Falcon Club Of America

Bluegrass Chapter
 

1963 1/2 Sprint "Betty" , 1963 1/2 Futura "Marilyn" & 1963 1/2 Sprint "Lobo"

Betty's story

Betty's story

I sold the motor I had built for $800.00. I took a lot of other stuff off the car and sold it to my brother Steve. He put a 351W 4-speed back in it for a while and sold it to a guy in Portland, (a neighborhood in Louisville, KY.) He sold it to another guy who traded it every weekend for his brother's motorcycle. One weekend his brother blew up the engine so he told him to keep it. The brother lived on St. Catherine Street. I saw it there several times and it had been painted blue. Sometime after that it was stolen. A friend of mine who owns a junkyard called me and said "I bought your car from the police auction." So I went to look at it and bought it back for $200.00. By then it had a 302 in it.

I was glad to have it back after it being gone for three years. To me it was like rescuing a long-lost friend from the junkyard. I sold the 302 motor for $200.00 and had a free car!

I started to put it back together a piece at a time. I cut off the Corvair front end because it was bending in at the springs. I welded on a 78 Pinto front suspension and lengthened the steering column a foot. I threw the tilt front end away and welded on the stock front end. I made it fit over the Pinto suspension. The Pinto suspension is much better than the Corvair, a lot stronger. I also put a 78 Pinto wiring harness and wiper motor in it. I welded 4-inch tubing to connect the sub frames together.

I bought a Borg-Warner T56 6-speed for it. I rebuilt a 1965 289 motor, bored .060 over and balanced. I also put in a Crane cam 284h duration, .512 lift, 1987 302 heads polished and ported by me, bigger valves, 1.94 intake, 1.55 exhaust, Crane springs, Torquer II intake ported and polished by me, with a 600 Holley and Mallory ignition. I bought 68 Mustang headers, cut them apart and re-welded them to fit around the Pinto suspension. I fabricated an 2 1/2-inch X pipe exhaust system with Sonic  turbo mufflers. I also put a 79 Lincoln Versailles disc brake rear end with 373 posi gears in it. I cut the rear fenders out and welded on 76 EXP fender flares. We found the Bluegrass Chapter of the Falcon Club of America at the 2002 Carl Casper Custom Auto Show in Louisville and went to their next meeting. We joined shortly after and have enjoyed making new friends and going to rod runs and shows with everyone. The Falcon National Convention in Nashville was coming up in July 2002 and I wanted to finish my car, (as if it will ever really be finished!) Before body work began Primered and ready to paint!

In Spring and Summer 2002 I sanded off 3 layers of paint: blue, black and red, and got down to the original maroon. I spent three weeks doing the major body work, welding, grinding, sanding, priming and painting. I did all the work myself. The paint is a 2-step PPG black with Gold Glamour Poly in the center section. The sparkle comes from PPG Prizmatique mixed in the first clear coat.

I’ve been adding little touches here and there as I find things. I had the seats re-upholstered over the winter of 2002. I put on new bumpers, door handles, dash knobs, trunk lock insert, and various chrome pieces. I’m always looking for ways to make Betty look better. It was a lifelong dream come true to get to display my car in the Carl Casper Custom Auto Show in 2003 along with 5 other cars from the Bluegrass Chapter! 

Because of all her modifications and special touches, Betty gets a lot of attention. It makes all the work I did worth it. But I didn't do it for attention or trophies. I did it because this is the kind of car I've always wanted to build. I did it for myself. If you like her, I'm glad. But I love her and that's all that matters.

Marilyn's Story

Before:

After:

We purchased our '63 1/2 Futura at the 2004 Falcon Club of America National Convention in Kansas City. It was parked next to our Sprint and we just couldn't resist. The pale yellow car was a beauty and because she's a blonde, we named her Marilyn. After getting home from Kansas City, we turned around and headed back to Pleasant Hill, Illinois (90 minutes north of St. Louis) to pick her up. 

She's now Metallic Gold with Prizmatique. Full story of her transformation coming soon.