Car History - May 20: Ford wins right to call new car "Falcon"
Posted May 20th 2012 8:00PM
On this day, 53 years ago, one of Ford's earliest successes almost didn't make it into inception...with the name "Falcon." Chrysler had been working on a concept, also called the Falcon, two years earlier, but unbeknownst to them, Ford had requested and registered the Falcon name before Chrysler.
One account says Chrysler, in a last minute scramble, held a contest with its employees to determine a new name for their car and they ended up with the Plymouth Valiant. Another account says "Valiant" was the result picked from a survey of over 2,000 owners from 15 cities.
Ford's Falcon was a hot commodity for the company, outselling other compact vehicles from the likes of GM and Chrysler. It saw production the States, Argentina, Mexico, Australia, Chile and our very own Oakville, Ontario.
Ford made several other cars based on the Falcon platform, including a very special Canadian market only variant of the Falcon called the Frontenac. The Frontenac was pretty much the same as a standard Falcon, but it sported some unique trim including a unique grille and red maple leafs on the wheels. Sales were strong, but it was only made for a single year.
More of Ford's history after the jump.
