I always like to see cars advertised where the owner is brutally honest about a vehicle’s condition, and that is one of the traits that attracted me to this 1964 Falcon Futura Convertible. The owner describes its condition as being poor, and there is no doubt that a full restoration is going to be required to return the car to its former glory. However, it is a car that does appear to be essentially complete, and once restored, it could be a real eye-catcher. The Futura is located in Waterman, Illinois, and has been listed for sale here on Facebook. The owner has set the sale price for the Ford at $2,999.

In its glory days, the Falcon must have looked a picture in its original combination of Silversmoke Grey, with a Rangoon Red flash and Black power top. Those days are a long way behind it, and after sitting in a barn for more than 30-years, the owner does state that the vehicle will require a full restoration. External rust doesn’t appear to be too severe, with spots visible in the bottom corners of the doors, and the lower sections of the rear quarter panels. It also looks like there might be a small area of rust in the rear section of the rocker on the driver’s side, along with a spot in the lower front fender on the passenger side. It is worth noting that none of these spots are particularly large, and I believe that all could be addressed with patches. It isn’t clear just how healthy the floors are. The carpet is pretty shredded, and I can see surface corrosion thorough the numerous holes. The owner doesn’t mention actual rust-through in this area, so we might be looking okay there. The top has been badly shredded, and while the frame and power mechanism work as they should, the top itself will require replacement. Still, it is pretty easy to source a replacement for around the $400 mark, so that won’t represent a huge amount of expenditure on that aspect of the restoration. All of the external trim and chrome is present, and while the chrome on the bumpers looks like it needs a refresh, the rest of the trim looks like it will need little more than a good clean.

There is no doubt that the mechanical configuration of the Futura will not pin you back into your seat when you floor the gas. What you get is a 170ci six-cylinder engine, along with a 2-speed automatic transmission. With 101hp at your disposal, the Futura will amble its way from 0-60mph in 17.8 seconds. The good news here though is that after its three-decade hibernation, the vehicle has been coaxed back into life. It now runs and drives, but a lack of brakes means that stopping is a whole other story. Still, these would have to rate as one of the least complex vehicles to ever roll off a Ford production line, and with parts being both plentiful and cheap, getting the Futura back into sound mechanical health should be relatively easy to achieve in a home workshop.

The fact that the top has deteriorated so badly has left the interior at the mercy of dirt, dust, and whatever critters might have been passing at any point in the last 30-years. That means that the interior will require a full restoration. It does appear to be complete, and while the seat upholstery and door trims look to be free of significant rips or tears, the door trims are warped, while the seat covers are quite stretched and worn. Add in the cracked dash pad and the ruined carpet, and there is some work to be done. As with so many areas of the Falcon, sourcing a correct interior trim kit is not a difficult job, and I know that really top quality kits containing everything that would be needed to bring this interior back to its best can be found for around $2,600. Not cheap I know, but the end result should be an appearance and quality on par with when the Falcon rolled off the production line.

One of the harsh realities of life is that this 1964 Falcon Futura Convertible is a car where its value is going to be negatively impacted by what resides under the hood. If it had originally featured a V8, then it could quite easily be worth $30,000 or more when fully restored. That 170, especially when combined with an automatic transmission, means that the car would struggle to reach much more than $22,000. Having said that, original and unmodified six-cylinder Convertibles actually don’t come onto the market that often, because the majority of surviving examples have received a transplant. In fact, nice examples that have received a 289 or a 302ci V8 can often sell for higher prices than unmolested sixes. Maybe that is the path that the next owner could consider.