With an wide and impressive lineup of vehicles, Ford was a leader in the station-wagon category for 1965.
As we’ve noted before here at Mac’s Motor City Garage, Ford often struggled to stay abreast of Chevrolet in the annual sales wars, but there was segment where the Dearborn brand could generally hold its own: station wagons. As suburbia exploded across the American landscape in the postwar era, Ford made a special effort to stake out the category. And in the years before the now-ubiquitous minvans and SUVs arrived on the scene, traditional station wagons were a critical piece in the sales puzzle. America’s favorite nameplates in the class included the Ranch Wagon and Country Squire.
Throughout the ’60s, Ford wagons were noted for their clever packaging and convenience features, like the novel dual-facing rear seats and flow-through rear air deflectors on the full-size wagons for 1965. (Perhaps the most memorable gimmick, the two-way “Magic Doorgate,” arrived in 1966.) Ford’s wagon roster also included intermediate Fairlane and compact Falcon models in a wide variety of trim levels. Interestingly, the Falcon and Fairlane wagons shared a common body shell, although the Falcon versions included a two-door. All these wonders are explained in detail in the entertaining dealer film below.
My dad’s last car was a worn-out ’65 Fairlane wagon with the 170 C.I. 6-cylinder mated to an automatic transmission. The rear springs were completely worn out, so the car sagged in the rear. But, it ran well and got pretty decent gas mileage, and had loads of cargo space – he loved it. The body color was a horribly faded red and the top was white. He gave the car a cheap Earl Scheib paint job, changing the body to white to match the top. Cheap transportation it was, and I would consider owning one myself in today’s times.
Those 65 66 67 Galaxie wagons were average to look at wheras the sedans and coupes were good looking cars.
The Fairlane, Futura Falcon was badge engineering equipment levels. I suspect 2 different wheel bases as well.
Here in Oz those 60s and 70s Fords shared the same wheelbase for Fairlane, wagons, utes and vans. Sedans were all about 4-6″ shorter. 2 way tailgates were an option 71 on.
Holden and Chrysler did similar on their 71 on wagons and luxury models as well. All very strong cars and our Aussie models were better than the US models they were loosely based on.
I have never seen a cracked front spring tower on a 64 on Aussie Falcon, US models are so often cracked however.
Similar with Chrysler, US models crack bad where the Aussie ones just rust!!