Was reading through some old car magazines and found an article on the history of the Ford Falcon.  Was surprised to learn that in 1960 Bill Stroppe created for Ford a "proto sprint" with a 1960 Mercury 312 and Cruise-o-matic.  The engine was modified for power (port and polish, overbored, different cam, etc.) and  several other modifications to the car were made.  The aricle doesn't give much more info---nothing on horsepower, what happened to the car, etc.  I'd guess there was a major performance difference though since the original Falcon engine was a 144 ci rated at 85 horsepower.  I found this to be an interesting historical tidbit so thought I'd share.

Joe, Bill stroppe did Fords research and developement work till his death in the late 90,s, and nothing would supprise me what he actually did, i had visited his establishment, met him and was amazed at wide range of projects, he showed me a small ford van with hybrid electric engine plus nascars they had there, he was truly a Ford legend!!

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Joe;

Was that an old Hot Rod Magazine with that article?  I seem to remember a story and photo shoot about that car in Hot Rod.  I have the magazine, but don't know where that particular one is.  Don't even know what issue I'm looking for.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

John.  It's the Oct 1988 issue of Car Craft magazine. 

The July 1960 issue of Hot Rod magazine details the installation of the 312 with a Cruise-O-Matic tranny into a four door Falcon.  A 9” rear was also installed.  The article is written by Ray Brock and the installation is performed by Bill Stroppe and Associates.  You gotta love the rear shot where the Falcon is smoking the tires and what appears to be a white haired granny riding shotgun.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)