1963 Ford Falcon Futura Convertible
by: Jennifer Gibbs
Posted on: Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 1:23 pm by: Jennifer Gibbs
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Produced as an answer to the ever-growing popularity and rapid sales of Chevrolet’s Corvair Monza, the 1961 Ford Falcon Futura was born. A smash hit among the “Big 3”, the 1960 model was exactly what the doctor ordered; it was stylish, cheap to buy, cheap to own, and completely conventional. Best of all, it was a moneymaker.
However, when the Monza’s sales skyrocketed due to an emerging, even larger market, the Futura had to be spruced up to feed the bucket-seat, floor-shifting, rapid-acceleration frenzy that was quickly building. The muscle car era was soon to be upon us.
The first born of the “litter” were the 1961 and 1962 Falcon Futura models, sporty little two-doors, with the “buckets and console” interior in true miniature-Thunderbird fashion, and a heady 101 horsepower six-cylinder engine.
In 1963 however, a big push came in the way of a model split. This included the new convertible and hardtop two-door coupe body styles that came one of two ways: one was with the 101 horsepower 170 cubic inch six-cylinder, and the other, at mid-year, the all- new V8 Sprint. For an additional $130 the Sprint package was available, a small sum compared to Ford Motor Company’s modest base price tag of just under $2,500.
The 1963 Ford Falcon Futura Sprint convertible, now this puppy had it all – convertible top, two-door coupe with bucket seats, four-speed transmission on the floor, 6,000 RPM tachometer, bright engine “rocker covers”, a 16-inch faux wood steering wheel, a good looking set of wire wheel covers and the granddaddy of them all: a racy, modern designed, 260 cubic inch V8 engine, pushing 164 horsepower. The Sprint model came with a choice in transmissions but was offered with only the V8 engine.
There were also three choices in transmissions for the Futuras and Sprints in 1963. The three-speed, column-mounted manual, the now popular four-speed, floor-mounted manual, and the now heavily sought after, two-speed automatic, aka “Hydro-matic” or “Fordo-matic”.
This is a fun car, and with prices currently running in the $8-15,000 range, I would consider this car today – as it was when it rolled off of the assembly line – a great buy. However, do keep in mind that Ford Motor Company was a little careless when applying their data plates in 1963. The plates were placed on the rear portion of the driver’s door and the driver side inner fender where they could be easily lost or replaced. Please insure BEFORE purchasing that all of the numbers match up, for your own piece of mind.
