1960 Falcon Ranchero
I purchased this Ranchero back about 1995. It was in Mt Airy Maryland about an hours drive from me. It was Janurary and the weather was fairly wet. Mt Airy is in the Piedmont Platue region at the eastern side of the Blue Ridge near Frederick Maryland. Temps there are a bit cooler than here in Annapolis in winter. It was raining here when I left. By the time I got there is was sleat and wet snow. I looked the car over as best I could but couldn't look under enough to see how bad it was. What I could see wasn't too bad looking. It was advertised as a trophy winner at car shows. Owner had passed away and son didn't want it.  Well, we came to a deal and I paid him for it. I came up about two weeks later when the weather had improved and drove it home. It rode fine but the old 144 six banger didn't have much power. In Spring I put a 170 engine in it and drove the car around for several months and had some fun with it. Things started breaking and when the  shift stick started breaking out of the shift  collar I decided it was time to take it off the road. I had been discovering rust and more rust. Leaks under the dash which was common for old Falcons. Time for a face lift.
As you can see from the pictures there was a lot of rust. Well more like a lot of places where rust was before it fell off piece by piece. As we clean more places and get more into it we find more and more. Fortunately Tom is a good welder and can work wonders with sheet metal.
Here we are prepping the car for the rotissorie lift or twirler. With the large amount of cancer on this one we had to make some special bracing to prevent the car from sagging while we do the repairs.
Bracket at rear wheel well right side. Notice old shock still hanging from body mount.
Up in the air. Old bumper jacks can come in handy as helpers to to keep sag to a minimum while welding the floorboards. Some will recommend bracing at the door openings after removing the door.  We thought it best to leave the doors in place for now to help gage when the car is straight and not sagging. Bracing would also be in the way while we are rebuilding the floorboard and other inside work.
near the center of pic just to the left you can see the cancer on the fram. The drivers side is worse. Both will need to be removed and the driver side we have a apre. This one can be repaired.
This is looking down into the engine compartment towards the driver side. Bracket were made to connect to the same mounting bracket used for the cross member and motor mounts. When florboard is done and frame work started this will be removed.
The whole shock tower on both sides will be removed as well as the inner fender wel and front shield. A new front end system with disc brakes and rack and pinion steering will go in. The inner fenders will be made of stainless.
Views looking at drivers side door and floorboard. Some repair has been done to outer support frame and floor braces. Wiring, clutch and brake pedals along with all accessories have been removed. Wiring in these old Birds was really simple. By 1960 Ford was using a good grade of plastic sheathed copper wire and electrical taping replaced the old cloth wire loom. The tight binding of the electrical tape kept wires from chafing. All that is needed to refurbish the harness on these cars is to clean the old tape off, inspect the wiring to make sure there are no cracks or burns and then re wrap them with new tape. That will be later.
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Notice yellow arrow pointing to excessive cancer on left front frame.
In a photo 4 above there is a good view of this area from the front with the old knuckle still in place. We cut the old rusted knuckel out and this is what was there. Wasn't much to cut out.
Shot from inside looking at passenger side.
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Measuring for a good fit
Checking fit as seen from inside
Inside and outside views of knuckle in place. There is still a lot of patching to do.
After this we will start on replacing the front frame and fabricating a stainless steel engine compartment and tilt hood. I can hear the Falcon purist cringing. 
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As the welding and patching progresses the body becomes more and more solid. Notice hole in rear of replaced knhuckle. Photo 20 That was an access hole for a bolt that holds the lower part of front fender on. Photo 22 is from inside.
Photo's 23-25 show the portions of subframes being replaced. This piece is also a stiffner for the floorboard. Falcons were unibody design and had no full frame like the larger Fords did.
