward.
Off to find me a (local) XP Squire, after reading this I need one too.
Lovely automobile with gorgeous scenery. I can only imagine the hilarity that would ensue if you dropped the current Mustang 2.3 Ecoboost engine and transmission in there and dropped the hammer.
Drive it in good health Mr. Haspel.
This is the sort of thing that makes CC such a wonderful place to sneak to when the Management is not looking….
THANX Benni ! .
-Nate
“Although calling it the “Thunderbird of wagons” was a stretch. More like the Rhode Island Red of wagons.”
I think the brochure text is actually referring to the Country Squire as the Thunderbird of wagons, which makes a little more sense.
Thank You All
Here is another picture taken near Eilat. On the background are Edom Mountains which are mentioned in Genesis 36. The car is standing near the border and the mountains are at the Kingdom of Jordan. On the way back she had to go on a truck because the dynamo failed (I replaced to an alternator this weekend).
All in all it is a great car. The engine kept cool in the heat of the desert and there is no consumption of oil. The manual gear helped much in the mountains.