RCR's Vagabond Falcon Is the Most "Regular" Custom Car in Existence

What's so fantastic about RCR's exquisitely modified 1960 Ford Falcon is the fact that if they hadn't told us about all the mods, most wouldn't have guessed this was anything less than the same jalopy that left the Ford factory 61 years ago. But could we expect anything else knowing what we know about this crew?

Finding the more subtle details held within otherwise perfectly regular everyday vehicles is what Brian and Roman pride themselves on doing with ease. And that's what they did with this classic, both before and after its major mods and tunes. Brian made it clear he knew exactly where this car originated: in the garages of the slimmed-down, Robert Mcnamara-operated carmaker still a few years away from the Mustang, making them the "hip" American brand.

Brian even explains how completely unbeknownst to most people, the Falcon was very nearly the basis for a very different car than what the Mustang would turn out to be. If Robert McNamara hadn't left a leadership position at Ford, the Falcon was going to become the basis for a striped down model called the Cardinal.

One can only imagine Mr. Mcnamara saw himself as pious as an actual Catholic cardinal when he thought of a car so unashamedly untiltarian. Thankfully, Lee Iacocca stepped in and ensured our spot in the objectively better timeline.

On this particular car, the stock four-cylinder engine made around 80 horsepower when it left the Ford factory all those moons ago. To say that it and the rest of this classic's innards have been profoundly changed would be understating it slightly. As Brian himself describes it, the Vagabon Falcon is, "on top, a 1960 Ford Falcon and a 1993 Fox Body Mustang."

In actuality, that's entirely accurate, as he also states the drivetrain is actually from a Thunderbird, a car on the same platform as the Mustang. Granted, that does go a long way towards describing these mods to a non-car-enthusiast, as some RCR fans might attempt, much to their family's Christmas dinner table's chagrin.

The ever-humble Roman and Brian go to great lengths to emphasize that the RCR fans were the ones who made this Falcon possible. But they also mention that it was the mechanical wizard Bruce Henn, owner of Bruce Henns's Garage in Eastern Pennsylvania, that truly made this car come together.

For starters, Bruce knew the flimsy chassis rails of the pre-Mustang 1960 Falcon could make any modern V8 engine flex it to the point of cracking the windows. Some custom chassis bracing done by a knowledgeable veteran of the trade sorted that out. On top of that newly rugged foundation sat a 302 or 5.0 Windsor V8 fed through a Ford AOD four-speed automatic gearbox and driven by 98 Explorer 8.8 rear gears.

The 302 V8 is regulated with an Edelbrock carburetor, as fuel injection likely wouldn't have fitted the totally stock aesthetic Roman and Bryan were known for aspiring for. That would also explain the choice of a mechanical fuel pump. Good for 240 to 250 horsepower, or so says Bruce Henn's "butt dyno."

Needless to say, both the front and rear end suspension on the car was changed to suit the new power. Complete with Ridetech coil-overs in the front and period-correct leaf springs in the rear. Drilled and slotted front disk brakes help ensure the Vagabond Falcon stops as well as it goes.

On the inside lies a couple of other clues that this Falcon is more than what it appears—starting with the B&M Shifter to help row through the AOD transmission's gears. The shifter was donated by Mogel Innovations, one of several sponsors who donated parts and labor to this product, along with a new set of pressure and temp gauges in the dashboard.

And so, the RCR Vagabond Falcon was more than just a loud, show-offy restomod made to wow people who aren't the least bit interested. It was made to be, in Brian's own words, "the ultimate regular car." If that was the goal, there was not much argument that they didn't succeed.

But as most custom cars tend to do, its time under RCR's ownership eventually came to an end. It sold for $9,469 to Twitch streamer 'SimmyKenz.' If you ask us, it should have sold for at least four times that.