1960 Falcon help

[Sam I Am]

I picked up this 1960 Falcon years ago and now that I have the Ranchero and sedan delivery finished, its time to build this one.  I found it painted an ugly brown. After days in the purple pond the brown came off easy but under it was another layer of black, and the original painter sanded the body with what looks like 220 grit before painting it black. The brown paint was so heavy that I never even knew what lay beneath.  This is the intriguing thing. I am almost 100% positive that this is a promotional.  It has all the little sales pitches on the bottom of the one piece chassis.  It is also a curbside model.  BUT!  ...it is a hardtop. What I originally ass-u-med as someone cutting the b-pillar out to make look like a hardtop is in fact factory molded. Has anyone ever seen this before? We all know that the first Falcon hardtop was 1963.5....so what exactly is this. 

By the way, if anyone wants to cast the 1960 grill,  I would be more than willing to compensate.  Also, if someone has an absolutely trashed '61 Ranchero,  I need the factory rear quarter panels so I can replace the hogged out wheel openings.

[ChrisBcritter]

Hi Sam - No, that's a kit body that has had the B-pillars very cleanly removed. You can see a tiny remnant here of the split between the door frame and pillar:

Promo bodies are all hopelessly warped now. The kit chassis also had the information on the bottom like the promo.

I've cast the '60 grille as a separate piece from the bumper with the lower part corrected, clear turn signals molded in and headlight buckets added. It will look way better than the one in the Ranchero and can be set back in the body to look more like the real thing. If you have a bumper, I have a spare grille I can send - PM me.

Edited March 5, 2021 by ChrisBcritter

[afx]

Looks like a great gasser candidate to me.

[Tom Geiger]

Many years ago I bought a bag of Falcons,  a 1960 promo with no roof and an awful warp, and two old Craftsman Rancheros that exhibited a lot of play wear.  This was before the last rounds of the Ranchero made it back in 2003ish.  I learned a lot on these two, including how to make new rain gutters and other major body repairs.  And wouldn't ya know, the Ranchero returned before I was done, so I got to use some new glass and bits on them!

Anyway... the point here is that I used the 1960 promo grille on this Ranchero way back in the old days!  It fit right in, no problem.   And as someone else said, your car is a kit, the promo was molded in green and would be warped like a Zinger!   

 

 

[Mark]

There actually was a '60 hardtop promo, even though Ford didn't build a Falcon hardtop until mid-'63.  The roofline on the hardtop promo was different, it wasn't just a sedan with no B-pillars.  Not many made, fewer of them slipped out, tough to find now.

The sedan and Ranchero are different toolings, but parts like bumpers and taillights do interchange between them.  If you wanted to patch in the radiused wheel openings, sections from a Ranchero body could be stubbed in.

[Sam I Am]

8 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

Hi Sam - No, that's a kit body that has had the B-pillars very cleanly removed. You can see a tiny remnant here of the split between the door frame and pillar:

Promo bodies are all hopelessly warped now. The kit chassis also had the information on the bottom like the promo.

I've cast the '60 grille as a separate piece from the bumper with the lower part corrected, clear turn signals molded in and headlight buckets added. It will look way better than the one in the Ranchero and can be set back in the body to look more like the real thing. If you have a bumper, I have a spare grille I can send - PM me.

I would appreciate that grille. I do have everything for the car, including the bumper/grille but It would look better with a separate piece.

I knew you guys could sort this thing out. 

I would like to put the wheel wells back to original, and Tom offered me a nice Ranchero body, but just can't make myself cut it up. If someone has a really trashed one, let me know please. I can use the b-pillar to make it a sedan again as well.

Edited March 5, 2021 by Sam I Am

[Fat Brian]

Does anyone make rear windshields for these? I'm working on one too and would love to find a rear windshield, even a template would be better than nothing. This body is a shortened Ranchero body with the roof and deck lid from a 63 grafted on.

[Motor City]

On 3/5/2021 at 11:22 AM, Mark said:

There actually was a '60 hardtop promo, even though Ford didn't build a Falcon hardtop until mid-'63.  The roofline on the hardtop promo was different, it wasn't just a sedan with no B-pillars.  Not many made, fewer of them slipped out, tough to find now.

I found this on the internet ...