1966 Ford Falcon Travel Wagon

After some thought I have finally bought a van from California! Over the past two years I have probably seen every rot box the Northeast has to offer.. As well as buying a 1966 Super Van from Texas the seller never sent me a title for. The van also needed a bit more work then he had stated. With my demanding work schedule I decided I was better off finding something that was LESS of a project.

As they say in California.. "the west coast is the best coast".. I decided they were right! Well when it comes to vintage automobiles anyway. My girlfriend and I are in Southern California often, specifically Malibu, Los Angeles County. Anyone familiar with Malibu or SoCal knows how popular surfing and these vans are with that crowd. Up and down the Pacific Coast Highway you'll see great examples of vintage vans being used as daily drivers. After coming back a few weeks ago I decided to stop wasting time and find myself a California van!

This "topic" will follow the progress as I put my touch on the new van. While not cosmetically perfect, the van is solid, RUST FREE and in great mechanical condition as it has been ran daily. Here are the specs. If someone could run the VIN, i'm curious if it was originally a California van as I have been told. Now I just need to think of a name!

VIN: E11AH887395
Mileage: 96k
Engine: 240ci
Trans: Auto
Color: Wimbledon White
Pop-top: 2nd Gen
Fuel tanks: 2


07.14.2015
The van was picked up by the carrier today in Willits, California to make its 2916 mile trek to Allentown, Pennsylvania.

She's a comin!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how about a name like?? California dreaming? or= Pennsylvania traveler!!

Pennsylvania or Bust! Freebird or SuperFly if it's a Falcon! PeaceTrain!

Congrats... Looks like a great find.

Looks pretty solid!

NICE !

She has FINALLY arrived! Of course it had to start raining as the driver pulled up but I was able to take a few photos before the heavy rain started. The driver was super cool and actually lives about 30mins away! He crosses the country often delivering specialized vans and said he'd gladly pick anything up for me nationwide in his travels. He's willing to give me great shipping rates since he lives so close which is very exciting!

Once the van was unloaded we jumped right in and drove it around the neighborhood.. How exciting! I think my buddy was more excited then me.. He's super jealous! The van seemed to run well but will need a bit of a tune up as it idled a little rough. The van is insured but not registered or inspected yet so we couldn't take it too far. It'll be going to the shop in the coming days so hopefully all goes well. Overall the van is super solid but there is a little bit more surface rust and minor issues I wasn't aware of. BUT overall it is one of the best I've seen in completely stock condition and certainly far better then anything in the Northeast.

Here are the pics I took today.. I will take more tomorrow weather permitting. You'll have to click on the photos to view actual size.             

Awesome....glad to see it made it home safe and sound. Congrats

Please share the phone number of your hauler. We could all use a good transporter
guy!

Congrats! Nothing like getting her home where she belongs!

Here is a pic of the van I took today. I've been very busy with work the past week, so hopefully I will get more pics up this weekend.

This van has a second fuel tank. The fill is behind the drivers side door. Does anyone know anything about this? Is this a Ford factory option or perhaps Travel Equipment Corp did this for Ford as part of the camper conversion? There are two toggle switches on the steering column brace but I cant figure out if these are for switching fuel tanks or something else. Once I get it up on a lift next week some of these mysteries may be easier to solve. Any help would be greatly appreciated.  

I stand corrected on the paint color. The seller told me "Wimbledon White" but it appears to be "Sahara Beige". In person it does look more white then beige but its almost 50yrs old so anything is possible. Would "13" be the sales district? If so this would mean it was sold in New York. The seller said it has lived its entire life in California so perhaps it crossed the country at some point?

Yesterday I stopped at the gas station and got about 2-3 gallons of fuel in before the fuel started gushing out from under the van! I immediately stopped but would estimate at least a gallon or so had run out under the van. Thankfully I live nearby and got her home! Once parked at home there was no leaking. It had appeared the fuel was coming from the top of the tank. Today after work I checked as much as I could without dropping the tank but couldn't find anything. Anyone have any ideas?

I'm not going to take any chances running it until I have the mechanic put it up on the lift and go over it. It was supposed to go in this week but my mechanic was busy so it'll go in next week. Hopefully she won't need anything catastrophic! There is trans fluid leaking so i'm pretty sure it'll need a gasket or two.

AutoZone has 20% OFF online so I kinda went nuts. Since I want my van to be reliable enough to take anywhere, i'm not going to take any chances. Here are the parts I ordered for the mechanic to change out. If anyone has other recommendations on work to get done while its at the shop please let me know.

