Photos courtesy Bonhams and Ford
"Stodgy" was Ford's own term for the image that the compact Ford Falcon carried by 1963. Perhaps it never entirely shook that image (at least not in the U.S.), but with the help of some overseas rally efforts and some talented drivers, Ford made a good run at doing so over the next couple of years. Next month, one of the stars of those efforts, the ex-Bo Ljungfeldt 1964 Ford Falcon Futura Sprint coupe, will return to Monaco - the scene of its greatest triumph - to cross the auction block.
Offered with just a six-cylinder engine and with no convertible version until 1963, the Falcon certainly tended to appeal to thrift-seekers rather than thrill-seekers. Declining Falcon sales and increased competition resulted, particularly after Chevrolet introduced the Chevy II in 1962, so Ford decided to insert its new small-block V-8 engine into the Falcon and then introduce the resulting Falcon Sprint overseas at the 1963 Monte Carlo rally. To drive the Falcon Sprints in the rally, George Merwin assembled a team of well-known rally drivers including Bosse "Bo" Ljungfeldt, a Swedish driver already racing for Ford of England and the man whom Merwin would later credit for Ford's success rallying the Falcons over the next couple of years.
While Ljungfeldt finished in a disappointing 43rd place in 1963, he did manage to win all six special speed stages in that year's rally, providing Ford something to boast about in its advertisements, along with a class win by Peter Jopp. Falcons competed in a number of other rallies that year with mixed results, leading to the 1964 Monte Carlo rally, in which Merwin and team manager Alan Mann entered eight Falcons, driven by the likes of Ljungfeldt, Jopp, Anne Hall, and Graham Hill. John Holman of Holman-Moody developed a number of modifications for the Falcons, including a 305hp 289-cu.in. V-8, a Galaxie limited-slip 9-inch rear end and rear brakes, Thunderbird front disc brakes on Lincoln spindles, 15-inch wheels, stiffer springs, and fiberglass body panels. All eight Falcons finished, with Ljungfeldt placing first in the over-3-Liter class and second overall (behind Paddy Hopkirk's Mini Cooper S). What's more, Ljungfeldt placed first on four of the rally's special stages, tied for first on a fifth and set the fastest time over the Monaco Grand Prix course.
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The era of rallying Falcons came to an abrupt end a few months afterward when the FIA prevented Ford from running them in the Alpine Rally for not meeting homologation requirements on many of the high-performance parts fitted to the cars. According to Merwin, Ford successfully argued that every part used on the Falcons was available from Ford, but the company had had enough with the FIA's rallying rules. Besides, Ford by that time had introduced the Mustang, so the Falcons were no longer needed. Merwin did remain enthusiastic about them years later. "With the help of our first Monte effort, the Sprint did capture a small segment of the market and helped keep Falcon sales from a really disastrous decline," he wrote in 1979. "With the Falcon, Ljungfeldt shook the very foundations of the European rally establishment."
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Ljungfeldt's Falcon apparently remained in Europe over the next few decades, ultimately finding a home with another Swedish race driver, Mats Linden. In 2004, Linden pulled the Falcon out of retirement - still wearing its original fiberglass body panels and still powered by a 289 - to ship it to Mexico and run it in that year's La Carrera Panamericana, ultimately finishing third in its class.
Now Linden will offer it at Bonhams' Les Grandes Marques à Monaco auction, which will take place May 11. According to Bonhams, the Falcon (VIN 4A13F125402) is expected to sell for €150,000 - €200,000, or about $200,000 to $265,000. For more information, visit Bonhams.com.
UPDATE (18.May 2012): The Falcon did not sell at the auction. Bonhams has not reported a high bid for it. Bonhams also reported that there is a discrepancy in VINs for the Falcon: "The chassis number stamped on this car reads 4H13F125402 which corresponds to the original paperwork from the Alan Mann Racing Team currently in the possession of Peter Darley. The replacement chassis plate reads 4A13F125402 and thus more recent paperwork for this car carries this incorrect chassis number."
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Photo by Matthew Litwin
Photo by Matthew Litwin
Race wins touted in national headlineswere not lost on manufacturers, so by the start of the 1956 season nearly every major domestic brandhad invested performance resources into NASCAR. Pontiac initially supported two teams: Jim Stephens (Stephens Pontiac), and A.L. Bumgarner (Brushy Mountain Motors). Each were armed with a new-for-1956 engine designed for racing: a 316.6-cu.in. V-8 fitted with dual Rochester four-barrel carburetors that, along with a high-performance camshaft, dual-point distributor, specialized valley cover, and 10:1 compression cylinder heads, conspired to produce 285 horsepower (in street trim, mind. It’s well-known that racers knew how to make more horsepower).
