The Beach Boys epitomized the California lifestyle in the 1960s. Songs like Surfin’ Safari, 409, and California Girls painted hallucinatory pictures of how carefree life could be on the beach. The easy ways of cool cars, hot girls, and killer waves on which to surf were immortalized in the harmonies and lyrics of Brian Wilson and his bandmates.
Every day, we wish they could all be California… cars. But they’re not. Because if they were they wouldn’t need the rusty floors replaced. Welcome to How Hard Can It Be?
Right around time the Beach Boys popularity skyrocketed, Ford introduced the Falcon to compete in the burgeoning small car wars. Volkwagen Beetles and all other manner of European import were gaining popularity. Detroilet had seen the writing on the wall and the success of smaller, more economical models. Though considered a mid-size everywhere in the world where small cars were the norm, Falcons landed squarely, both literally and figuratively, in the American small-car class.
This second-generation 1964 Ford Falcon wagon is not yet the surfing Woodie wagon about which the Beach Boys crooned. But it could be. This car doesn’t have the Sprint package, with its 260-CID V8 and stiffer suspension. But how much power do you need to cruise the beach? The little inline-6 (we’re assuming it’s little since the seller doesn’t say which six-banger it has) and two-speed Slushomatic transmission would probably get you to Kokomo fast (enough), and then you could take it slow.
The glass is good, except for the windshield. The frame is solid and it has new back tires. It runs and drives and stops, at least in the seller’s driveway. The new muffler will probably stay new, since the engine requires an exhaust manifold. Everything else needs to either be fixed, patched, straightened or replaced. So it goes with a $995 project wagon.
Visions of this car made pretty keep us up at night. Picture it clean, all one shade of Chantily Beige or Prairie Bronze (it looks like both colors adorn this Falcon’s flanks), lowered on 17-inch Cragar SS’s, with a couple of vintage Gordie surfboards hanging out the back. Cruising the pier in Santa Monica (or Lake Superior), listening to some Tornadoes or The Lively Ones through the single-speaker AM radio.
Regardless of your nearby body of water, life could be much worse.
[ Craigslist ]