Australian Ford history is so interestingly same but different to it US cousins. The bits they shared and didn't share makes for some pretty unique cars.
@@AnyoneSeenMikeHunt My favourite part of the Aussie falcons was that each platform was more of an iteration of the previous. The X series Falcons were all virtually the same in terms of underpinnings aside from bodywork changes, safety changes and motor technology updates. The E series had X series underpinnings with new bodywork on top. The AU was the start of a new platform altogether, but the dimensions and even bolt placements were even quite similar to the E and X series. When the FG came out, they took the AU-BF platform and strengthened it with better materials to make it comply to modern crash safety standards. You can follow the iterations of diagrams that engineers had in the early 60s for things like the water pump design of the Ford Straight 6 (later Barra) up to 2016 (it hardly changed at all during that time as it was a solid, proven component)
@@AnyoneSeenMikeHunt the XP Falcon used the Mercury Comet hood and front fenders with its own, locally designed grille to tie it all together. I think the parts came through Ford Canada (for trade tariff reasons).
@@gergatron7000 The Au tariff thing was (is) so screwed up. After WW2 importing from Au allies like the US was heavily taxed while cars from Axis powers (aka Japan) were not. "So who really won the war?" - James May. Then in 1985 Au had a complete incompetent underhanded corrupt moron in Senator John Button creating the whole rebadging farce creating the beginning of the end of car manufacture in Au. Now 'Stralians have some weird love for communist chinese cars. It's a very weird country.
I owned a 1971 Fairlane base model with the 250 six. No carpets, no radio, very plain vinyl/fabric seats. I have a hard time imagining a more stripped down version.
Great video and coverage on the Falcon! The 70.5 falcon is a super oddball car. They only made about 26,000 total: that includes wagons, 4 doors, and sedans. Luckily they still share a fair bit of parts with the fairlane/torino/ranchero, but they still have parts unique to the car itself. The most notable difference of the 70.5 falcon is it's a post car with wing windows. I always have fun taking mine out on drives and having people try to figure out what it is, some ford guys even still think it's a Torino.
@@gunfighterzero Yup, myself as well way back before I took ownership and began building mine. My favorite moment was going down to an old Ford parts supplier/shop and comparing the original 70.5 Falcon sales brochure that I have against the 70 Torino brochure to show the main differences. When you see them side by side, that's when you notice that things aren't quite the same
@chazmister56 i just went and looked at a bunch of pics, its definitely different with that rear pilar.. looks like the fairlane was just a torino knockoff
@gunfighterzero Somewhat The biggest thing to look at between the 70 Torino and .5 Falcon is the rear quarter glass, two completely different shapes(ignoring the door posts) The fairlane does share the same bodyshape as the 70.5 quarterglass, however it's not a post car. Now what really makes it dizzying is the fact that the 1970 Torino Brougham actually shares the same rear quarter glass shape as the fairlane
@paulbriggs3072 The Argentinian Falcon was made in Argentina. IIRC, first from parts or kits shipped from the USA, then gradually with more locally made parts. As OP said, the last produced look much like the 1960 model. Exterior lights changed from round to rectangular and the interior changed with more modern dashboards. Now, since it's been more than 25 years, I understand that argentine Ford Falcons can be imported into the USA. Vintage car admirers m ay be interested to know that the Kaiser Manhattan produced in Argentina as the Kaiser Carabela long after production stopped in the USA (with a more rugged manual transmission than in the USA and no automatic transmission available). 🇦🇷 🇺🇸
@@RobertJarecki You are very correct, it was made in the Pacheco factory here in Argentina. Even to this day you can still see lots of models on the streets, from different decades even, and in different condition, from beaten down to mint, there was even a taxi version and it was VERY popular up until the early 90s. It was also the used police car/model for years and it has dark history as well for being used to arrest people during the dictatorship of 1976, so many happy and sad memories attached to the Falcon, that car is embeded in our history
I owned one of these cars. I could get in the Upper 20s MPG when driving 55MPH. Mine was quite worn out, I never had to look at the gas gauge, when the fuel was low, the Oil Pressure light would come on when making any sharp turn. Look at the gas gauge and I was below a 1/4 tank. Pull in and fill up the gas tank and add 2+ quarts of oil. Still like the car and sometimes wish I had it back.
My aunt bought a new dsrk green 70.5 Falcon from the Ford dealer in Sweetwater Tennesse. At 11 years old I was very confused as I knew that the Falcon had been discontinued and it looked just like a Torino. Thanks for the explanation. One of life's little mysteries solved after all these years
The XA Falcon, while Aussie-designed and built, was first penned in a Detroit studio rented along with Chrysler Australia. This is why the VH Valiant and the XA Falcon looked quite similar. They must have been peering over their office dividers at their competition. Chrysler then had to change the window line of the Valiant to differentiate it from the Falcon. Aussie cars have always managed to straddle the line between European compacts and American barges.
The first generation of Falcons, we called old lady cars, mostly because of the white or blue hair seen behind the wheel many times. That Torino based Falcon I recognized as a Torino back then. I didn't know t was a Falcon. Thanks Ed.
I went to the auto show in Boston the year these came out and I have a brochure for the '70 1/2 Falcon. The model that interests me the most was the two door version which was a sedan, something unavailable in the Fairlane or Torino. The B Pillar was at a fastback angle which was a throwback to two door sedans from decades earlier and looked really cool.
We had a 1961 Falcon station wagon for many years. The bill of sale turned up a few years ago: $2,800, loaded. *** *** “Loaded” in this case meant AM radio, heater, seat belts (lap only) and Ford-O-Matic transmission.
What’s interesting is the Ford Ranchero was originally based on the Fairlane body, then reintroduced a few years later on the Falcon platform, then in 67 brought back again on the Fairlane platform and then was on the Torino (basically Fairlane with a different name) platform.
That’s because, in 1967, the Falcon was upsized to a shortened version of the midsized Fairlane chassis , making it about 70% Fairlane at that point. From then out, moving it the that actual Fairlane chassis was easy.
What's really strange is the 2 door 1970 1/2 Falcon was the only full-pillared 2 door in that series, all the Fairlane/Torino 2 doors were hardtop coupes. Yet, it was the least necessary since the Maverick coupe was already on the market!
Ed, these are great! Always interesting. Whenever you mention the Big Three bringing out compacts, you mention them in response to the new European autos gaining popularity in the States. Actually, the popular Rambler lines from AMC were selling very well compared to VW or Renault. Rambler and Ambassador were Motor Trend's "Car of the Year" for 1963. Also, Studebaker had the Lark in the compact mix
The 64/65 Falcon was available as a two door sedan, two door hard top, two door convertible, two door station wagon, two door sedan delivery, four door sedan, and a four door station wagon. You could get the car with a 170 cubic inch I6, 200 cid I6, 260 cid V8, 289 V8, three speed manual trans, 4 speed manual trans, two speed automatic trans, 3 speed automatic trans. You could get a front bench seat which allowed a total of six people or front buckets making it a five seater. The car was dirt cheap as well, base models could be purchased for $1,800 about $18K in today's money. It was one of the best auto values to ever come out of Detroit.
I think Lee started in the early 50's.He was responsible for the 56 for 56 program.which is a new 56 ford for $56 a month.The program was a big sales success.He continued to move upward until Hank the Duece fired him in the 70;s
You should really look into the history of the Ford Falcon in Australia. It could be said we really picked it up and ran with it, for 56 years I think? They were a right hand drive version of the original Falcon from the US, but as time went by we re-designed and re-engineered them for local conditions/market. I'm not even a Ford guy technically, but the story of the Falcon in Aus is a success by any metric I think. I wish they were still being made.
As a Canadian who laments the disappearance of the unique Aussie vehicles (our own oddballs having gone away long ago), I too wish the Falcon (and the various Holdens, too) were still around.
It's ridiculous that the Barra 6 was never adopted elsewhere, like in the U.S. Turbo versions put most V8's of the last two decades to shame and the motor still had much more to give.
@ yeah agree on that. I think one of the last performance Falcons had a turbo barra and was the fastest Aussie performance ever, or pretty close to it.
Too bad I can’t add a pic: I owned an Army Green 70½ Falcon. I bought it with an inline 6, and I replaced that with a Ford 302 which I rebuilt in an engine class (class paid for by the US Army). It had a column shift with the 6, and installed a floor shifter with the V8.
Someone needs to check the Marti reports for these to see if someone checked the boxes and got a 70 1/2 Falcon with a 429 and a 4spd. Assuming it wasn’t used up at a track somewhere or wrapped around an immovable object it would likely be one of the rarest cars from North America.
My understanding of the situation was that there WAS a 1970 Falcon (albeit produced through only mid-December of 1969) and that the 1970 1/2 Falcon was produced to comply with a government fleet contract for some station wagons that had been signed late in the year. Most of these wagons were for the National Park Service, painted a pale green. I owned a '65 Falcon Ranchero and at one time was a member of the Falcon Club of America; one of the members I knew had a 1970 1/2 wagon and that was what he told me.
Not sure if that was the reason, but indeed there was a 1970 Falcon, basically a refreshed 1969 and it's production was stopped so Ford could use those plants to build more Mavericks which were selling like hotcakes as Falcon sales waned.
As a kid I used to ride my bike all over the subu to b I lived in and checked out all the old cars. I knew Falcon ended in 69. I was also aware of the history of the Torino. Imagine my shock seeing a Torino with a Falcon badge. I think the only thing more shocking was the first time I saw a suicide door Thunderbird. I thought someone had slipped me acid.
In the US, when Fiat introduced the refreshed 131 in 1978 1/2, they rechristened it the Brava (most everywhere else it was still the 131 Mirafiori) and also introduced the more premium SuperBrava (the Super Mirafiori almost everywhere else). In 1979, they dropped the base Brava and renamed the SuperBrava….the Brava (nice and confusing). So you have a model in the 1978 1/2 Brava lasting six months but the nameplate living on as well as a nameplate in the SuperBrava only lasting six months but the model living on in Fiat’s odd marketing swap. My family did buy a new 1978 1/2 SuperBrava back in 1978 and it ended up being my first regular driver till our family traded it in in 1984 for a Honda Accord
Some car companies, including Ford, did 1/2 year models or trim versions in the 1960's. The initial Ford Mustang was actually a 1964 1/2 model (or a 1964 for registration purposes) initially for sale in April 1964 and connected to the opening day of the 1964-65 New York World's fair. Ford also did sub-models or trim packages in April 1963, including with the Falcon and in other years too. I owned in 1973-74, my first car, a 1963 Ford Falcon Futura 2 door hardtop coupe (it looked like including in white color in the picture of a white one in your video). There were 3 (and an half ?) versions of the Falcon, 1960-63, 1964-1965, 1966- early 1970 and the 1970 1/2 the topic of this video. I think the 1970 1/2 Falcon was to cover a price point vs. competitors GM, Chrysler (Plymouth) and AMC. The Torino was a replacement for the Fairlane in the North American Market. It is interesting that the North American Falcons and later the Torino had their body designs become those sold as Falcons in Australia.