A Pontiac win looked favorable, beginning with the sixth race of the season at the Daytona Beach/Road race, where Stephens’ two-car effort - with Ed Kretz and Cotton Owens - qualified 3rd and 4th, while Junior Johnson, in Bumgarner’s Pontiac, qualified 26th in the 76-car field. None saw the checkered flag. Johnson crashed, and the Stephens effort was met with mechanical woes. It was a sign of things to come. Strong as Pontiac was, bad fortune and mechanical reliability were its Achilles’ heel. Pontiac attained just 17 top 10 finishes with a best of 3rd recorded by Pat Kirkwood in a Stephens’ Pontiac.
Going winless, coupled with poor street ability of the dual-quad 316.6 V-8, spurred Pontiac to develop Tri-Power and fuel-injected 347-cu.in. engines for 1957. They became instant hits on the track - the brand notched two wins prior to a June rule change that mandated a single four-barrel induction system - and on the street, leaving the dual-quad 316.6 a nearly forgotten footnote of Fifties factory performance.
Rare reminders, however, still exist, such as this bred-for-NASCAR 1956 Pontiac twin Rochester carburetor and intake manifold assembly spotted for sale at the 2023 AACA Eastern Fall Meet in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Also included as part of the $4,500 package price was the system’s specific air cleaner assembly, which looked similar that of Cadillac’s (the two reportedly would not interchange without modifications). Save for rebuilding the carburetors, it looked ready to install on a specific “HY” stamped block.
1956 Pontiac Dual four-barrel induction setup
ASKING PRICE:$4,500
FOUND AT: 2023 AACA EASTERN FALL MEET (HERSHEY, PENNSYLVANIA)
Photography by Scotty Lachenauer
Photo by Scotty Lachenauer
Tim, a resident of West Deptford, New Jersey, is well versed in Buick’s Riviera legacy, thanks largely tohis dad, Gene Guarnere, who has had a penchant for the personal luxury car since he was a teen. “My dad has been into first generation Rivieras since he came home from Vietnam in 1967. That’s when he got his first ’64 to drive back and forth from South Philadelphia to Fort Dix, to finish his draft requirement,” Tim says.
Since then, Tim estimates his dad has owned too many Rivieras to count, through a combination of having driven, collected, parted out, and rebuilt many for resale. Though the Riviera nameplate lasted for eight generations of production, and thirty-six years as a standalone model, the 1963-’65 editions will always be Gene’s favorite. “There’s something about those Rivieras. There was really nothing like them on the market at the time,” Gene says.
The Riviera name had a long history with Buick. It first appeared in conjunction with the revolutionary true hardtop design unveiled within the 1949 Roadmaster lineup, the missing B-pillar ushering in “Riviera styling.” That design moniker evolved slightly through the mid-Fifties, provoking thoughts of elegant open road motoring for a modest price, and it even survived Buick’s model name revamp of ’59, when it became a trim level within the Electra 225 series though ’62.
Right about the time the dust was settling from the Buick renaming buzz, GM Advanced Styling guru Ned Nickles had already created a sketch of a new car that–according to later interviews with Nickles and GM Styling boss Bill Mitchell–was based on Mitchell’s foggy visit to London, where he spotted a custom-bodied Rolls-Royce in front of the Savoy hotel. Mitchell is famously quoted as saying, “make it a Ferrari-Rolls-Royce.”
Photo by Scotty Lachenauer
What makes this 1964 Buick Riviera desirable among collectors is the optional dual-quad 425-cu.in. V-8, which boasted 360 hp. It would become the foundation of Gran Sport option a year later.
Coincidentally, Cadillac was considering the introduction of a junior line to bolster sales, helping prompt the development of the XP-715 project (Mitchell is also quoted as saying GM didn’t take kindly to Ford attending the Motorama events to study concept cars, which lead to the four-seat Thunderbird, prompting development of the XP-715). Unofficially, it was dubbed La Salle II, but by the time a full-size clay mockup had been created, Cadillac had reversed its sales slump and was having trouble filling orders. It didn’t need a new car complicating matters.
The XP-715 might have been forgotten had Buick’s general manager Ed Rollert not learned of its unclaimed status. He made a pitch for the project but would have to fight for rights to it with Oldsmobile’s and Pontiac’s management. The latter was lukewarm on the idea of adding another series, while Olds wanted to modify the existing design, something Mitchell was deadset against. By April 1961, the XP-715 / La Salle II concept mockup was photographed wearing Buick emblems.
