1964 Falcon Travel Wagon

After getting the new exhaust ran, I got to hear how bad the old gal needed a valve adjustment..  



https://s283.photobucket.com/user/jasongipson/media/1964%20Falcon%20Travel%20Wagon/724E3C70-4358-4971-8B1B-881C31AC7142.mp4.html



Cracked her open and made it happen.  Video of the difference to come.  Quite amazing.  I don't feel like I'm driving a tractor any more! Cylinders 3 and 4 were incredibly sloppy..

Sounds nice and quiet! I love your Falcon. Great find!

Got a ton of little things done this weekend. She's coming along.

Carb rebuild Friday.  She was seeping and weeping more and more as I racked up the miles. Boy, was I glad I did. The bowl and passages were a wreck. Gaskets toast. and the gas smell in the van was a little bit like there was an open gas can in the place.

After rebuilding two dellorto 40dhla side draft carbs for my car, this thing was a breeze.





Saturday, she was a hit at our local Cars and Coffee.
We host this every weekend on Saturday mornings. Here's a pic from before we opened. Her Debut at Fuel Coffee Cincinnati.




Today I jumped up early and got to work around 830.

Shocks, Oil change, and dog house seal.
More very overdue crap.

The shocks looked to be damn near original.  Oil filter was baked on. And the dog house seal was already half gone, as well as hard and dry.





Found a new cassette to work to, in the bottom of the bag that came with the van.






She's feeling much more alive now.

Awesome, great start on the work. Just gotta tell ya that an eight track your holding there! Now I'm feeling old.

I finally got the issues with the top worked out. Driving around with a wavy roof was burning my arse. It turns out that I was over thinking it.  I simply needed to bust out the B(R)FH.  Thoughtful and strategically placed persuasive blows with a gentle giant got the job done.

I still can't figure out how to get to the rollers on the leading edge of the top for replacement. Not without dismantling the entire turtle top..  



I went to see Tim of Econoparts.  He showed me how to tighten up the limp wrist'd passenger side mirror. (duh)  God that was irritating me, second to the wavy roof top..
He set me up with a replacement trim piece for the driver turn signal. -Awesome.
 
The van also had come to me with three dog dish caps with black lettering, and one with white. As well as no cap for a spare.  He set me up there. Got me two black lettered jobbies, and a fifth 13" rim to replace the missing spare.
And lastly, I got an alternator conversion from a parts 170.  (for later)



I also removed the cab's roof board.  I was droopy and would show drips of water after a rain.  I figured it was from the extra plugs in the roof. (aside from the lights and air  horn) I re-sealed them all.  And yes,  you nailed it Tim, it appears that the van had once donned a roof mounted AC unit..!?  I found the proof! Copper lines will running through the walls around the passenger front door..







Pretty interesting..I guess it used to look like this.



But, I took the funky board, whetted it with the hose, and with a board in the center and some cinder blocks, dried it flat on the hot sidewalk while I finished up other things.  I added some support along the main bend with a curtain rod.  I will leave that in there for the day, to let it get good and dry.

I also discovered that the apparati...us...stuff under the van are the remnants of a Rotunda brand, motor vacuum driven, air horn compressor system.  That's right, it sucks to blow.  

The air tank has an electric servo motor for when you want to push the button and..bring the noise.



You an see the vacuum hose nipple on the bottom in this shot.



And here is the servo on the tank..



I'm gonna try and bring this thing back to life!

Wow, I'm a little late to the discussion but that is an awesome travel wagon. They are the best but I'm pretty biased! love the dash skirt and the color treatment on the exterior. If you've been to Tim's, then you know what's possible and where to get parts he an a couple other hoarders around the country have or can get most everything we need.

Post pictures of the interior bits as we are always learning how these T-wagons went together. It's never clear if they differed from the factory, the dealers, amongst various "Macgyver" owners etc.

Mike in Mass
'64 Econoline Travel Wagon

Thanks Mike.  We love it.  and the longer I have it, the more protective I get of it.  As in, I feel like I shouldn't alter it.  which, in a way, hinders the fun.  I really want to make it suit our needs..  but we will see.  

I need to do a thorough photo set of the interior.  I will get her cleaned up a bit this week and make it happen..  We have put over 500 miles on it in the couple of weeks we have had it!  Mostly for vetting purposes.  

Now if I could just stop be so enamored with the exterior!  

Here's some of mine. https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t21781-my-64-travel-wagon-with-its-new-falcon-interior

the original interior was gone as most 50 year particle board does. So I went with the falcon interior that I sourced through Tim.

I gave away the icebox/stove combo but it was really beat.

and you have an 8-track...I need to get me some of that.

Yeah.  I need that bench.  

I am thinking of three buckets, and a bench. I need to be able to haul at least four kids.  but in the case that we are all there, having room for 6 would be the ultimate.  




And this just in from the weekend..  we host Cars and Coffee at our shop every Saturday.  Looks like a local blogger was there early, before it got packed..  Yes, there is van content..  


http://5chw4r7z.blogspot.com/2014/05/fuel-coffee.html

You'd better map that out more closely. I set my bench seat farther back than factory, and I don't think there is enough room to have a jumpseat behind the driver seat even at that extended disctance. Its pretty tight.

I'd measure out for two bench seats. I put mine forward enough that someone can squeeze by to get to the back seat (if I had one) so I don't think you need the elusive split bench seat.

I drew that on the spot, when posting.  Its not to scale, I am sure.   

I am noodling on just using recovered stock front seats, or even my current middle seats for the split set, and fabbing additionsl seat legs to emulate the ones in the van now, and even some arm rests.. there are Mustang arm rest pads all over eBay for cheap.  

You'll see what I mean when I get the photos up. My interior is quite unique..as it turns out.

FCC wrote:

Joe Van wrote:Nice Find..!!!...Its in Great Shape a Rare One for Sure..  ..

Hey Joe, Did you buy that Chebby from a guy named Andy Stuckey, by chance  

 Its been in Daytona Beach the past 10 years owned by my friend Dan'o but he bought it from savage's (Tom) friend in Indiana not sure of his name.. 

Gotcha. I had a Friend in Louisiana who found one of those fixed it up nice. painted it red, put an interior in it and was going to sell it to me for his cost but I wasn't in the position to buy it

that's a great van. i'm jealous of your find. I have a buddy with a top like that. he parted out a 65, and kept a lot of the stuff. he's debating on whether or not to put it in his supervan.

I think I have decided to do these wheels, if I were to go away from the skinnys..

Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that the 'special order' paint option listed in the VIN has a simple answer..  

As of right now, I thing the van was all one color.  I think it may have been the white.  I will confirm, through inspecting a few things, but that is where I am right now.

1.  Wheels are white.
2.  It has has an older (1980's) repaint, and only the blue areas have clear coat.  There is no clear on the original white areas around the windows.
3.  In photos, the blue on the body is less blotchy, but blotchy.  Top has VERY thin blotchy blue metallic over white.  

From all I have seen and read in the past weeks, a Falcon DCW would have been blue.  And this van was originally purchased as a retirement present for the guy's wife.

All just speculation at this point. But the evidence is there to support the idea.  I will look in nooks and crannys for white paint, where a DIYer might have missed.

I like the look of those wheels, new but they have that old slotted mag look to them.

Update:

By looking at this van, which is currently for sale, I see that white was under the blue no matter what. While I haven't physically investigated the idea of my van being delivered as a white DCW yet, this may show that the thought would be difficult to prove..

FCC,Is this van for sale here local?

no, its in Portland, or seattle...the PNW either way. Its posted in the FS section, that's how I came across it.

FCC, After looking at the pictures of your van i know right were this van was at in hamilton,the old guy had a small body shop on rt.4. I seen it for years and would always drive by it,then one day it was for sale and i stopped and looked at it.I would have bought it but i was looking to do more of a custom van.That was about 5 years ago.I guess the guy that bought it then is the guy you got it from.Real cool van.

Yes! That's the correct time line.. How funny. I want to try and get photos from the previous owners. Do you remember the shop name? And what price was on it then?

I know right were the van is from on rt.4. there is no body shop anymore as you know the old guy passed away.The lady was asking $5,500.00 when i looked at it.If you want to drive up to the hamilton/fairfield area some weekend i will take you over there.On saturday evenings 5-8 there is a cruise-in on the westside of hamilton.

Ok.  Good, so his title that said $600 wasn't truthful.  SHEW!  

never know.  I may make it up that way.  My Saturday mornings keep me busy though, with Cars and Coffee at our shop every week.

I actually need to get up to the east side of Muncie, IN.  There is a Ford dealership selling off mass amounts of stock econoline seating.  they build accessibility vans.  I am thinking that recovered (to look the part) modern seats might be a good and safe way to get the seating we need..