There were a few "half year" models with Ford, but in-house they were never officially called that; it was one year or the next on the books. Except for this 70 1/2 Falcon which was it's official designation at Ford.
I knew about the nameplate/platform switching but was unaware you could get the big iron under the hood. I wonder how many folks were paying attention and ordered a Cobra killer for significantly less money?
Funny you display the Edsel and then ask about cars with shorter model "years" than six months. The 1960 Edsels were only on sale for one month; October 15th through November 15th of 1959 before Edsel was cancelled. As a result, 1960 Edsels are among the rarest Ford cars, with only 59 Villager models being made.
and even then the Maverick only lasted for 7 years before being replaced by the Fairmont in 1978 (and the nameplate would lie dormant for 44 years before being resurrected to be put on a compact unibody pickup based on the 4th Generation Escape's C2 Platform in 2022; and both the size and relative affordability caught ford COMPLETELY off guard to where they can't make them fast enough because it was such a hit right out of the gate!)
This explains a lot. I had a '69 Falcon 4 door as my college car. Doing much of my own maintenance and upkeep I was often frustrated by parts that actually belonged to 1970 Fords. I always called mine a "69 and a half" but it seems it was more likely Ford was just using what they had handy for the last model year.
Ford seriously needs to bring back the Falcon/Maverick to re-enter the passenger car market they've shamefully abandoned for ALL F-150 ALL THE TIME (and also "Mustangs")
@ The standard of ‘minimum requirements’ has certainly changed since the 70s, to be sure, but there’s definitely still a market for entry-level cars, especially if they come with an up-market sport model (see Honda Civic)
@@P_RO_Mm. I don't. But pickups and SUVs are more profitable by far, so that's all you'll now see. I'm hoping my 2017 Nissan Micra lasts for ages, because those, too, are discontinued and nothing much else of the same sort is still made either. BTW though Nissan is Japanese, the last gen Micra isn't, it was built in Mexico. Called the March there, sold in Canada as the Micra, reviving an 80s Nissan model name...
I presume our Ed hit upon an editorial mistake due to the volume of work in such a short time. The featured body style was never Fairlane, but always offered as Torino. (Excepting the 70.5 stripper Falcon of course.)
@@stanwbaker There was a 70 Fairlane based on this body in a hardtop only version. It was the last American Fairlane and the top engine was the Ram-Air 429. This was the only year where a Falcon could have a hotter engine (429SCJ) than a Fairlane. Both Falcon and Fairlanes last year here with the Torino being the only nameplate beginning in 71
Yeah .. Ford quickly figured out they screwed up so they threw this out for 4 door and wagon buyers. Then the Pinto came out with the 2 door and wagon version, along with the 2 door and 4 door sedans, so all the bases were covered again.
My grandfather bought one of these new in medium blue metallic- he traded in a 1962 Falcon on it, I guess he was waiting for them to come back. My family all worked at FoMoCo so he got it cheap with A Plan.
My father ordered a Falcon station wagon at the end of 1969. By that time, production had ceased and he wasn't interested in what was on the lot. Not to worry he was told. There will be a Falcon wagon in a few months, stripped of all the options you didn't want. He was not happy with what was delivered, but in 1970 no American Automotive company sold a compact wagon anyway--save for the AMC Hornet, but calling that a station wagon was something of an exaggeration.
When I was a kid my dad bought one of these brand new, It was a 2 door six cylinder with a three speed on the column. I had no idea it was made for only six months. He kept it a couple of years and traded it in on another not so common Ford, a '72 Galaxie 500.
2:20 Bizarre that for this 1970 1/2 Falcon, Ford actually added vent windows back, to the Fairlane/Torino body, whose last year of vent windows was 1967. I'm guessing someone calculated they could save money by eliminating flow thru ventilation, which apparently makes vent windows required. And that all the extra design cost and stocking extra parts made this chicanery still worthwhile
Loved the Falcon .easy to work on very reliable and comfortable.ive owned over 20 of them over the years most built from the sixties and seventies.they .here in Australia the Falcon was produced way past America
Lol, no joke, my 1st car was a 69 falcon handed down from my dad with the 200ci strait six automatic. Column shifter, 2 door, green with black top. Drove it till 1990, wish i till had it.😅
The only american cars in the family garage are from the 1930's and 1940's still in mint condition. Everything else is european. Ed's auto reviews are very interesting to me.