In the fall of 1962, Buick rolled out the Riviera on a new E-body platform. The car was a departure for Buick, with “knife edge” body lines, minimal trim, a Ferrari-like egg-crate style grille flanked by running lamps/signal indicators behind 1938-’39 inspired La Salle grilles, and kickups over the rear wheels designed to hint at the car’s power (helping conjure the “Coke bottle” design nomenclature). It was an amalgam of styles, fitting in somewhere between a sports car and luxury car, all rolled up in one breathtaking package.
Speaking of power, the Riviera was equipped with Buick’s four-barrel equipped 401-cu.in. V-8 that boasted 325 hp and 445 lb-ft. of torque, though in early December, the division started to offer the 340-hp, four-barrel 425-cu.in. engine as optional Riviera equipment. Just 2,601 examples of the latter were produced. Backing either engine Buick’s Twin Turbine Dynaflow automatic in its final year of production.
Photo by Scotty Lachenauer
Although the cabin is in dire need of detailing, it looks otherwise complete.
A year later, Buick management elevated the 340-hp, single four-barrel 425 engine to standard power team status, paired with a new Super Turbine 400 automatic transmission. Peppy as the engine was, a dual four-barrel version of the 425 became available, known as the “Super Wildcat.” Aside from its eye-opening 360 hp and 465 lb-ft. of torque, it looked the part of a performertoo, due to finned aluminum rocker covers and a twin-snorkel chrome air cleaner assembly. Despite its low production, only 2,122 of the 37,658 Rivieras built for ’64 came equipped as such, this engine became the cornerstone of Riviera’s Gran Sport package for ’65, cementing Buick’s legacy as a luxurious personal muscle car.
Although any first-gen Riviera is a great score to Tim and Gene, some examples are better than others, whether it was due to overall condition or the car’s born-with options. So, when this 1964 Riviera popped up on Gene’s radar 30-plus years ago, he quickly made a deal. “The history between my dad and this car is a long one. He first bought this car in northeast Philadelphia for $1,450 in the early Nineties,” Tim says.
The reason Gene wanted it more than any other that previously crossed his path was that not only was it in reasonably good shape, but the Buick also turned out to be one of the relatively rare dual-quad 425 examples. But like many of the Rivieras that came Gene’s way over the years, the Buick didn’t stick around too long. “The car was sold and/or traded multiple times for the first fifteen years my dad knew about it,” Tim says.
Photo by Scotty Lachenauer
However, like all good things, they somehow find their way home and this car is no exception. “For some reason, the Riviera always ended up with us some way or another. I finally ended up buying the car from the last owner in 2009. He had it stored in my dad’s barn during his ownership, so we knew it was in a safe place for a long time. I now have it tucked away in one of my garages waiting for the next phase in its lifeline.”
What Tim has in possession is an interesting example beyond the power team. “This Riviera is typical of the examples built in ’64. It’s just chock full of options that cater to the upscale buyers that would have had the funds to purchase one of these high-end rides from the dealership.”
Present within are many of the accoutrements that catered to the posh consumers in the luxury sports car market. Options here include the Deluxe vinyl and cloth interior, tilt column, and power seats. Power windows and power vent windows add to the lavishness of the Buick’s aesthetic, while its front seat belts, rear armrests, wood ornamentation, and rear defroster only add to the upscale feel.
Though it's seen better days, the condition of the interior is remarkable, knowing of its lengthy journey since it was taken off the road circa 1980. The upholstery is dirty and moldy but with a good washing it will probably clean up nicely. The dash is also in great shape, though since the V-8 has not been started in years, there’s no way to determine what gauges and switches are functional. Underneath the carpet, the floors are solid as well, owing to its life mostly indoors.
Photo by Scotty Lachenauer
The 1938-'39 La Salle grille is said to have inspired the Riviera's vertically stacked running lamp grilles.
Under the hood it looks as if the engine has barely been touched. It’s “KX” code stamped on the block is still visible, the original Carter carburetors are present, and the wiring and plumbing still appear usable. The air conditioning looks to be intact as well. Finally, power brakes and power steering round out the luxury amenities.
Outside, the body is in excellent shape for a car of this vintage. The last 30-plus years of indoor storage has helped keep the metal intact, though minor body work will be needed on the quarter panels to get it up to snuff. The original Claret Mist paint has turned to a satin finish under all the dirt, but a good cleaning and buff could bring it back to life. Most of the trim is also in great shape, and the car appears to be relatively complete, save for a few pieces of rear window trim.
As for the mechanical functionality beyond instrumentations, no one is really sure of its condition “My first order of business would be to send the engine to “Nailhead” Matt Martin in California, who is an artist that works in the nailhead medium; he’s the ultimate authority in these V-8s. I believe the rest of the car deserves a nut and bolt restoration, too. That time will come soon,” Tim says.
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