In the Total Performance movement at Ford in the late ’60s, the compact ’66-’70 Falcon was sent to the sidelines.

No Detroit automaker ever embraced racing and performance more aggressively than the Ford Motor Company in the ’60s. Suddenly, Ford had total-effort factory racing programs in every form of four-wheel motorsport, from NASCAR to Le Mans, and naturally, the showroom products reflected the new emphasis on performance. The compact Falcon was was a key part of the Total Performance program—until the 1965 Ford Mustang was introduced, and then it wasn’t. For 1966, the Falcon was pushed to the side, a wallflower, with no racing programs to its credit or any pretensions to high performance.

1966 Club Coupe 

As the most successful of the Detroit compacts introduced in 1960, the Falcon sold a million units in its first two years and served as the foundation for multiple Ford products, including the game-changing Mustang. But for 1966, the Falcon was actually spun off from the intermediate-sized Fairlane platform, its wheelbase shortened from 116 to 110.9 inches. (Fairlane and Falcon station wagons shared the same 113-in floor pan and body shell.) The exterior design, performed under the direction of Ford styling chief Gene Bordinat, was straightforward. You could call the styling clean and elegant if you’re a fan, bland and nondescript if you’re not.

1970 Falcon Station Wagon 

Personally, we think the ’66-on Falcon is handsome enough. But regardless of personal opinions, the styling remained essentially unchanged for the Falcon’s final five-year run in the USA. In 1967, the grille was revised to mirror the Fairlane, then revised again in 1968. Also in ’68, the tail lamps were changed from round to rectangular, and that was pretty much it for exterior design changes. Ford’s 1969 and 1970 Falcon sales brochures used the same product photographs.

1968 Futura Sports Coupe

The model lineup was equally stable: two trim levels, Falcon and Falcon Futura, and five body styles: Club Coupe, Sedan, Station Wagon, and Sports Coupe. No hardtops, no convertible. The Futura Sports Coupe, a dressed-up version of the two-door-post Club Coupe, was the only Falcon with any performance flavor at all. Vinyl bucket seats, full carpeting, wheel covers, and badging were standard, but a V8 and four-speed transmission were extra-cost options. The most powerful engine ever offered was a 289 CID four-barrel V8 with 225 hp in 1967. The Boss, K-code, and FE big block V8s found throughout the rest of the Ford lineup were notably absent here.

1969 Falcon Futura and Futura Sports Coupe interiors

Of course, most Falcon owners by far opted for the standard 170 CID and optional 200 CID inline sixes. The factory PR photo below offers a clear indication of the Falcon’s target audience, hmm. Practical transportation, not Total Performance, was the Falcon’s mission in its third and final generation (in the USA, anyway). In April of 1970, the Falcon was dropped in favor of a trendier compact, the Maverick. But meanwhile that year, the Falcon name was also attached to an economy version of the Fairlane, an interesting story you can read about here. 

1969 Ford Falcon Club Coupe