I had a 70.5 Falcon 4 door, 250-6 C-4,,, bare bones,, was a good car,, somewhere on the internet, I have a page on it,,, it was on Geo Cities,, and I found it about 2 years ago,,
The bodywork used for the 1966-69 Falcon served as the basis for the 1969-70 Mustang. The "1970-1/2" Falcon sold to 1971. After that the Falcon was renamed Torino for 1972 and switched to the former Fairlane body fully redesigned this year and the Torino itself was renamed Gran Torino. To add a new layer of luxury for the medium-price market at Ford Division in 1975, a notch below the Thunderbird to battle the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Ford introduced a companion to the Torino and Gran Torino called Elite, which like the Thunderbird, sold only as a coupe. For the remainder of the 1974 model year while officially slated for 1975, those first cars were called Gran Torino Elite. Then the carryover 1976 model was abbreviated in name to just plain Ford Elite. Ranamed LTD II for 1977-78, once the Mustang was redesigned for 1979 the Elite returned, switched over to the Fairmont tooling as the Futura.
Ford USA should have taken guidance from Ford Australia. The Australian Falcon XA, XB, XC, XD, XE, XF etc. were great cars and well suited for the compact US market.
I had a four-door white automatic Maverick and about 2003. I picked it up from a friend of mine with like 75,000 miles on it. Her grandfather passed it down to her and she used it until she bought a newer car. it was slow but it never let me down! I got a couple years out of it and sold it on to somebody for cheap.
@@butterbeantx I don't know if you named yourself after the boxer but, even though I'm not a boxing fan, his story is amazing. Such speed and power for one of his size.
It wasn’t the first time, Ford had the ‘641/2 Mustang, the ‘631/2 Galaxie two door hardtop ( the ‘63 two door hardtop changed from a formal roofline to a more fastback style and became the ‘631/2 ) the 19701/2 Falcon was just a basic trim level on a Torino platform that already existed. Also in 1966 the Falcon and Fairlane were the same cars underneath but the Fairlane was on a longer wheelbase so the Falcon had already moved away from its compact car roots.
While we know these cars as "half year" models, only the 70 1/2 Falcon was officially given the fraction. Even the 64 1/2 Mustangs are all titled as 64's and similar for the Galaxies and all Ford literature calls them such.
Ford must of had overstock of Falcon badges or the executives were drinking on the job. How many of these were produced ? Good thing they didn't find the leftover Edsel badges.
![KSI - Dirty [Official Visualiser]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VoDh1h1dPUE/mqdefault.jpg)
We definitely had no stop in our falcons in Australia. It was the xy at the time.
Australian Ford history is so interestingly same but different to it US cousins. The bits they shared and didn't share makes for some pretty unique cars.
@@AnyoneSeenMikeHunt My favourite part of the Aussie falcons was that each platform was more of an iteration of the previous. The X series Falcons were all virtually the same in terms of underpinnings aside from bodywork changes, safety changes and motor technology updates. The E series had X series underpinnings with new bodywork on top. The AU was the start of a new platform altogether, but the dimensions and even bolt placements were even quite similar to the E and X series. When the FG came out, they took the AU-BF platform and strengthened it with better materials to make it comply to modern crash safety standards. You can follow the iterations of diagrams that engineers had in the early 60s for things like the water pump design of the Ford Straight 6 (later Barra) up to 2016 (it hardly changed at all during that time as it was a solid, proven component)
The XYs were a damn good car .
@@AnyoneSeenMikeHunt the XP Falcon used the Mercury Comet hood and front fenders with its own, locally designed grille to tie it all together. I think the parts came through Ford Canada (for trade tariff reasons).
@@gergatron7000 The Au tariff thing was (is) so screwed up. After WW2 importing from Au allies like the US was heavily taxed while cars from Axis powers (aka Japan) were not. "So who really won the war?" - James May.
Then in 1985 Au had a complete incompetent underhanded corrupt moron in Senator John Button creating the whole rebadging farce creating the beginning of the end of car manufacture in Au. Now 'Stralians have some weird love for communist chinese cars. It's a very weird country.
Who else loves these short form Ed videos? They are fantastic!
I owned a 1971 Fairlane base model with the 250 six. No carpets, no radio, very plain vinyl/fabric seats. I have a hard time imagining a more stripped down version.
Great video and coverage on the Falcon!
The 70.5 falcon is a super oddball car. They only made about 26,000 total: that includes wagons, 4 doors, and sedans. Luckily they still share a fair bit of parts with the fairlane/torino/ranchero, but they still have parts unique to the car itself. The most notable difference of the 70.5 falcon is it's a post car with wing windows. I always have fun taking mine out on drives and having people try to figure out what it is, some ford guys even still think it's a Torino.
Interesting... i always just assumed it was a rebadged torino too
@@gunfighterzero Yup, myself as well way back before I took ownership and began building mine. My favorite moment was going down to an old Ford parts supplier/shop and comparing the original 70.5 Falcon sales brochure that I have against the 70 Torino brochure to show the main differences. When you see them side by side, that's when you notice that things aren't quite the same
@chazmister56 i just went and looked at a bunch of pics, its definitely different with that rear pilar.. looks like the fairlane was just a torino knockoff
@gunfighterzero Somewhat
The biggest thing to look at between the 70 Torino and .5 Falcon is the rear quarter glass, two completely different shapes(ignoring the door posts)
The fairlane does share the same bodyshape as the 70.5 quarterglass, however it's not a post car. Now what really makes it dizzying is the fact that the 1970 Torino Brougham actually shares the same rear quarter glass shape as the fairlane
I wish the 70.5 Falcon had continued as it's prettier than Maverick.
These little holiday bon bons are so delightful. Hartelijk dank!
One of the most brutal muscle cars resulted from that 6 month Falcon.A number of 429SCJ Falcons were kitted out lighter stripped down rocketships
Crazy! in Argentina the FALCON was sold until 1991! and pretty much looked the same as the 1960s model, same chasis
Wow! Wonder where they were made.
@paulbriggs3072 The Argentinian Falcon was made in Argentina. IIRC, first from parts or kits shipped from the USA, then gradually with more locally made parts.
As OP said, the last produced look much like the 1960 model. Exterior lights changed from round to rectangular and the interior changed with more modern dashboards.
Now, since it's been more than 25 years, I understand that argentine Ford Falcons can be imported into the USA.
Vintage car admirers m ay be interested to know that the Kaiser Manhattan produced in Argentina as the Kaiser Carabela long after production stopped in the USA (with a more rugged manual transmission than in the USA and no automatic transmission available).
🇦🇷 🇺🇸
@@RobertJarecki You are very correct, it was made in the Pacheco factory here in Argentina. Even to this day you can still see lots of models on the streets, from different decades even, and in different condition, from beaten down to mint, there was even a taxi version and it was VERY popular up until the early 90s. It was also the used police car/model for years and it has dark history as well for being used to arrest people during the dictatorship of 1976, so many happy and sad memories attached to the Falcon, that car is embeded in our history
@@paulbriggs3072 Pacheco factory in Buenos Aires, Argentina
So we have the American Falcon, The Argentinian Falcon, And The Australian Falcon. So many Falcons 😂
I owned one of these cars. I could get in the Upper 20s MPG when driving 55MPH. Mine was quite worn out, I never had to look at the gas gauge, when the fuel was low, the Oil Pressure light would come on when making any sharp turn. Look at the gas gauge and I was below a 1/4 tank. Pull in and fill up the gas tank and add 2+ quarts of oil. Still like the car and sometimes wish I had it back.
My aunt bought a new dsrk green 70.5 Falcon from the Ford dealer in Sweetwater Tennesse. At 11 years old I was very confused as I knew that the Falcon had been discontinued and it looked just like a Torino. Thanks for the explanation. One of life's little mysteries solved after all these years
70.5 Falcon was a great-looking car, especially the 2-door
Interesting that the 70.5 looks like the xa Falcon in Australia...
The XA Falcon, while Aussie-designed and built, was first penned in a Detroit studio rented along with Chrysler Australia. This is why the VH Valiant and the XA Falcon looked quite similar. They must have been peering over their office dividers at their competition. Chrysler then had to change the window line of the Valiant to differentiate it from the Falcon.
Aussie cars have always managed to straddle the line between European compacts and American barges.
The first generation of Falcons, we called old lady cars, mostly because of the white or blue hair seen behind the wheel many times.
That Torino based Falcon I recognized as a Torino back then. I didn't know t was a Falcon.
Thanks Ed.
A stripped-down Fairlane "falcon" with a 429 cobra jet sounds like a lot of fun. That picture you showed was quite a good-looking car too.
I went to the auto show in Boston the year these came out and I have a brochure for the '70 1/2 Falcon. The model that interests me the most was the two door version which was a sedan, something unavailable in the Fairlane or Torino. The B Pillar was at a fastback angle which was a throwback to two door sedans from decades earlier and looked really cool.
We had a 1961 Falcon station wagon for many years. The bill of sale turned up a few years ago: $2,800, loaded. ***
*** “Loaded” in this case meant AM radio, heater, seat belts (lap only) and Ford-O-Matic transmission.
What’s interesting is the Ford Ranchero was originally based on the Fairlane body, then reintroduced a few years later on the Falcon platform, then in 67 brought back again on the Fairlane platform and then was on the Torino (basically Fairlane with a different name) platform.
That’s because, in 1967, the Falcon was upsized to a shortened version of the midsized Fairlane chassis , making it about 70% Fairlane at that point. From then out, moving it the that actual Fairlane chassis was easy.
What's really strange is the 2 door 1970 1/2 Falcon was the only full-pillared 2 door in that series, all the Fairlane/Torino 2 doors were hardtop coupes. Yet, it was the least necessary since the Maverick coupe was already on the market!
Had a 6 cyl. wagon for several years. Loved that car! Beautiful lines and very practical. Still regret selling it.
Ed, these are great! Always interesting. Whenever you mention the Big Three bringing out compacts, you mention them in response to the new European autos gaining popularity in the States. Actually, the popular Rambler lines from AMC were selling very well compared to VW or Renault. Rambler and Ambassador were Motor Trend's "Car of the Year" for 1963. Also, Studebaker had the Lark in the compact mix
Curious how many people actually went nuts and bought this with that V8 Cobra ram air option.
According to one article i read only 42 had the 429 ram air
I find it funny that Ford kept making the Torino based Falcon in Australia as the xa and later xb model up to the 80's.
While they may have looked similar, the Aussie Falcons had much more in common with the earlier Falcons than the Torino line.
Thank you Ed. It continues to get interesting every video.
Thank you Edward.
