7/26/2023 0 Comments 65 ford falconLooking under the car, I could see a nasty, jagged hole in the oil pan where the connecting rod had tried to launch itself out of the engine. The previous owner had told her the engine and transmission were out of a 1966 Mustang. There were some sheetmetal patches welded into the floorboards – presumably a rust repair, but other than I didn’t see much evidence of rust or other body problems. The paint was weathered and fading, and I could see numerous chips and scratches where the original ivy gold paint was showing through the red repaint, but the body looked straight and sound. In the daylight, it still looked appealing. I came by to look at it – I realized I’d only ever seen the car at night up until then. I touched base with the Falcon’s owner shortly thereafter and she seemed quite eager to get the non-running car out of her yard. I tracked down my other friend and let them know I was now very interested in renting the garage. I impulsively asked if she’d take $500.00 for the car, which sounded good to her. While I’m not someone who believes in mystical signs, it did seem like the universe was encouraging me to get another old car. My friend’s Falcon was a base 2-door sedan, bereft of trim, much like the one above, but a 289 V8 had been swapped in at some point in the car’s past. A wrecking yard had made an offer of $400 to haul her dead car away and she thought that might be the easiest option. She sadly relayed that the car had thrown a rod, and it was now sitting in her front yard while she decided what to do with it. I had seen her Falcon a number of times and once caught a lift home in it, and I quite admired it – it strongly reminded me of the 1968 Falcon I’d owned earlier (which also had a 289 and disc brakes) and the boxy 1964-1965 Falcon body style has always appealed to me. She had some time before picked up a Falcon 2-door sedan with a 289 V8 and Granada disc brakes swapped in. Perhaps an hour later, I ran into another friend, and asked her about her car. I told my friend I might be interested and asked if I could think it over for a day or so. The garage was spacious, pretty much the entire first story of the building, and could easily fit at least two cars. My Mustang didn’t require constant repairs the way my Charger had but avoiding the constant headache of street parking did seem tempting. My car at the time was a 1986 Mustang GT, and I debated whether it was worth the $125 a month they were asking to park it off the street (this was before SF rents went skyward in the first tech boom). My friend didn’t have a car, but knew I frequently drove old cars (I had owned a 1969 Dodge Charger when I had been in a band with them). It had formerly been used as a practice space and recording studio, but noise complaints had ended that use. They asked me if I was interested in subletting the garage under their house. On one Thursday, near the start of the evening, I ran into a friend and former bandmate who lived near me.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |