INTO THE BLACK —
AMERICAN FALCON ALLROUNDER
ROBERT FOWLER WANTED TO TRADE INTO A SLIGHTLY MORE PERFORMANCEORIENTED CLASSIC — HE GOT EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTED AND A WHOLE LOT MORE
Brandism is alive and well in smalltown New Zealand; it’s a movement that is propagated by people such as Robert ‘Chook’ Fowler. You see, Chook, like many other small-town folk, has an obsession with the Blue Oval. If it’s not a Ford, he’s not interested in parking it in his garage. That’s not to say he’s totally one-eyed — he’ll happily accept vehicles built by Ford of Australia, Ford of the UK, or Ford of the good old US of A. Chook’s owned a fair few Fords over his 56 years on planet Earth, each and every one of them holding a special place in his heart for various different reasons — most of those being the good times that he’s had behind the wheel and the people that they’ve led him to meet along the way. Understandably, he’s prouder of some than others, but that’s to be expected when the range includes everything from a Cortina-powered 110E Thames van to an XY GT replica and a Cobra replica. At some stage over the years, Chook must have become a bit more sensible, as he ended up trading in the big-power cars for a 1962 Ford XL station wagon. With an injected five-litre under the hood,
the car was the ultimate family hauler. Reliable as a Swiss watch, but, despite it being equally impressive, it somewhat bored Chook. Yep, that old bug of wanting something better kicked in, and he knew that there was no point in fighting it. Instead, he figured that he’d begin the hunt for another, more performance-inspired, Falcon — ideally, something that could still take the family but could also bring a smile to his face as a true driver’s car. While most people would look for a Falcon either here in New Zealand or in Aussie, Chook was a bit more open-minded than that, and well aware that the Yanks also produced a Falcon; the fact that there are fewer US ones here added to the appeal. A quick search on Craigslist delivered, with a goodlooking 1964 Falcon Futura popping up in Ramon, San Diego. The car had been freshly painted and on the receiving end of some mechanical love, with the previous owner having T&L Engine Development in North Carolina build up a tough 302 for it. The car was advertised as having a dynoproven 440hp, which, understandably, ensured that Chook was quick on the phone to US-residing Kiwi Robin Silk for help in securing it. An inspection was arranged, and funds were transferred — Robin being entrusted with collecting the car. There was a bit of a delay with getting it from So-Cal, where Robin was working at the time, to the shippers — although it wasn’t one that Chook was too upset about. “While at So-Cal Speed Shop, Billy Gibbons, of ZZ Top fame, was making a new show with Jimmy Shine, and they wanted to use the
While most people would look for a Falcon either here in New Zealand or in Aussie, Chook was a bit more open-minded
Falcon and another of the cars that Robin was shipping,” Chook explains. “The show was called Rockin’ Roadsters, and it has been on the Turbo channel here and the Falcon is in a few scenes.” Understandably, Chook wasn’t going to cut the car’s chances of some TV fame, so he agreed to leave the car there on the proviso that Billy would autograph the glovebox lid for him. With this not being Chook’s first rodeo, he knew that even though the car had been inspected by a Kiwi, there would probably be things requiring change here to get it legal, not to mention a few changes to ensure that it also suited his tastes. A combination of these led to the transmission tunnel being cut out to correct how the Ford T5 gearbox was mounted. The previous owner had had Astro Performance Warehouse in Florida rebuild the box with a decreased helical gear angle that produces a whine in the first three gears, something Chook happily kept in place, although he did throw a McLeod clutch and flywheel at it while it was out. The first trip to LVV certifier Andy Smith resulted in a failed brake test. No matter what he did, the combination of parts was simply not working together. Matamata Panelworks had the solution in an RRS under-dash pedal box and CPP caliper kit for all four wheels, with a Wilwood master cylinder to control it all. The car now stopped on a dime. The Falcon had come with a decent suspension set-up, including QA1 coilovers and one-inch rear lowering blocks, and it was rapidly becoming the
driver’s car Chook had hoped for. Mind you, while the car could stop, and turn, the driver almost fell out of his seat every time he tried it. The solution to this was found in a set of NZKW front seats. The La Carrera steering wheel, Hurst shifter handle, and Pro-5.0 shifter base are all the work of the previous owner, although Chook’s added a decent audio system. Why would a car like this need a stereo? Well, as good as the sound from the 2.5-inch single exhaust is, Chook’s not afraid of a road trip, be it with others or by himself, and, in the 18 months that the car’s been on the road, he’s clocked up countless miles all around the North Island in it, taking in as many events as he could along the way. The car’s not missed a beat, either, being 100-per-cent reliable — although that hasn’t stopped Chook thinking about the next steps in its evolution. Currently on the cards, as time and funds permit, is an upgrade to 31-spline axles, along with a FiTech Go Port EFI system and maybe an upgrade to power steering. The first goal that needs to be ticked off the list, though, is a quick dash down the quarter-mile to see if the car’s really as fast as it feels on the street. Timeslips aside, it’s ticked all of Chook’s boxes and a whole lot more!