(first posted 2/22/2022) What a shot: Talk about a time machine…right down to the tv antenna on the chimney (they’re back in again, for the highest quality digital broadcast tv). And in 1968, UHF TV was starting to get more common. Back to the Falcon:
The 1966 – 1969 Falcon was such a dud. Despite being essentially new, sales dropped in 1966, below 200k for the first time ever. In 1967, they dropped to an abysmal 67k. And in 1970, it went away, after a short year, as Ford couldn’t be bothered to update it for new 1970 regulations. Well, the second half of the 60s were a dismal hard time for all the compacts, as the economy was booming, and everyone wanted a Mustang or Camaro or such. But that all changed again starting in 1969 with the Maverick, followed by the huge success of the Duster.
Stereotypes always fail, but these Falcons were the quintessential spinster-widow mobile. So why isn’t it in the garage, where it belongs? Falcons (and tv antennae) are of course hip, and this is in Portland, so the answer is obvious. This isn’t grandma’s house anymore…
Is that a van in the corner?
Looks like a crew cab F150 with a matching bed cap
Wow… Grandma had a white 69 Falcon like this one, hers was a V8/3 on tree, under dash A/C and radio delete. She kept it up until the late 80s. Hers had a gold interior. I remember being a kid of 10, watching Dad row the gears on the column, thinking it had an automatic. It was a solid dependable car for her, but she sold it and got a 79 Chevette as her last car. That ‘vette was a let down from the Falcon in every way except fuel economy.
Grandma had been widowed since 1961 so I guess she’d qualified as a spinster since she never remarried. she was widowed as longer than she was married (1924-61, she passed away in 1989)
A spinster is a woman who has never married, or who is past the usual age of marrying, whatever that is.
A widow was an honorable estate all to itself back in the day, and not confined only to older women, since husbands could and did die frequently at an early age.
Granny just got back from church?
Absolutely great shot. An automotive “American Gothic.”
Dang! I knew that “vibe”, just couldn’t verbalize it! BTW, I’d take the Falcon over the Maverick, But that’s me….
Single-car garage gives an idea of the house’s age; the newer the home, the more garages dominate the front aspect. Older homes often have the garage in back (like the carriage-house of nicer Victorian homes), with a narrow driveway going past the side if it’s not alleyway access in back.
The front porch is also a sign of antiquity, from an era when home A/C was rare & folks would use the porch to cool off, esp. in the American South.
I detest houses that are “all garage”. I dislike front-facing 2 or 3 car garages in any guise, but the worst offenders are where a 2-car garage is required on a narrow lot so you end up where the garage ends up dominating the facade. It’s one of the many reasons I purchased a house in an older neighborhood. With a very few exceptions, the garages are either detached units behind the house, or single-car front-facing like in this photo.
Of course, leave it to me to fall in love with a house that has no garage and no room to add one.
I became aware of this issue from a fairly neutral article about urban planning in the Wilson Quarterly. Irony is that many folks use their garage for storage & keep one or both cars outside. As George Carlin said, people need a place to keep their stuff.
Garages are a limit on vehicle length; I haven’t checked, but I doubt a Chevy Suburban would fit in ours. This might explain why the Tahoe exists.
There are apparently some HOAs around here that *require* all vehicles to be parked inside the garage. This has created some controversy with the increasing number of people buying full sized crew cab pickups that don’t fit in the garages.
The 1998 Chrysler Concorde would not fit in my garage, which perhaps is why I still have a 1995 Dodge Intrepid.
However, that meant I didn’t buy a car with the Chrysler 2.7L V6…fortunately.
Wow, put a couple of extra doors on the back and paint it gold, and it would be the twin to one owned by my friend Tom’s parents. An early 70 theirs was, a complete rubber mat strippo. I always thought that these were attractive cars, better looking than most, especially in the 68-70 version with the square taillights.
My six cylinder/3 speed 68 Mustang sounded, felt and drove exactly like that Falcon, only lower to the ground. I know I’m in the minority, but I really like these.
And boy does this picture look like small town midwestern America of about 1972.