Water Pump
Plugs/Wires
Cap/Rotor
Front/Rear Shocks
Fuel Filter
Points
Ignition Condenser
Ignition Coil
Thermostat      



Year - Model Name: 1966 E100
Warranty Number:  E11AH887395
Series Code: E11 Econoline Falcon Club Wagon
Engine: 240 cui I6
Assembly Plant: Lorain, Ohio
Year/month built: July 1966
Wheelbase: 90"
Color: Sahara Beige (Light Beige) 1912
Model: E115 Falcon Club Wagon, Extended, (H.D.)
Interior Soft Trim: Medium beige crush vinyl and medium beige match stick pattern vinyl
Body Style: Van
Transmission: Ford C4 3-speed automatic - Gears 1st=2.46, 2nd=1.46, 3rd=1.00, R=2.20
Rear Axle: WDF-M, 8.75" gear, 3.00:1 ratio, 3050 lbs. rating, Equalock - limited slip

If I had to guess....possibly the seal around the sending unit is rotted away. There is also a vent tube up there as well and maybe the hose has rotted off of that as well, or it's been removed. That's the only factory holes in these tanks where gas can leak from on the top of the tank.

Thanks Big W.. Wherever it was coming from it was leaking like the Titanic! I won't have time tomorrow but i'm off the weekend so I will do a little more investigating.

Call me crazy but I have a Falcon DELUXE Travel Wagon coming Saturday morning.. The deal was just too good to pass up. While my van is a Travel Wagon the entire interior was stripped by the seller since mice had eat much of it while it was in storage. I have two front seats and that's it! I figured this other one would make a great parts van. The body is rough, its missing window glass and not running.. Its probably not worth saving. The good news is that it is COMPLETE with the Travel Wagon equipment and several options! As a bonus the aluminum pop-top looks great too. Here are a few pics..  

Somebody has the fever!

Nice Trim Package! Good buy! Looks like you scored all the Goodies with that parts van, including dash skirt. You lucky dawg!!! Congrats and thanks for the pics! I think Bruce nailed it, you definitely caught the fever!!!

Hey guys! Yeah I may need to consult a physician in the near future about my issues..lol The deal was just too good to pass up especially with it having everything mine is missing and then some. The Deluxe does have a great trim package. I should be able to use a lot of parts and keep some spare parts just in case! The seller said it had been sitting in an old lady's barn in Indiana for years. I really hope the top is as good as it looks and they described. I may end up swapping mine out as it is missing the interior aluminum trim with the lights around the headliner. It also has some dings because the seller used to drive around with it up! I may have some extra parts after I take what I need. I will keep everyone posted! It does have a 170ci with manual trans if anyone is in the market for one let me know. They said the motor cranks but won't fire up.. They think it is a fuel issue. I will try and get more pics of mine up this weekend.

Great Score indeed.

Winner =Winner !! = Chicken Dinner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Didn't get much accomplished today as I had to catch up on a few things around the house, but the Falcon Deluxe Travel Wagon parts van was delivered and I did get my headlights changed out. There are more pics of the parts van on the "E Parts for Sale" page. My headlights worked BUT the passenger side had enough water in it a goldfish would've been happy to call it home! Also the headlights were mismatched and different brands which made them not illuminate consistent. I know swapping out headlights is fairly simple, but here are a few pics anyway..   



After hearing and reading such great reviews about the Sylvania SilverStar Headlights I decided to see if they made a 7" sealed beam for our vans.. Well, they sure do! I'd recommend buying them from Amazon since they're much cheaper. Advance Auto - $34.99, AutoZone - $24.99, AMAZON - $18.80 Here they are..


Old headlight.


Here is the headlight housing with the headlight "grills" and bulb removed.


The new headlight being held in with the trim ring.


The finished product!


Success!

Nice, is that a transmission cooler behind the grill?

Vanny, yes it is a trans cooler put in by the original owner. It looks fairly new. The guy I bought the van from only owned it for a few months and I know he didn't put it in. She goes to the shop tomorrow for inspection and to have some work started. My Auto Zone shipment is taking forever. The update now says Wednesday.. Guess the FREE snail mail shipping is better then having to pay $57 for shipping. Once those parts are installed I should have an almost new van! Well I hope anyways. Just want to be able to jump in after work for a cruise and not worry about anything.

No Guts!! Do like the rest of us - Off the trailer & down the road!! cant get the full Experiences without

Once it drove off the trailer I did put a few miles on it. Last week I put about 100mi on it. I know its a 50yr old vehicle but when I drive up a hill it doesn't exactly go! It really just creeps when you get toward the top. I would compare it to a roller coaster how it slows as it gets closer to the top before dropping you down. Its definitely not running at 100%. I thought a compression issue maybe but the seller said he did a test and there were no issues. Eliminating that I think its the timing? Its been scheduled to go to the shop so I figure I will let them take care of it while its there.

Today I started stripping the parts van. Its quite the project! Everything was going well until I came across a few rusted and stripped screws, of course in the most difficult spots. Well anyway I made some great progress. Hopefully I will have it done by the end of the week.


Here is the dash skirt I took out today. Its in great shape and should just need paint to match my van once its ready for paint work. This dash skirt is one of the great parts that sold me on the parts van.


Check out these visors! The vinyl material itself is in almost new condition. The metal frame parts have some surface rust but overall these in this condition are some of the best OEM ones I've seen. The ones in my van are decent but nothing like these!


The poor van looks evil!

That's a Great Pic and if you had gotten nothing but the dash skirt, it still would have been worth it. That'll finish off the dashboard really nice and hide the ugly wires underneath!