The 64/65 Falcon was available as a two door sedan, two door hard top, two door convertible, two door station wagon, two door sedan delivery, four door sedan, and a four door station wagon. You could get the car with a 170 cubic inch I6, 200 cid I6, 260 cid V8, 289 V8, three speed manual trans, 4 speed manual trans, two speed automatic trans, 3 speed automatic trans. You could get a front bench seat which allowed a total of six people or front buckets making it a five seater. The car was dirt cheap as well, base models could be purchased for $1,800 about $18K in today's money. It was one of the best auto values to ever come out of Detroit.
It was also the basis for the Ranchero for those years.
Reworked as the XA Falcon in Australia in ‘72-‘73
Lee Iacocca was with Ford long before this. He was instrumental in bringing the Mustang to market. Really enjoy your videos. Thanks.
I think Lee started in the early 50's.He was responsible for the 56 for 56 program.which is a new 56 ford for $56 a month.The program was a big sales success.He continued to move upward until Hank the Duece fired him in the 70;s
Yeah, I tripped over that too. Iacocca superintended the makeover of the original Falcon into the Mustang...
@@fishinmusician-h3i...and of course he landed right side up at Chrysler. Quite a career.
@@stevetournay6103 Lee Iacocca got the last laugh over Henry Ford the 2nd with his massive success at Chrysler
The front of the 70 1/2 reminded me of the first Gen Toyota Celica
...which in turn had a rear section very similar to the Mustang in the respective fastback versions
You should really look into the history of the Ford Falcon in Australia. It could be said we really picked it up and ran with it, for 56 years I think?
They were a right hand drive version of the original Falcon from the US, but as time went by we re-designed and re-engineered them for local conditions/market.
I'm not even a Ford guy technically, but the story of the Falcon in Aus is a success by any metric I think. I wish they were still being made.
As a Canadian who laments the disappearance of the unique Aussie vehicles (our own oddballs having gone away long ago), I too wish the Falcon (and the various Holdens, too) were still around.
@@stevetournay6103 thanks brother!
It's ridiculous that the Barra 6 was never adopted elsewhere, like in the U.S. Turbo versions put most V8's of the last two decades to shame and the motor still had much more to give.
@ yeah agree on that. I think one of the last performance Falcons had a turbo barra and was the fastest Aussie performance ever, or pretty close to it.
Too bad I can’t add a pic: I owned an Army Green 70½ Falcon. I bought it with an inline 6, and I replaced that with a Ford 302 which I rebuilt in an engine class (class paid for by the US Army). It had a column shift with the 6, and installed a floor shifter with the V8.
Someone needs to check the Marti reports for these to see if someone checked the boxes and got a 70 1/2 Falcon with a 429 and a 4spd. Assuming it wasn’t used up at a track somewhere or wrapped around an immovable object it would likely be one of the rarest cars from North America.
There was one 4 sale from a dealer of collecter cars maybe 10 years ago, white, 429, 4-speed…….truly the coolest sleeper
My understanding of the situation was that there WAS a 1970 Falcon (albeit produced through only mid-December of 1969) and that the 1970 1/2 Falcon was produced to comply with a government fleet contract for some station wagons that had been signed late in the year. Most of these wagons were for the National Park Service, painted a pale green. I owned a '65 Falcon Ranchero and at one time was a member of the Falcon Club of America; one of the members I knew had a 1970 1/2 wagon and that was what he told me.
Not sure if that was the reason, but indeed there was a 1970 Falcon, basically a refreshed 1969 and it's production was stopped so Ford could use those plants to build more Mavericks which were selling like hotcakes as Falcon sales waned.
As a kid I used to ride my bike all over the subu to b I lived in and checked out all the old cars. I knew Falcon ended in 69. I was also aware of the history of the Torino. Imagine my shock seeing a Torino with a Falcon badge. I think the only thing more shocking was the first time I saw a suicide door Thunderbird. I thought someone had slipped me acid.
Fun fact - The '70.5 Falcon was the only 2 door sedan offered in the new '70 Torino line, while the Torino offered two different 2 door hardtops.
Loving these.
Great job Ed!
The 1960s Falcon war built until 1991 with various modifications in Argentinia.
In the US, when Fiat introduced the refreshed 131 in 1978 1/2, they rechristened it the Brava (most everywhere else it was still the 131 Mirafiori) and also introduced the more premium SuperBrava (the Super Mirafiori almost everywhere else). In 1979, they dropped the base Brava and renamed the SuperBrava….the Brava (nice and confusing). So you have a model in the 1978 1/2 Brava lasting six months but the nameplate living on as well as a nameplate in the SuperBrava only lasting six months but the model living on in Fiat’s odd marketing swap. My family did buy a new 1978 1/2 SuperBrava back in 1978 and it ended up being my first regular driver till our family traded it in in 1984 for a Honda Accord
Some car companies, including Ford, did 1/2 year models or trim versions in the 1960's. The initial Ford Mustang was actually a 1964 1/2 model (or a 1964 for registration purposes) initially for sale in April 1964 and connected to the opening day of the 1964-65 New York World's fair. Ford also did sub-models or trim packages in April 1963, including with the Falcon and in other years too. I owned in 1973-74, my first car, a 1963 Ford Falcon Futura 2 door hardtop coupe (it looked like including in white color in the picture of a white one in your video). There were 3 (and an half ?) versions of the Falcon, 1960-63, 1964-1965, 1966- early 1970 and the 1970 1/2 the topic of this video. I think the 1970 1/2 Falcon was to cover a price point vs. competitors GM, Chrysler (Plymouth) and AMC. The Torino was a replacement for the Fairlane in the North American Market. It is interesting that the North American Falcons and later the Torino had their body designs become those sold as Falcons in Australia.
