Wrecked Falcons

Rick Writes: "Well my 65 Ranchero is no more.
My boys were driving home from work Sat, Dec 2, 2006, at about 4:30pm when my oldest wanted his brother to adjust the passenger outside mirror. He must have been paying more attention to that then where he was because it looks like he went off the road about half the truck and he just over corrected coming back on. Slid sideways across the road and hit the opposite ditch with the right side front tire causing the Ranchero to roll.  Witnesses say that it rolled four times but it looks to me more like twice.  The oldest was transported by ambulance because the paramedics were worried about head and neck injuries. The youngest went down with me. The paramedics said that the boys were lucky to be alive.  The greatest thing though was both boys walked away virtually unscathed. The oldest has a slight concussion and a few minor cuts and bruises. The younger one has a broke nose and a few minor cuts and bruises.

Now HERE is an interesting story!  Christine tells me the following story:

"In the summer of 1985, I took my car in for a brake job. There was a mechanic there who didn't look much older than 16. He was flipping a jackknife around under my car and showing off to his friends. When I asked him to stop because it made me nervous, he told me he knew what he was doing. About six weeks later, on August 23, 1985,  I was driving down the street and stepped on the brakes. There was nothing there. I think the speed limit was 45 so the car was going at a good rate of speed. There was a high chain link fence to my right and two young boys crossing with the light straight ahead. I was afraid that if I turned into the fence, I'd bounce off and hit them. So I leaned on the horn and turned left through traffic, doing my best to steer away from cars and pedestrians. I cranked the wheel back and forth sharply and tried to hit the curb in an attempt to slow down. Then I hit the side of a convenience store to keep from hitting some people. My head hit the windshield. The car went to the junkyard and I went to the hospital. The investigation showed that my brake lines had been slit and the vibration of the car had caused them to open."

Christine eventually bought another falcon, a 67 Four Door . During her attempt to locate parts, calls a junkyard who says they have a few parts that might help her. Imagine her surprise when she arrived at a junkyard, and found her car that she had wrecked 17 years earlier!  "I knew it went to a junkyard after the accident,
but had no idea it was still around and not crushed."

Christine decided to do the impossible....Buy and restore a car that was totaled 17 years earlier, and since sat in a junkyard slowly being picked clean of most useful parts. Even the core support had been torched out to remove the engine at some point. "A surprising amount of small pieces were buried in sand in the back where the rear seat should have been and in the passenger seat area of the front, Including the instrument panel! It now has both doors, both axles, brand new tires, all the glass, and engine, and a transmission. The front end clip (doghouse) and has all been straightened. "

Luckily, her situation is happening in Arizona. If it were here in Indiana where I am, Her car would have long since rusted into the ground. She also added the following information, just to make the story THAT much weirder:

"Oh, here's another incredible twist to the story. You're not going to believe this. Not too long before the crash, I put a set of care bear magnets on the glove compartment for decoration. When I got the car back from the junkyard, two of them were still in the debris. A few weeks ago I saw the same ones on e-Bay and had to get them to put in the car when it's totally restored. After winning the auction, I found that the seller grew up a mile and a half or so from me and had been a friend of my brother's in kindergarten and early grade school. No kidding!!"

Not only is this story interesting, but inspirational! With the amount of good cars that have gone to the crusher, it is great to see a car that even I would have considered LONG since a lost cause. Not only this, but a year of falcon not considered to be very desirable, or valuable. Even if this were a Mustang, most people would have given up on it. Congratulations for taking on this project, and PLEASE give us updated pictures whenever you can!

(the longer and more closely you look at these pictures, The more things you can see are either missing or destroyed. You can also see how much she had to salvage from the dirt around the car! I made the images quite large so you can see the details)

To see another story similar to this one, Click HERE

This is another fantastic story of saving a car instead of crushing it, and the results  speak for themselves! Kim writes:

My dad bought me this 1963 ranchero in 2001 as my first car. It was a beautiful stock car with the little 170 straight 6 cyl, and the three speed on the column. I drove it all through high school, and to a little bit of college; until on september 30, 2003 (my dads birthday) I got into the accident which wiped out the front end. The accident was my fault :( and caused a good deal of damage, to the car and a little to my face (the steering wheel was bent into an oval due to the impact with my mouth.) A few days after the accident my insurance company (state farm) sent out a guy to decide if the ranchero should be totaled or if it was fixable and how much it would cost. He said that it was a very clean car, and state farm would send us a check to cover the cost of repair. So the ranchero turned into the biggest father-daughter project ever. Now, it is completely restored, and better looking then ever. It was recently featured in the August 2005 edition Hemmings Motor News, as a "Next Generation" article, which is about kids and their classic cars. The ranchero is still my daily driver and I take it to shows all over Southern California. Your web site is awesome, and it looks like you did a great job with your falcon! Its good to see someone spending all the time and money on a car like that instead of throwing it out.

