Never Mind the Shuffle Steering, Let's Take The Falcon To Hyperspace
When I agreed to meet Hooniverse Editor-In-Chief Tim at Buttonwillow for an open trackday, I hadn’t fully considered what it would mean to coach in a 1964 Ford Falcon. To begin with, the car doesn’t have five-point belts; it has two-point belts. That’s right. Lappies only, no shoulder. And the bench seat moved from ratchet-stop to ratchet-stop in every turn, sometimes twice. Oh yeah, and there was the fact of vintage crash “safety” to consider. (The shot around 1:10 is particularly cringe-inducing.)
Still, as you will see in this video, Tim failed to kill me and in fact took more than fifteen seconds a lap off his time. Due to the Falcon’s massive steering wheel and rather lazy steering geometry, I had to relax one of my ironclad rules for students — Tim was permitted to shuffle-steer throughout the entire day. Don’t think that means I’m going to let you get away with it in your Miata, okay?
It was great to spend a day with the Hooniverse crew. I really believe that the site represents the best of what Jalopnik used to be: enthusiasm-focused, positive-minded, community-oriented. If you must visit some place else besides us, let it be them, okay?
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It was fun passing you guys in my '58 Plymouth Fury :)
And now, it's time to hand the keys of the 1964 Ford Falcon over to TTAC's tame racing driver. Some say his jacket was last seen hanging from a shrubbery near Roswell, New Mexico sometime in 1947. And his eyelids blink sideways, but only while he's playing the blues. All we know is, he's called the Jack.
In case anyone's curious, the car runs a 260 V8 + T10 4 speed. The front end's pretty close to the original Shelby Mustang spec: --4-piston vented discs (same exact part) --Control arm relocation ("Shelby drop") --V8 mustang springs, cut like 2 coils down (~2" lower that stock and 60% more spring rate) --1" sway bar with poly bushings --Engine bay brace (again, basically same) --Roller spring perches --Engine moved ~1.5" back by using Maverick motor mounts Working against me: --17" steering wheel attached to a slightly clapped out Falcon steering box and linkage --Worn out 3 leaf rear springs with air shocks --2.80:1 open rear diff --Radiator likely spec'ed for the 170ci I6 that this car originally had
@mad_sci When are you going to show the rear end the same love you heaped on the front? Are you a Pamela Anderson fan or something?