Photo's 26-29. We were lucky to have a donor car and it had decent floorboards under the seats. Most floorboards rust in the area where the feet are placed. This is mainly from the cowl vents deteriorating and leaking water under the dash and onto the front floor. This was a big problem on these small Fords. Fixes for the vents will be added later. I did a repair on a 62 Falcon several years ago and will add that before long. This one as you will see further down the page is done differently. Once the floorboard is done and integrity has been restored we will be doing the front frame and then working on the rear sheet metal and rotted framework.
This is a good time to introduce you to a new toy. That is an understatement. This is a Plasma Cutter. I had long wondered since I first heard of them just what they were and what advantage they could have. I tell ya if you do even a little body work or heck any kind of cutting of metals then you definitely should get one of these. They aren't expensive as you might think. This little Miller runs on 110 and 220 volts. It uses compressed air along with a really good arc and can cut thru 1/4 inch steel. Larger ones can go thru 2 inch steel like butter and a cleaner cut. It is at least 10 times faster with a novice than a torch cut with the best torch man. When we bought it we were told that it will cut aluminum and stainless but we might need special compressed gas for them. Well we tried it with our air compressor and I tell ya we won't be needing any special gasses. It cuts the stainless, aluminum plate and even cast aluminum and steel with ease and clean. This one cost me about 1300 dollars with the filter system sold separately. After just one week we are finding it is paying for itself already. No cutting wheels to buy and no Oxy Acetylene to use up. The metal doesn't get as hot either. The piece he is cutting here is about as hot as a plate just out of the microwave. This means little to no warping. So far the sheet we have cut has remained straight and un warped. Man what a great little tool this is. With this and the Miller wire feed there is no body work we can't do. Well I don't know about the newer tinfoil things in today's market. I am sure it won't cut the plastic bumpers on newer ones either. But then that is something we leave to the body shops.
Rusted cowl vents
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30 and 31 you can see the damage from years of water passing thru this untreated gutter. I call it a gutter. It channels water to the sides and down and comes out at the bottom of the front fenders. It also catches debris from trees and anything else that falls into there.  Another place these cars develop cancer is the bottom rear section of front fender. This is from water channeled down. These cars were Fords first attempt at a dispoable car. Since the mid 70s most cars sold have been considered disposable. Something foreign car makers had been doing for years. If a car lasts then they won't sell as many. If there are too many used cars around they won't sell as many new ones. Americans tend to keep cars longer and demand they last longer. Fords small cars were meant to last about 7 years. This was made in 1960 and is getting remade in 2006-07.  Visible in the cut out is the hole for the vent. It was a couple inches higher and about the diamiter of a large coffee can. There was one on both side. Air was fed thru a grate in the top middle cowl in front of windshield. Right side went thru the heater system and left side went into a vent with door. Water wouldn't splash over so all remained dry until the cancer started and progressed. Unfortunately at  the time these were made Ford didn't have a way to treat the inside so it was pretty much bare metal against the elements. Some spray from paints did get into the areas under the grate. The whole cowl is removeable with some work. A good spot weld cutter and a good wide chisel. Yep it is a job. the way I am doing this tho is a lot easier. Since the car is going custom we decided to do away with the grate in the cowl. It won't be needed. Venting will be done a bit differently and will be covered when it is done. We will be putting solid sheet metal all the way inside.
I have a general rule when it comes to customizing or restoring. If the car is in decent shape and doesn't need extensive body work to restore then keep it as original as possible. If it is like this and a total rust bucket that needs so much work that to restore it to original would cost more than it is worth then by all means get artistic with it. Why not. It is a lot cheaper to do a custom than restore them to original when they are in this shape. A unique and well done custom can fetch a whole lot more money than an original even in a Ranchero. With that said, maybe some Falcon and car purists can ease up on the cringing now.
32 is a closeup prior to cutting the cancer out. 33 and 34 shows what is exposed after cut. It all just goes right into the inside. You can see the backside of the dash panel in 33 and 34. This will all be filled in on both sides.
Due to moving this project is stalled until after October and after the new barn shop is built. It should resume late fall 2007. Our regular business will proceed as normal.
Please see note at bottom of page