1960: The Big 3 introduce their first compact cars. Ford's chipper-looking little Falcon was the most conventional..
As the Big Three Detroit automakers plotted their entries into America's burgeoning small car market, each took a markedly different approach. Chrysler's Valiant combined evolutionary engineering with unique European style. Chevrolet's Corvair went all out to re-think the American car's basics with a radical rear-engine layout. And Ford? The country's number two carmaker took the safe path and created a dowdy little conventional sedan shrunk down to compact size that was utterlly free of innovation.
Ford's president Robert McNamara (who was later to serve as president Lyndon Johnson's secretary of defense during the Vietnam war) favored no-nonsense cars served straight up with no chaser. It was his idea to evolve the Thunderbird from a two seater to four, which doubled its sales. When it came to developing Ford's new economy car there was no experimenting or innovation to be done on McNamara's watch.
The Falcon was conventional to a fault, a cleanly-styled, inline six cylinder front engined, rear-wheel drive sedan that soundly trounced its innovative competitors from GM and Chrysler in the sales race.
A few years after its introduction, Ford's bland-on-bland Falcon donned a sporty makeover to become the mighty Mustang and changed automotive history. Today, all attention is focused on the Falcon's alter ego as the Mustang has become one of American's most beloved cars.
For more info see the slide show and links below:
1960: Year of the compact car part one: the Valiant by Chrysler
1960: Year of the compact car part three: Chevrolet Corvair
Ford Mustang: Secret history revealed
Classic fins: Cars of the 1950s and 60s
GM's Motorama cars: A future that never arrived
Ford Mustang celebrates 45th anniversary
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