There were a few "half year" models with Ford, but in-house they were never officially called that; it was one year or the next on the books. Except for this 70 1/2 Falcon which was it's official designation at Ford.
My grandfather briefly owned a white 67 4 door Falcon back in 1969
I knew about the nameplate/platform switching but was unaware you could get the big iron under the hood. I wonder how many folks were paying attention and ordered a Cobra killer for significantly less money?
Funny you display the Edsel and then ask about cars with shorter model "years" than six months.
The 1960 Edsels were only on sale for one month; October 15th through November 15th of 1959 before Edsel was cancelled. As a result, 1960 Edsels are among the rarest Ford cars, with only 59 Villager models being made.
The Falcon in australia remained in production with constant updates right up until 2016!
Ford just had a lot of Falcon emblems sitting around and rather than trashing them, they put them on the Torino.
Reminds me of the Australian Ford Falcon
Interesting that you didn't mention that Rambler was making Small economy cars before any of the big three did
Love this series. Groetjes uit Groningen.
Yeah, I missed this entirely at the time. I guess they didn't advertise it much.
Just a stop-gap model until Ford came out with the Maverick sedan.
and even then the Maverick only lasted for 7 years before being replaced by the Fairmont in 1978 (and the nameplate would lie dormant for 44 years before being resurrected to be put on a compact unibody pickup based on the 4th Generation Escape's C2 Platform in 2022; and both the size and relative affordability caught ford COMPLETELY off guard to where they can't make them fast enough because it was such a hit right out of the gate!)
The Falcon kept going in Australia.
I remember some early Mavericks were labeled "Falcon".
This explains a lot. I had a '69 Falcon 4 door as my college car. Doing much of my own maintenance and upkeep I was often frustrated by parts that actually belonged to 1970 Fords. I always called mine a "69 and a half" but it seems it was more likely Ford was just using what they had handy for the last model year.
Fascinating Ed. I had many Falcons back in the day. So simple and good.....😊
Ford seriously needs to bring back the Falcon/Maverick to re-enter the passenger car market they've shamefully abandoned for ALL F-150 ALL THE TIME (and also "Mustangs")
I love the "Falcon concept" of frugality with style, but I don't think today's car buyers would go for anything so plain-jane anymore.
@ The standard of ‘minimum requirements’ has certainly changed since the 70s, to be sure, but there’s definitely still a market for entry-level cars, especially if they come with an up-market sport model (see Honda Civic)
@@Vespuchian And yet the Versa is gone this year along with a few other basic cars already gone. People want more.
Profit is all. And trucks are more profitable. End of story...
@@P_RO_Mm. I don't. But pickups and SUVs are more profitable by far, so that's all you'll now see. I'm hoping my 2017 Nissan Micra lasts for ages, because those, too, are discontinued and nothing much else of the same sort is still made either. BTW though Nissan is Japanese, the last gen Micra isn't, it was built in Mexico. Called the March there, sold in Canada as the Micra, reviving an 80s Nissan model name...
I owned a few Falcons of various years and styles. They were great cars.
That big, bulbous Fairlane is what our Ozzie Falcon turned into and stayed with us until the end of the 70s.
Can't remember the last time I saw a Fish Shop Falcon.
I presume our Ed hit upon an editorial mistake due to the volume of work in such a short time. The featured body style was never Fairlane, but always offered as Torino. (Excepting the 70.5 stripper Falcon of course.)
@@stanwbaker There was a 70 Fairlane based on this body in a hardtop only version. It was the last American Fairlane and the top engine was the Ram-Air 429. This was the only year where a Falcon could have a hotter engine (429SCJ) than a Fairlane. Both Falcon and Fairlanes last year here with the Torino being the only nameplate beginning in 71
@@stanwbakerStill weird that Ford did this mix and match over such a short timespan. I'd love Ed to do Ozzie cars. We have such an unusual history.
@@AnyoneSeenMikeHunt I drove one in the 90s. Still haven't recovered.
Growing up in the 70’s in Australia, dad had the Fairmont XC wagon v8 ,which was the so called luxury version of the Aussie XC Falcon .
Yeah .. Ford quickly figured out they screwed up so they threw this out for 4 door and wagon buyers. Then the Pinto came out with the 2 door and wagon version, along with the 2 door and 4 door sedans, so all the bases were covered again.
Nah the pinto was considered a sub compact and came out the 6 months before this falcon.
My first car. 1971 Torino 500. 302 auto. I loved that car.
My grandfather bought one of these new in medium blue metallic- he traded in a 1962 Falcon on it,
I guess he was waiting for them to come back. My family all worked at FoMoCo so he got it cheap with A Plan.
Thank You Ed!
My High School buddy's dad had a 71 Torino GT... that thing was BAD ASSED!
Those chrome reverse rims with baby moon hub caps at 3:08 are really eye catching. 👍👍
Very interesting. Thank you.