+1. I always thought these were attractive compacts in their day, esp. the 2-door version. I’d want one with the biggest available engine and it would be like a Mustang, on the cheap.
Yes, the very definition of “sleeper”
I have been actively searching for a 70 Falcon for awhile. I will find one. Then it’s mine. I like ’em too. In fact I bought the sales brochure and owners manual for the 70 model and actually spent $46 for a Marti Report on the one the original owner had written all the info off of on the inside cover. I really am that strange. I just simply wanted to know, even though the car undoubtly no longer exists. There is a square taillight one on I27 between Plainview and Amarillo texas I’ve been meaning to stop and look at. That’s the advantage of being a truck driver. There is a 69 2dr for sale in Gainesville Tx at a salvage yard. In spite of that, it’s in pretty good shape. Just needs a paint job. Never have asked the price though. And I want a 70 anyway.
The Australians REALLY did these right. Hemmings Blog just had a video on the 1972 Bathurst 500, and those sportier Falcons (in this bodystyle) looked downright mean! I had never thought of these Falcons as being cool in any way, but the GT models were.
The last GTO, they did right too, too bad Pontiac made it resemble every other model. (I’ll probably catch h*ll for that) Get one while they’re just “used cars”.
A “spinster / widow mobile”?
Rude Dude!
😉
I prefer to think of the Falcon, like the Dart/Valiant, as a car for buyers who wanted only frugal basic transportation, a market role the Corolla has since inherited.
Even Robert McNamara saw cars this way. But when it came to combat planes, he wanted nothing but the best, hence the F-111 which had troubled development partly because of his insistence on Navy/Air-Force commonality.
I loved the 66 Falcon based Ranchero, almost bought one in 1975.
I am a bit surprised sales for the Falcon fell so sharply, but then again, Ford really pushed the affordability aspect of the Mustang so sales went to the newer nameplate….just as it did when the Maverick appeared on the scene.
In the mid to late 70s I would see these late 60s Falcons but they only got a 2nd glance if they were 2 door sedans or wagons. When I moved to California in 1979, I owned a 77 Nova but would have bought a Ford of any kind if I could have found one. Only after a few months in California did I see my dream car: a 66 Falcon Futura Sport Coupe with 289 and automatic transmission. It even was the color I wanted: pale yellow. Never could “catch up” with the owner of my dream car, though.
The ’66 Falcon arguably cancelled the Ford compact. It crossed many lines with the mid-size Fairlane. The hardtop coupes were gone, and you could still get that style with Valiant and Nova – and Fairlane. The Falcon wagon was truly a stripped Fairlane wagon.
If you liked the very conservative smaller Fords of 1966 and were willing to bypass the glamorous options in GM showrooms, springing the few extra bucks for a Fairlane made too much sense. The base Falcon sedan started at $2,114 and the base Fairlane at $2,280, and it showed in the sales figures with Fairlane selling about 317,000 to Falcon’s 191,000. The very similar 1967 models fell to 302,000 combined.
The Nova lost its hardtop coupe after 1967. Valiant briefly too until the arrival of the Scamp for 1971 although there was an hardtop variant still available in Mexico https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/89/e8/a3/89e8a35b03ccbcd754fef899ab802f0b.jpg
I want that car…probably rather have a Dart but I do like it!!!
I don’t think Ford’s inline sixes have the same reputation for durability that the slant six has, but you can’t have everything.
You’re right about Ford sixes of this ilk. They are POS. That’s why you get the V8.
Other than having hydraulic lifters which resulted in valve stem seals that would get hard, resulting in a little blue cloud, I don’t think they were bad engines. Also, I don’t think that the 200 cid 6 brought the same kind of torque to the party that the 225 /6 did. Just looked it up. /6 of this era had 145 bhp @4000 rpm and 215 ft/lbs @2400, where the Ford 200 put out 120 bhp @ 4400 and 190 ft/lbs @ 2400. From a seat of the pants perspective, the slanty felt significantly stronger – I am surprised that the torque specs were so close.
They were probably as good as they had to be, not overengineered like the slant six. Dad used to get about 100,000 very hard miles out of his Fords before needing a rebuild.