The following pictures show her car as it was when she got it, The aftermath of the wreck, and the finished restoration.

If I remember correctly, someone tried to pass this car and hit it's rear corner.  The hit sent Karl and his car veering into the oncoming lanes of traffic where it met a minivan head-on. If you look at the inside of the passenger door in the picture, you can see where Karl slid over and hit the door. Amazingly, He came out of this car in good shape. The car was a complete loss.

I am happy to say that George, his family, and his house are all safe. I can't say the same for the car or the garage! He fully intends on putting this car back together. First step...wiring harnesses....

These pictures were taken in June, 1964 . This was a NEW 63.5 Futura...Note the "Futura" on the rear and the back up lights! Car hit 8" steel I-40 signpost and went 375' down the interstate, crossed median and came to rest on the guardrail on the other side of the interstate. Tore the bumper completely off and put the engine through the firewall. Few stitches in my head (steering wheel??) and leg, where the emergency brake handle stuck.

According to the sender, This is what remains of a '65 Ranchero that found a bridge at a high rate of speed. In the picture to the right, The area above and left of the man kneeling in the front right fender. The area to his right is the front edge of the roof, where the top of the windshield should be. At first, I couldn't even tell if it really was a falcon, but can tell by the white painted insert on the side of the car, and by the front bumper, that this was in fact a '65 Ranchero. I was also told the 302 was stock, but the driver was Alcohol powered.  Oh, and this person did survive. I wouldn't be that gory!

Here are some pictures  of a '63 convertible, taken in the summer of '65.  It was part of a multicar accident. The car that rear-ended it was a '66 Corvette, as new as a new car could be. It shoved this car into the one in front of it, and so on through about four cars. Paul says 'The Vette never touched it's brakes'. The car was totaled, and Paul's next car was a '64 Falcon convertible.

The car was wrecked in 72 or 73 and was in a salvage yard in South Dakota
until I bought it in 2001. I mainly bought it to get the right rear quarter
for my 63.5 Sprint convertible. It was a 170, auto tans., bucket seat car.
The transmission was gone but the engine was there. Not wanting to take
dead weight that I would not need, I stripped everything off the engine I
wanted before loading the car on the trailer and disconnected everything so
the salvage yard man could yank the engine out. After getting it home I
wanted to raise the top so I could get into the trunk and see what hidden
treasures may be hidden there. After trying to raise the top by hand and not
having much luck I decided to try hooking a battery to the top wiring and
seeing if it would work. I could not believe my eyes when that old top
frame came right up after sitting in the salvage yard for almost 30 years.

Bill Writes: "Enclosed is a picture of my '65 Falcon that was wrecked on Aug 10, 1996. A 16 year old girl in a little Honda pulled out in front of me while I was on my way to the garage to get inspected. $2400 of her insurance company's money and 6 months of my work put my Falcon back in top shape. "

 Looks like he was luckier than me. I guess the girl must have had real insurance, Not Allstate. Great job on saving your bird, bill, and thanks for sharing with the site!

These are pictures of my '64 Sprint hardtop. It was a very clean unrestored car. It had a rebuilt '65 289, factory 4 speed, bucket seats with center console. Ford dealer installed factory under dash a/c. The second owner had the stock 260 V8 replaced and the front suspension rebuilt.
In '98 on our way to go vote, my wife and I were rear ended by a '96 chev. pickup. We live in a rural area of the county, and were traveling on a main county road just at dusk. I had just slowed to make a left turn, when the 16yr. old driver of the pickup behind us was just getting off his cell phone. He swerved to our left and hit us at about 60 mph. It spun us 180* where we then hit the asphalt curb on the drivers side of the car. That launched our car into a 360* spin sideways in the air down a 20 ft. embankment. The car hit on the top right front corner where it continued back onto it's wheels. It would have continued down the 45 deg. embankment, but the car hit a short concrete retaining wall for a large culvert, right behind the drivers door. Luckily my wife and I always wear our seat belts, and I had just rolled up my window a half mile before the accident. The highway patrol didn't realize our car had rolled over until I told them. They said the only reason we survived was because of the Falcon being an older, well built car. Plus wearing seat belts. This accident happened only a couple of miles from our home. We both walked away from this accident.