Falcon Club of America's Fantastic 50th Event - A Gathering Of Falcons

While a majority of the Falcons at the show were close to stock, some, like this '62 Sports Futura, only appeared stock. Despite its whitewalls and full wheel covers, this two-tone sleeper had a 347ci EFI stroker underhood, backed by a T-5 five-speed. It sat suspiciously low on chunky rubber, riding on a Mustang II suspension up front.

This '68 "Falconstang" had a 4.6L modular in the engine room and rolled on 20-inch rims-9 inches wide in front, and 10 1/2 out back. The interior was completely tricked out with a DVD-driven quartet of TV screens, and a re-worked SN-95 Mustang dashboard. To read more about how this car came together check out Readers' Roundup this month.

How about a '65 Futura sporting a 427ci small-block stroker, breathed on by a Paxton Novi GSS blower, and accented with a classic teardrop hood? Its transmission was a T-5.

At first glance, this '63 Futura ragtop seems mostly stock, aside from its wildly patriotic underhood mural...

...but nestled beneath the hood art was a 2.3L turbo four-banger sourced from something like a Mustang SVO or T-bird Turbo Coupe. We applaud this sort of creative, generation-hopping re-engineering.

You Canucks in the audience may recognize this as a Frontenac, an offshoot of the Falcon sold in Canadian Mercury dealers only for the '60 model year (after which it was replaced with the Comet).

One of the early Falcon's available body styles was the sedan delivery. This one was ultra-sanitary with its dog-dish caps and blackwalls, and its inline six wore a trio of carbs on an Offenhauser intake.

There was no tricked out drivetrain hidden within this '61 two-door sedan, yet we were struck by its rakish attitude and, in general, the clean, uncluttered lines of these earliest Falcons, especially in comparison to the styling excesses displayed by fullsize late '50s cars.

The Falcon Ranchero was offered from 1960 to 1966, and this example has been tastefully hot-rodded in the West-Coast tradition. Nothing radical, but no doubt an attention getter wherever it goes.

That's right, the original Econoline vans and funky little pickups were Falcon-based. This one's a '62 with a 170ci six, rolling on Magnum 500s and P235/60R15 rubber.

A truly compact example of Ford's compact.

While aftermarket support for Falcons is certainly not as robust as that for the Mustang, a number of vendors, including Dearborn Classics, were on-site at the Nationals with a variety of N.O.S., used, and re-pop parts. In general, soft trim and bright-work can be had, but there is little in the way of reproduction body panels, so if you're thinking of getting yourself a Falcon, look for one with as little rust as possible.