1963 Ford Falcon Squire Wagon - The Sportsman & The Squire

You don't see woodies featured in the pages of SRM very often, but it's not because we haven't seen any worthy of an appearance. No, the problem is actually quite the opposite. Being located in Southern California, we see our fair share of woodies cruising the PCH (that's Pacific Coast Highway) on any given weekend or parked at one of the local cruise nights. The problem is that they're all built in a very traditional woody style, with the surfboard on the roof and a window full of surf-inspired stickers and constructed in a more restoration-style rather than that of what the STREET RODDER ethos are all about. But when we happened upon Mike DeVriendt's '46 Ford Sportsman and Jay Page's '63 Ford Falcon Squire Wagon, it seemed we had the full gamut of the modern-day street rodding hobby wrapped up in between the two cars. While Jay's represents what was basically the end of an era when it came to woodies, Mike's Sportsman was originally built in the woodies' heyday. And you'd be hard-pressed to find two cars so similar yet so completely different.

Jay Page was strolling along a country road, enjoying the usual sights familiar with rural America when he spotted an old wagon sitting between two barns. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a Ford Falcon Squire Wagon of 1963 origin and seemed to be in pretty decent shape. Jay approached the owner but was told it was not for sale. For another five years he tried to buy the car, until one day he learned that the owner had passed away and that his widow had sold the car to a gentleman for fifty dollars to be used in a demolition derby. Fortunately, the gentlemen had never returned to pick it up. Jay asked the widow if she still had the title, to which she replied that she did. Digging into his emergency cash fund, he quickly pulled out a hundred dollar bill and the two swapped papers, with Jay agreeing to return the next day to pick up the wagon.

Upon picking up the Squire, their first stop was Discovery Collision & Painting, owned by Jay's son, Jeff, where the two tried to hammer out a plan for the build. They couldn't agree, however, with Jeff wanting to build a modern, pro-touring-style car and Jay leaning more towards a resto-mod build style. They swapped ideas back and forth until they attended the SEMA show, where they saw the 427ci IR Roush motor on display and knew what was going under the hood of the Falcon.

With that decision made, an order was put in and work began in earnest on the '63. The first task was to reinforce the uni-body areas of the frame and fabricate a more rigid chassis to hang the Air Ride components. A Mustang II-style IFS was pinned up front while a Ford nine-inch rear end was placed out back. All four corners are hung off Air Ride Shockwaves with Level Pro controls that allow the Ford to cruise in comfort and sit in style, all the while tucking those Billet Specialties up nicely. The Ford-based Roush motor was dropped between the framerails, backed by a Ford AOD transmission.

Once the mechanical aspects were complete, Jeff turned his attention to the aesthetic-side of things, beginning with the sheetmetal. Since the car had sat on the farm for quite awhile, Mother Nature had caused a few small portions of the floor boards to rust through, but otherwise the body was in pretty good shape. Discovery blocked out the body and shot it in primer before Jeff mixed a BASF concoction of paint until he achieved just the shade the two were looking for, aptly titled "That's It Green." Their attention then turned to the factory fiberglass wood trim, massaging each piece to perfection before treating them to their corresponding hue.

Moving inside the spacious confines of the interior, Jeff fabricated a center console and modified the dash by relocating some of the switches and deleting the radio and ashtray. A custom insert was fabricated to house the AutoMeter gauges and the tilt column was installed, replacing the factory unit. The wood theme was continued across the dash and onto the door panels. When it came time to upholster the Ford, it went to JS Custom Interiors, where Justin Stephens stretched tan Porsche leather over the Taurus power seats and panels. An incredible basket weave-style set of inserts complements the tan carpet and leather.

For a car that has been very close to meeting its demise more than once, it's amazing to think that there are still people out there narrow-minded enough to destroy such a cool piece of vintage Detroit iron. But of course, you can't expect everybody to have the same insight and vision as Jay and Jeff Page. They were very familiar with the great bodylines of the early Sixties Falcons, especially the Falcon wagons and knew the potential this Squire had all along.