I find it somewhat surprising that this generation of Falcon was such a failure; to me it was the best looking one. Maybe it was too much of a squeeze between the Mustang and the Fairlane?
The best looking? Compared to this? Really?
Or even better, this?
I don’t like all the creases in the 64/65 model and don’t like the “sad sack” drooping look of the 60/63 models. I prefer the 66/70 slab side look more.
I agree 100%, Guy. Guess I like clean crisp lines.
Yes, I never cared for the original “sad and droopy Falcon” or the still worried-looking “creased and folded” model that followed.
My middle brother drove a red 66 Falcon just like about.
Instead of driving like granny, he drove like a maniac scaring the hell out of his little brother (me)!!
To this day, I cring each time I see a 66 thru 69 Falson two door!!????
My compliments to photographer. A classic illustration of Americana!!!
The redesigned Falcon, though attractive in a sporty, ponycar kind of way, already lost that battle to the Mustang and became an also-ran, even though its styling was far better than the obsolete-by-then frumpy Falcon that was the 1960 model with pleated sides.
I remember the promotional stuff coming out in the magazines pushing the newly redone Falcon as a “family Mustang” – as is you could put those two dichotomies together and have it mean something.
“Family Mustang” is as dumb as “Porsche CUV”. Oh,wait……
The greenhouse thingamajig on the kitchen window messes up the 1968 purity. Those weren’t around in ’68.
After reading the Bonneville feature earlier, I started wondering…. What if Detroit had gone the other way? Instead of pushing everything toward speed-loving young men, why not be honest about spinstermobiles? Name them after places where old ladies like to drive. The Pontiac Country Kitchen. The Olds Rose Garden. The Mercury Ann Taylor.
Or perhaps the AMC Gremlinament, Buick Electrolysis, Lincoln Incontinental, or Olds 88 (but doesn’t look a day over 70).
And the Dodge Harmonico?
Hahahah! Brilliant! The new DeSoto Beauty Salon, Mercury Masscard, Pontiac Tearoom, Dodge Mahjongg…
My Aunt Evelyn never married. There were murmurings of boyfriend activity, but it always ended with “She got rid of that guy, and good riddance!”. The two cars I associate with her were a white 1960 Falcon, and a blue 1966 Falcon.
BTW is that aluminum siding?
I’m betting vinyl on the siding. The aluminum I remember had individual corner pieces that lined up with and capped each horizontal panel. This looks like all of the vinyl that I see these days with a single vertical corner piece that goes from top to bottom of the entire wall.
Almost fooled me into thinking this was taken in 1968. Then I noticed the vinyl windows on the house. There were no vinyl windows in 1968.
Vinyl siding as well and a modern garage door. Ford Expedition? to the right of the photo. Christmas lights on the roof and Casper the friendly ghost in the window may be authentic though.
Garage door is slightly opened. To let the heat out. Helps lower A/C costs (supposedly). I see it all the time in my mother’s active adult community.
With my neighbors, on one side, the slightly opened door involves a cat.
On the other side, the young male of the house smoking funny stuff in the garage.
But, my parents did opt for Choice C when I was growing up. They did occasionally vent their west facing garage, which could become quite the oven in the late afternoon.
I’m guessing that Granna doesn’t have the depth perception needed to get the car in out of that narrow, single car garage door anymore?
Its embarrassing to admit having owned one, a light blue ’66 two door as a cheap used car. Ran okay but what a junky car. Many good reasons why Falcon sales tanked!
My dad had a darker blue ’67 that got traded in on a ’70 Fairlane. An older couple a few blocks away bought the Falcon, and had it well into the ’70s. It eventually got replaced with a Maverick.
Obviously the Falcon is on the street because her Super Stock Dodge is in the garage 😉
HA! Was this shot taken in Pasadena? 😉
You beat me to the super stock Dodge comment!
I love the 66 to 69 Falcon, even though it was a short wheelbase Fairlane. I much prefer it to any compact Ford that followed it (Maverick, Fairmont, Tempo, Contour).
in our family sea of darts and valiants there was one of these…a basic yellow and black 69 falcon sedan owned by an aunt. at the time I thought even as a basic grocery getter it had a better style than the comparable mopars, but talking later about it I was told it was more trouble than it was worth and was worn out and junked long before the other aunts and uncles valiants and darts from the same era.
