The 1960 Falcon was powered by a small, lightweight 95-hp (70 kW), 144 CID (2.4 L) Mileage Maker straight-six with a single-barrel carburetor. The sales success of the conventional Falcon along with slow sales of GM's rear-engined Corvair led General Motors to introduce their own compact car based on the Falcon's principles, the Chevy II. Engineer Harley Copp employed a unibody atop a standard suspension and sourced parts from Ford's existing bin to keep the price low, while providing room for six passengers in reasonable comfort. McNamara, who was promoted to Group Vice President of Cars and Trucks by the time the Falcon was launched, was intimately involved in development, insisting on keeping the costs and weight of the car as low as possible. McNamara, who commissioned a team to create what by American standards of the time would be a small car, but elsewhere in the world considered a mid-size. The project which became the Falcon was started and sponsored by Ford General Manager Robert S. The European Fords, Anglia, Zephyr, and Taunus, were in production at the same time the Falcon was introduced. Ford of Germany built the Ford Eifel, followed by the Ford Köln, which was mechanically similar to the British Model Y, followed later by the Ford Taunus in 1939, but were also not sold in North America. Ford United Kingdom had begun production of the Ford Anglia in 1939, and the earlier Ford Model Y in 1932, followed by the Ford Zephyr, but they were not sold in North America. Studebaker also introduced the Lark, and Rambler downsized its near-compact American in 1959. Thus, all three introduced compacts: the Valiant from Chrysler (becoming the Plymouth Valiant in 1960, and joined by a downsized Dodge Dart in 1961), GM's Chevrolet Corvair, and the Ford Falcon. Furthermore, many American families were now in the market for a second car, and market research showed women especially thought the full-size car had grown too large and cumbersome.Īt the same time, research showed many buyers would prefer to buy US or Canadian if the domestic manufacturers offered a smaller car with lower cost of ownership. Large automobiles were becoming increasingly expensive, making smaller cars such as Fiats, Renaults, Toyotas, and Volkswagens increasingly attractive. Towards the mid-1950s, all three manufacturers realized that this strategy would no longer work. Historically, the "Big Three" auto manufacturers ( GM, Ford, and Chrysler), focused purely on the larger and more profitable vehicles in the US and Canadian markets. He decided the new car did not fit with Ford's other offerings, so this design eventually became the Mercury. Following its initial 1970 discontinuation, Ford marketed a second "1970½" Falcon, serving as its lowest-price intermediate series, slotted below the Ford Fairlane and Ford Torino.įrom 1959 to 1969, the Falcon was manufactured by Ford in multiple facilities across North America.Įdsel Ford first used the term "Falcon" for a more luxurious Ford he designed in 1935. For the 1970 model year, the Falcon was replaced by the Ford Maverick, through the 1975 introduction of the Ford Granada, the chassis of the 1960 Ford Falcon was used through the 1980 model year in North America, and until 1991 in Argentina. Through the 1960s, Ford produced three generations of the Falcon, all derived on the same platform architecture. During its production, the Falcon served as the basis for multiple Ford vehicle lines, including the first generations of the Ford Mustang pony car and the Ford Econoline/Ford Club Wagon vans. Through its production, the Falcon was offered in the same body styles as its full-sized Galaxie counterpart, including two-door and four-door sedans, two-door hardtops and convertibles, two-door and four-door station wagons (the former, serving as a basis of the final Ford sedan delivery), and coupe utility pickups (serving as the basis of the Ford Ranchero).
In contrast to its competitors, the Falcon was developed as a scaled-down version of the full-size Ford Galaxie sedan. The first compact car marketed by the American Big Three automobile manufacturers (though antedated by the Rambler American), the Falcon was the third car line introduced by Ford, following the full-sized Ford and the Ford Thunderbird. The Ford Falcon is a model line of cars that was produced by Ford from the 1960 to 1970 model years.
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