Ford Falcon Sprint: Monte Carlo "winner"

The record books will go on at great lengths about the 1964 Monte Carlo win by the Mini driven by Paddy Hopkirk and Harry Liddon. I will admit that the win was certainly well deserved, but the reality is that a Ford Falcon Futura Sprint, with a Holman and Moody 289 driven by Bo Ljungfeldt and Fergus Sager, won or tied every single stage, a record which, as far as a quick Google search can ascertain, has not been repeated since. The Mini, which came in 17 seconds behind the Falcon in overall time, won due to handicap rules that favoured smaller engines combined with a win around the Monte street course where it was better suited than the 305 hp Ford.



So when I came across the Trumpeter kit, I thought it would be interesting to build up a replica of the "winning" Falcon, shown below with Tamiya's 1967 Monte-winning Mini. (I also intend to build up a replica of Gentleman Jack Sears' 427 Galaxie that terrorised British saloon car racing at about the same time, but that's a story for another day).



Trumpeter is not well known to car modelers, having produced little beyond a series of '64 Falcon variants (Ranchero, convertible, Sprint).



The kit is very well detailed, with the belt drives (for instance) consisting of two pulleys and two belts. The quality of the molds is excellent and it is sad that Trumpeter, which produced the excellent MAZ 537 at 1/35 described elsewhere in this blog, has not seen fit to produce more automotive kits.



The engine in the kit comes with an assortment of options, including Cobra valve covers and oil pan, and a fuel injection setup. Period photos show plain stamped valve covers and a pair of Carter carbs, as well as a big oil cooler that I will scratch build.



I used an aftermarket distributor. The fuel line is made of 0.5 mm brass rod (which is actually big, at 1/2" at scale). The starter motor and generator also have red wires which is, admittedly, a bit confusing.



All looking pretty good so far. Air filters are a shame but are period correct.



The Falcon is still running today and must be a rip-roaring riot climbing up out of Monte Carlo, a twisty climb for which it is poorly suited as attested by the tail-out attitude in the photo below.



Stay tuned! This could be fun.