Longtime Ford enthusiast Lynn Moon of Oxford, Georgia, owns this sweet '60 Ford Falcon sedan. We like the less-is-more visual philosophy behind cars such as this, and the pedestrian sedan body style makes perhaps the best sleeper of all. The post-body, dog-dish hubcaps, and general lack of embellishment speak as clearly to us as all the emblems, scoops, and spoilers on our '69 Mustang. Great cars such as this little Falcon come from the "speak softly but carry a big stick" school of thought, and adding all the right things while keeping the understatement intact is an art Lynn has carefully mastered.
Lynn chose all his parts carefully. For rolling stock he went with '70 Ford 14x7 steelies sporting '60 corporate hubcaps. This provided a nice wheel-size upgrade over the stock 13x4.5 size, and left him with the cool "don't mess with grandma while she's at the market" look a good sleeper demands. BFGoodrich T/A tires sized 215/70-14 in front and 225/70-14 out back fill out the wheelhouses nicely.
Lynn tossed the original 144ci engine with its three-in-the-tree transmission out the window, then upgraded the front suspension with a '65 Falcon Sprint setup. This gave him the five-lug bolt pattern he needed for a V-8 conversion. Out back, he took an 8-inch axle from a '72 V-8-powered Comet and equipped it with 3.80:1 gears to handle his planned power upgrades. A 111/44-inch-diameter front antisway bar works with a 31/44-inch rear bar to keep the Falcon level in tight corners, while traction bars help put power to the ground at launch.
For big power that would fit easily underhood, the H.O. version of the 5.0 V-8 engine was selected. For induction, the stout 302 is dual-quad-equipped with twin Carter AFB carbs that feed the juice to a Ford B-303 cam. On the exhaust side, headers dump into 211/42-inch pipes and a pair of Flowmaster two-chamber mufflers. The free-breathing combination is fired off by a Pertronix-assisted Ford distributor. There is no disappointment in the transmission department, as the Falcon is seriously overdriven with a T5 five-speed manual trans. The gearbox has hardened gears and is fitted with a short-style S10 truck tailhousing. This moves the shifter location forward and allows the floor-mounted shifter to clear the front bench seat nicely. It's a slick trick. A late-model Mustang, cable-style clutch controls the power engagement process.
When the original color is Monte Carlo Red, there's no sense changing a good thing, and Lynn reapplied the original color with his own hand. It contrasts nicely with a black and gray vinyl and cloth interior. The whole package hangs together in a way we definitely like, and it's even cooler because-except for the upholstery-Lynn did all the work himself at home in his garage. It means a lot when a project like this is done as a labor of love-with elbow grease and attention to detail instead of just a pen and a checkbook.