My father ordered a Falcon station wagon at the end of 1969. By that time, production had ceased and he wasn't interested in what was on the lot. Not to worry he was told. There will be a Falcon wagon in a few months, stripped of all the options you didn't want. He was not happy with what was delivered, but in 1970 no American Automotive company sold a compact wagon anyway--save for the AMC Hornet, but calling that a station wagon was something of an exaggeration.
It has a slighr resemblence to the XC Falcon in Australia that debuted in 76.
I remember when I was growing up we had two different falcons and A rambler station wagon, one at a time of course.
Thanks, Ed!!!
When I was a kid my dad bought one of these brand new, It was a 2 door six cylinder with a three speed on the column. I had no idea it was made for only six months. He kept it a couple of years and traded it in on another not so common Ford, a '72 Galaxie 500.
2:20 Bizarre that for this 1970 1/2 Falcon, Ford actually added vent windows back, to the Fairlane/Torino body, whose last year of vent windows was 1967. I'm guessing someone calculated they could save money by eliminating flow thru ventilation, which apparently makes vent windows required. And that all the extra design cost and stocking extra parts made this chicanery still worthwhile
Another great one, Ed! How about doing more cars from the rest of the world too?
Loved the Falcon .easy to work on very reliable and comfortable.ive owned over 20 of them over the years most built from the sixties and seventies.they .here in Australia the Falcon was produced way past America
Interesting upload schedule
It demonstrates where Ford got the styling cues for the Australian XA Falcon of 1972. It is uncanny how similar the side shapes are.
Lol, no joke, my 1st car was a 69 falcon handed down from my dad with the 200ci strait six automatic. Column shifter, 2 door, green with black top. Drove it till 1990, wish i till had it.😅
Kinda looks very torino and FYI I love the edsel
Cool...didn't even know those existed🤔
The only american cars in the family garage are from the 1930's and 1940's still in mint condition. Everything else is european. Ed's auto reviews are very interesting to me.
I had a 70.5 falcon sedan with the 6 cyl. and "3 on the tree" shifter. solid car, maybe a little underpowered for the times
looks just like the 1970 torino gt i use to own miss the car not the gas millage 351c4v tranny left a lot to be desired FMX
I had a 70.5 Falcon 4 door, 250-6 C-4,,, bare bones,, was a good car,, somewhere on the internet, I have a page on it,,, it was on Geo Cities,, and I found it about 2 years ago,,
Australian here, Falcon as an economy car is funny.
thanks ed :)
interesting! ty ed!!!
IIRC, the 429 SCJ was available and some were equipped with one..
The bodywork used for the 1966-69 Falcon served as the basis for the 1969-70 Mustang. The "1970-1/2" Falcon sold to 1971. After that the Falcon was renamed Torino for 1972 and switched to the former Fairlane body fully redesigned this year and the Torino itself was renamed Gran Torino. To add a new layer of luxury for the medium-price market at Ford Division in 1975, a notch below the Thunderbird to battle the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Ford introduced a companion to the Torino and Gran Torino called Elite, which like the Thunderbird, sold only as a coupe. For the remainder of the 1974 model year while officially slated for 1975, those first cars were called Gran Torino Elite. Then the carryover 1976 model was abbreviated in name to just plain Ford Elite. Ranamed LTD II for 1977-78, once the Mustang was redesigned for 1979 the Elite returned, switched over to the Fairmont tooling as the Futura.
0:25 No where to run to baby
It really was just the Torino with a Falcon badge, a messy marketing fix made on the hop.
Ford USA should have taken guidance from Ford Australia. The Australian Falcon XA, XB, XC, XD, XE, XF etc. were great cars and well suited for the compact US market.
That was interesting.
Make a short on the 69 Camaros that were rebadged as 1970 Camaros. Looks like GM also had its share of confusion.
My family had a 1963 falcon station wagon
Take it from one who was there, the Maverick was a terrible, terrible car.
Mine was. But they did look good and sold like crazy to start with.
I had a four-door white automatic Maverick and about 2003. I picked it up from a friend of mine with like 75,000 miles on it. Her grandfather passed it down to her and she used it until she bought a newer car. it was slow but it never let me down! I got a couple years out of it and sold it on to somebody for cheap.
@@butterbeantx I don't know if you named yourself after the boxer but, even though I'm not a boxing fan, his story is amazing. Such speed and power for one of his size.
This is how you create an instant niche collectors car.... Ill take mine with a 429 because #FTW
falcon was nice especially 1970 ½.
It wasn’t the first time, Ford had the ‘641/2 Mustang, the ‘631/2 Galaxie two door hardtop ( the ‘63 two door hardtop changed from a formal roofline to a more fastback style and became the ‘631/2 ) the 19701/2 Falcon was just a basic trim level on a Torino platform that already existed. Also in 1966 the Falcon and Fairlane were the same cars underneath but the Fairlane was on a longer wheelbase so the Falcon had already moved away from its compact car roots.
While we know these cars as "half year" models, only the 70 1/2 Falcon was officially given the fraction. Even the 64 1/2 Mustangs are all titled as 64's and similar for the Galaxies and all Ford literature calls them such.
The 70 1/2 Falcon coop has design elements shared with Mazda of the same era.
I kinda want a '70.5 Falcon now. I'm weird that way.
Ford must of had overstock of Falcon badges or the executives were drinking on the job. How many of these were produced ?
Good thing they didn't find the leftover Edsel badges.
Automotive Ed-vent