1966 Ford Falcon Futura Sports Coupe

The Ford Falcon in 1966 was a totally different car. All-new sheetmetal and fewer model offerings saw the series through its final years. Now, there was just three basic body styles: a four-door sedan, two-door club coupe, and four-door station wagon offered in two trim levels, either base and Futura. The convertible, hardtop, and two-door wagons went the way of the Dodo bird...gone.

The wheelbase of coupes and sedans grew to 110.9 inches, but overall length shrank to 184.3 inches, giving the car a "stubby" look. All prior years body side sculpting vanished, and Ford Falcons were now smoothed out and almost devoid of any distinguishing features except for a slight, upper-body crease that faded out at a point above the rear-wheel opening. A slight kick-up in the rear quarters was a departure from prior straight-edged Falcons, too. Up front, styling didn't look much different from 1965, with a horizontal-bar grille divided in the center by a narrow, vertical badge. The rear featured an update of the outboard round taillight lenses and recessed rear fascia of the 1964-65 Falcons, and the trunk door was reshaped to give a lower sill for easier trunk loading. 

1966 Falcons had a very straightforward dashboard and instrument cluster. The speedometer sat in a pod to the left side of the steering wheel, while a matching unit on the right contained the fuel and temperature gauges, with warning lights for oil pressure and electrical-system function placed in between. Padded panels were standard, and optional factory-installed air conditioning was now routed through cutouts in the metal panel.

If any "big" news came from the Falcon camp in 1966, it had to be the Futura Sports Coupe.  A throwback to the original Futura of 1961, the two-door-only model was fitted with vinyl bucket seats in a choice of six colors, slotted hubcaps, and special badging on the roof sail panel. Sports Coupes had an optional vinyl roof available by plunking down an extra $74.

Standard on the Sports Coupe and wagons was the 200-cubic-inch Fairlane six with 120 horsepower. Optional on all models was the 200-horse 289-cubic-inch small-block V-8 with two-barrel intake and a 9.3:1 compression ratio.

A 3-speed manual transmission was standard with all engines. Options included Cruise-O-Matic automatic, and a floor-mounted 4-speed stick that could only be ordered with the "Challenger" V-8. 

In all, 182,669 1966 Falcons were produced, (not including the Falcon Ranchero that year). As with most "Economy" models from any car manufacturer, they were regarded by most as "throw away"cars (use 'em and lose 'em), making few survivor cars on the road today, but they CAN be found...you just gotta look a little harder. Ford Falcons of ANY year still remain one of my favorites to this day...but, to quote the famed "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" movies...I'm SURE you already KNEW that...that's what I love about ya...your attention to detail. Haha...