1965 Falcon Futura Wagon

Opener:
Hey all, it’s been a while but you haven’t missed much. The wagon has been on the back burner for a minute now. It was already on the bottom of the priority list and once I found basically the entire floor was rusted away I had to weigh the option of keeping it vs flipping it and trying to score something less needy. I decided to keep it, so here we are.

Car:
I posted info when I first got it but since it’s been so long I’ll breeze over the specs. 1965 Falcon Futura 4dr wagon. Factory 289ci. Runs great and engine seems healthy, auto trans leaks horribly and shifts sometimes. The mechanics have been takes care of way better than the rest of the car. The floor pans are trash but the “frame” (I know it’s a unibody), door sills, and everything else is surprisingly rust free.

Plans:
Repair/replace the rusty areas. Got some 18ga sheets and some metal working tools on order. Never done a job like this before so I’m reading articles and watching YouTube a lot. Gotta fix the trans leak(s) and see if it shifts normally after that. Those are the two main issues. Once those are solved it’ll be a working project that I’ll play with as I feel like. Also going with minor bolt-ons for the engine.

Pics:

 

Looks like you got quite a project going on there! Good luck and full steam ahead.....Longroofs Rule!

 

Oh yeah, a bit more of a project than I expected but I wanted a project, so I can’t complain.

 

Awesome. I'm glad you decided to keep it and go forward with the project. I love to see it when people attempt something new. I wish you success and be sure to keep us posted.

 

A month later and I finally have the cargo area floor about ready to go in. Still need to bend some angle to attach it to the body. Hopefully this weekend it will be secured in, then on to the passenger area floor.

 

Wow! That looks great. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work!

 

Thank you! Definitely more pics coming, hopefully soon.

 

Nice work. Excited to see more of your progress.

 

Doin stuff over here. One last cleanup and primer shot, got the main rear floor in, and since the piece I was working with was a tad too small I had to make a piece to bring it all the way over. Learning different techniques as I go. Don’t know if it’s right but it’s more solid than what I started with for sure. Little oil can action but shouldn’t be noticeable once it’s covered with carpet.

 

Dang! That's looking good!

 

Thanks! Still deciding about the section to the right, where the spare goes. It needs to be redone as well but I’m trying to decide if I should do it now since I’m in the area or move on to the floorboards and get to that later. This will be an ongoing project for some time but for now I just want it back on the road. A working/driving project, ya dig?

 

Totally.

 

More rusty floor cut out, more fresh metal getting shaped and mocked up.

 

Got 1/4 of the passenger repair panels in. Wondering if I should finish the floor pans before moving to something else or if I should work on the engine and take a little break from the rust repair. Also thinking of gray and black for the interior since the factory ivy gold has never grown on me.

 

I’m not one to name my cars but if I did I’d call this the 10:1 wagon because for every one thing I try to do I need to do ten other things first. Figured I’d give the welder time to cool off while I mess with the engine, got as far as stripping a few parts off and had to fire the welder back up to fill all these holes in the firewall. As always, it’s not much but I’m trying to do a little bit every chance I get.