Oddly, many of the “new” ATSC (replacing the old NTSC) TV frequencies are UHF, So anyone leaving those antennae up are in Free HD heaven!
Perhaps that’s why my neighbor still has one?
I like it. I like it. Oh to have a sixties Falcon, if only.
Nice tight composition, Paul. I searched for any anachronism but I see none. What van?
It’s by Curtis Perry, as per the headline.
Gorgeous colors in this photo! Blue sky, green grass, white house, turquoise Falcon.
If we are staying in 1968, maybe the garage holds her late husband’s car that she’s kept for sentimental reasons, or special occasions? Let’s call it a ’60 Electra 225 flat-top (if such a beast would fit in that narrow 1930’s garage!)
My first car was an icebox white ’66 Falcon four-door. 200 CID six, automatic, blue vinyl interior. Decent enough car. Now, if you find me one of these, in this shape today, I’m in:
For those who want to know, heres the info I have off a Marti Report. Out of 4373 2dr Falcon Club Coupes built for 1970, 705 were painted medium ivy green metallic ( paint Code P), 691 one of those had the Black Vinyl Interior, 2867 were 200’s with automatic, and 381 had the remote control rear view mirror. The one I got the report on had as options, 6.95×14 white sidewall tires, AM radio, wheel covers, automatic transmission and the remote mirror. It was serialized on 10/30/69, bucked ( that’s when they start welding the body together) on 11/11/69, went thru final assembly on 11/17/69, was released by the plant that same day, and sold on 02/16/70. Sold at Garden Spot Motor Company on Prince and James St in Lancaster PA. The Philadelphia DSO office ordered 189 2Dr Falcons for the 70 Model year. And most interesting of all, the car was a “basic order type” meaning in Ford Speak that it was only built either because they had just enough left over parts at the Kansas City Assembly to put one together, or someone had miscalculated production leaving a empty spot on the line that had to be filled. Since Mavericks were being built there and selling as fast as they could shove ‘ em out the door, I’m surprised they built a Falcon that late, especially since no one had actually ordered it. And it was the last model year for that bodystyle.
I always thought the Mustang killed the Falcon, it had been popular in the early ’60’s; especially the Sprint V8. That of course let to the Mustang which all the kids flocked to. I personally thought Ford screwed up with the styling- I always felt the Mustang look with the long hood short trunk did not play well with the traditional compact car buyers who were more conservative in their tastes. Chevrolet restyled the Chevy II in 1966; its proportions were more traditional and I saw a lot more IIs in 1966 than Falcons.
Also, Chevrolet menaged to avoid the Chevy II/Nova stepping in Camaro’s territory and vice-versa.
I wonder what if Ford had gived a second chance to the 1966-70 Falcon body with a second life in Argentina or in Brazil going against the Brazilians Dodge Dart and Chevrolet Opala?
To add a bit more on the table, had the 1966-70 Falcon being available in Brazil. Ford do Brasil might have market it as the Corcel big brother and the Galaxie little brother and it might have been better suited than the Maverick to replace the Aero Willys.
The Mustang might have killed the Falcon, but I think the Falcon killed the Falcon.
But they were aimed at two different markets, the Falcon to be cheap to buy and cheap to run, an American VW bug before the Pinto. The Mustang was designed to be cheap to buy so they could sell a boatload of them and fun. Ongoing things like fuel economy weren’t really on the radar for the Mustang. I had a buddy in the 70s with an early Mustang with a 289 and a 4 barrel. Good, not great performance for the day, but he never saw any more than 16MPG, and only if he was cruising on the highway on a long drive.
I immediately thought of this photo of my own “Grammy Yoshar” in front of her little house with Dad’s bare bones ’73 Plymouth Satellite in Sandalwood Beige with black interior.
Always liked Falcons. That short lived, 70 1/2 model , based on a Torino, was/is a particular fav.
The 64 or 65 convertibles are awesome too.