Ford Falcon: The Compact Car That Birthed the Mustang

The Ford Falcon is literally the mechanical father of the Ford Mustang. When Lee Iacocca conceptualized the original 1964.5 Mustang, Ford did not have the budget or time to engineer a completely new car from scratch. Instead, they took the highly successful, lightweight unibody chassis, the suspension geometry, and the inline-six and V8 powertrains directly from the Ford Falcon, draped it in a stunningly sporty new body shell, and created the legendary pony car segment.

While the Falcon died in America in 1970, it lived on in Australia until 2016, becoming an absolute cultural icon (most famously serving as the basis for the black "V8 Interceptor" in the movie Mad Max). In its later years, Ford Australia engineered the legendary 4.0L Barra Inline-Six engine for the Falcon. The turbocharged Barra is widely considered Australia's equivalent to the Toyota 2JZ; it features bulletproof cast-iron internals capable of producing over 1,000 HP with basic aftermarket modifications.

Your choice dictates whether you want a cheap daily driver or a lightweight muscle car.

144/170 cubic-inch Inline-Six

These "Mileage Maker" engines are incredibly simple, highly reliable, and very cheap to run. However, producing under 100 HP, they struggle to keep up with modern 70 MPH interstate traffic.

260/289 cubic-inch Small-Block V8

Introduced in the mid-1960s, these engines transformed the lightweight Falcon into a genuine street brawler. Feel the raw, visceral agility as the potent 289 V8 easily rockets the tiny 2,600-pound Falcon off the line, humiliating much larger, heavier muscle cars.

Introduced halfway through the 1963 model year, the Falcon Sprint was Ford's very first attempt at injecting pure performance into a compact car. It abandoned the standard bench seat for sporty front bucket seats, a center console, a dashboard tachometer, stiffer suspension, and—most importantly—it was the very first time Ford stuffed a 260 cubic-inch V8 engine into the tiny Falcon chassis. Because it was heavily overshadowed by the launch of the Mustang just a year later, the Falcon Sprint is incredibly rare today.

Because it shares its unibody architecture with the early Mustang, it shares the exact same devastating rust flaws.

Hugegarage Technical Tip: The absolute worst design flaw on the 1960-1965 Falcon is the cowl vent assembly under the windshield. Pine needles and debris fall into the vents, trapping moisture until the sheet metal completely rots out. When you wash the car, water pours straight down through the rusted cowl directly onto the interior floorboards, destroying the carpet and rotting the floor pans. Always pour water into the cowl during an inspection to check for interior leaks.

Yes, "Restomodding" early Falcons is incredibly popular, but it requires heavy fabrication. The factory Falcon utilizes massive front suspension shock towers that heavily intrude into the engine bay, designed originally to cradle a narrow inline-six engine. The modern 5.0L Coyote V8 is incredibly wide due to its DOHC cylinder heads. To make it fit, you must completely cut out the original shock towers and weld in an aftermarket Mustang II-style independent front suspension kit.

Yes! The classic Ford Falcon was one of the most versatile vehicle platforms in automotive history. Aside from the standard 2-door and 4-door sedans, Ford offered a highly practical Falcon Station Wagon (and a panel van delivery version). Most famously, Ford chopped the roof off the back of the Falcon and added a truck bed to create the iconic Ford Falcon Ranchero, a nimble "coupe utility" vehicle that was perfect for plumbers and small farmers.

Ford officially killed the North American Falcon halfway through the 1970 model year. Its demise was largely due to internal cannibalization. The wildly successful Mustang had completely stolen the Falcon's performance and youth demographic, while the mid-size Fairlane absorbed the family demographic. To replace the aging Falcon platform, Ford introduced the brand-new Ford Maverick, an inexpensive, highly stylized compact car that perfectly captured the 1970s budget-commuter market.

It is arguably one of the best beginner project cars in existence. Because the Falcon is mechanically identical to the 1964-1966 Ford Mustang, the aftermarket parts availability is absolutely massive and incredibly cheap. You can easily buy brand-new suspension components, braking systems, engine parts, and electrical wiring harnesses out of any Mustang restoration catalog, and they will bolt directly onto the Falcon. It is vastly cheaper to buy and restore than a Mustang, while offering the exact same driving experience.

For a vehicle designed in the late 1950s, the Falcon is surprisingly efficient, largely because it is incredibly lightweight (weighing only roughly 2,400 to 2,600 pounds). If you purchase a model equipped with the 144 or 170 cubic-inch Inline-Six engine and a manual transmission, you can easily expect 18 to 22 MPG on the highway. If you upgrade to the heavier 289 V8 and an automatic transmission, expect those numbers to drop to roughly 12 to 15 MPG.