1965 Ford Falcon (Racecar)

Supplied with the car is the Certificate of Title for its last US owner Earl W Rope of Lapeer, Michigan. It’s believed it was restored three years prior (see documents section for work carried out) to its November 2012 sale to Herr Muhs of Stuttgart, Germany. At this time it remained a street specification vehicle with mild drag-strip modifications, although it did benefit from the addition of numerous glass fibre panels – doors, bonnet, bumpers and boot, among these – and plexiglass side windows.

As it’s now being sold as a non-road registered race car, of more interest is its time in Germany. Where Muhs set about turning the Falcon into a de facto race car.

Specification highlights at the time included:

• 252 bhp cui 289 V8 engine

• Edelbrock Performer RPM cylinderhead

• Competition Magnum roller rocker arms

• Competition camshaft with solid lifters

• Four-barrel Carter AFB carburetor

• Offenhauser 360 low rise dual quad intake manifold

• FoMoCo HiPo casted header

• Full dual exhaust

• Twin Facet fuel pumps

• 100-litre FIA fuel cell

• Borg Warner T10 gearbox with Hurst Shifter

• Custom Hermann Motorsport six-point safety cage

• Mustang GT390 competition coils, front

• Ford 9” with Eaton Detroit Locker differential, rear

• Twin circuit braking system with four-pot front brake calipers

• American racing rims shod with as new Dunlop CR65 204 competition racing tyres

Muhs sold the car due to ill health in 2013 to our vendor, who in turn continued its development. Spy Motorsport of Wallingford, Oxford, carried out subsequent work including the replacement of the engine’s alloy headers with cast-iron ported headers to FIA spec and fitment of a brand new 750cfm Holley four-barrel carburetor mounted on a new Edelbrock Victor JR inlet manifold. The upshot is that it’s now producing at least 300bhp at the wheels, and it’s reckoned with a rolling-road tune it could be capable of knocking on the door of 400bhp.

It held FIA HTP papers between 2013 and 2018. The belts are in date, although the seat and plumbed-in fire extinguisher are now out of date. Despite all of the above development, save for the odd test day, the car has not raced in anger. The original Borg Warner gearbox recently went bang during qualifying for a race meeting in 2018, so it now sports a brand new, polished-gears T10 unit.

Second generation Falcons are considered by many to be the most collectible variants of the model; this is due to their more modern squared-off visuals, which introduced a ‘pony car’ aesthetic to matters.

The unitary body has been seam welded for extra strength, with the car retaining the lightweight panels fitted in America. It also now has a Triplex safety glass front windscreen, and Macrolon side windows and rear screen.

Panel fit is first class. It’s an incredibly straight race car, but that said not cosmetically perfect. The paint finish shows a couple of flaws here and there – most noticeably some bubbling where the n/s rear three quarter panel meets the B-pillar, but this should tidy up relatively easily with a little TLC if required.

If the racing stripes aren’t to your taste, or if you want to fit something a bit lairier, worry not as they’re vinyl and easily removable. Both bonnet and boot lid are fitted with secured retaining pins, and the overall period look is aided by a combination of American and German stickers and decals – the Pan Am one alone sees you struggling not to go a bit Leonardo de Caprio –both indicative of its recent history.  

The cabin has been stripped of all niceties and instead has a focused racing ambience. The Sandtler FIA bucket seat looks to have seen minimal use and is complemented by a Schroth Racing six-point FIA harness.

There’s a centre mounted electrical control box, which includes power, fuel pump, wiper and fan controls, as well as electrical system cut-offs switches. Meanwhile up front are a dash-mounted tachometer and a lap timer, while the plumbed-in Sparco fire extinguisher sits in the passenger foot well.

Having had its heating system whipped out to save weight, a lightweight PTC ceramic heater and fan is mounted on top of the dashboard should you require warmth, or interior moisture control, when belting round trackside. Aiding and abetting this are air inlet ducts on both rear three quarter windows.

There’s a little light rust on some areas of the painted underside, although this appears to be isolated to the areas where the chassis rails have been seam welded, and leaf suspension locating points – we’d recommend a quick tidy up, which again should be fairly painless. The metal itself all appears nice and solid, with no evidence of any significant rot.

Braided steel motorsport fuel hoses have been fitted all round, leaf springs and shock absorbers look in tip-top condition and the engine is currently fitted with Cobra racing sump, although again the original is supplied. Two spare sets of wheels (one steel, one alloy) on Dunlop cross-ply tyres, an alloy radiator, even-more-lightweight bonnet and spare air-cleaner are also included. One set of wheels/tyres are brand new Minilites thought to have cost over £2000.

Under the bonnet squares up with its minimal use as it’s nice and clean, with no evidence of any leaks. The big V8 fires on the button and pulls like a train through to 7000rpm, while the fresh gearbox responds beautifully to manful, precise movements and the brakes are sharp. There’s no doubt there’s a helluva lot of fun to be had here with this big boy.

The history file includes a whole sheaf of invoices – including those for an eye watering €50,000-plus – detailing the process of its development as race car during its time in Germany, where the majority of work was entrusted to Oldschool Custom Works GmbH. Also included is all the old FIA paperwork, dyno readings from its various states of tune and invoices for work recently carried out.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been prepared & maintained to the very highest standard.

Designing and building a race car can be a satisfying experience, but there’s no doubt though that it’s an expensive endeavour – check out the documents section, if you don’t believe us – so buying one that’s already complete can make much more sense. This example is most definitely on the button, and ready for its next owner to take to the track.

The eagle-eyed will have spotted it’s a Coupe and not a Sprint (a la Mann Racing), which had the more rakish rear end. However, body shape aside, it’s the same car – suspension, chassis, wheelbase, engine, etc – and that may be a positive at events where too many Sprints may have been entered. And we all know that practically everything under the body of a Falcon is shared with a Mustang, increasing its race-car usability and practicality.

We believe that it’s an incredibly strong basis for ingress into the tin-top racing scene and the next owner could go mega-money and invest further to enhance its competitiveness, or simply enjoy as is and get racing. Our estimate is £30k-£40k, which when compared to the money invested in the car by previous owners, and recently sold ex-Goodwood Falcon Sprints at £60k-£70k, is incredibly good value.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this car can be seen here at The Market HQ in Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car, AnyVan for transporting it, and Footman James for classic car insurance.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings available, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles for sale. We offer far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange inspections for each vehicle thoroughly prior to bidding than traditional auctions, and we never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this. We do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or the result of a long test drive.

Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.