We are really enjoying my son's 65 and now I'm interested in owning one. What are the changes through the years and is there a consensous on one of these three?
Michael.

 

there are a few differances from 61-67. most notably the engine and trans mounting system. 61-64 had motor mount arms, and a 1 bolt donut trans mount. the 65-67 had a motor mount cross member, and a 2 bolt flat trans mount.
the later heavy duty frames were made from thicker sheetmetal, making the a little stronger.
the heater was moved from floor mount to firewall mount in 65.
the 65 was the first year for the 240, and 66-67 had a cable throttle linkage on the 240.
61 and 62 could have either 13in or 14 in wheels, all the rest had 14's.
64 was the first year for the automatic trans, and was a 1 year only tail housing.
63 was the first year for synchronized tranny's.
there were a ton of little changes over the years, but nothing that realy made any differance's.

 

Well, a big block was available in the 67. I don't think it would bolt in without mods to the shock towers prior to this. The 61-63 looked more round in front, then the 64/65 looked much better. The 66 was an ugly duckling in my opinion. All those were based on the Falcon. 67 was based on the Fairlane, where after that were based on the Torino.

 

stevef100s,
What changed with the 66 that you don't like? Turns out that a 67 I'm looking at might be a 66. I love the look of our 65 and wouldn't want to get something that wasn't close.

Michael.

 

Yes, 67s are a lot bigger than the earlier ones.

 

None of the body parts on a 66 are the same as a 64/65. Falcons and Rancheros received a total facelift in 66, and I just didn't care for the change. The grille, the body lines, and even the tail lights don't look good to me. Of course these are all just my own opinion.

 

hey guy's, we seem to have 2 seperate threads going here. the thread was started out on econolines, and has turned into a falcon/ranchero thread.

 

How do you know? Model wasn't stated. Just the years were.

 

Sorry about not including the model. It is an econoline as listed in my profile. So now I understand that all of the previous comments on the 66 were in reference to ranchero's. Is there any real outward differences between these three years on the Econoline?
Thanks, Michael.

 

not one bit of differance in apperance. only differance from 61-67 is cosmetic, emblems and park light lenses.

 

The only outside differences that I can recall are that in 66 and 67's that some came with chrome spears on the sides.
The mirrors became more rectangled and larger.
The badge on the doors and you have to look close at them would have a different pebble grain in the background of the lettering. Most would not see that differnce.
Other than that there was not a lot of big differences from year to year.
In 65 the dog houses changed for the larger motors and the lids latched with one catch instead of two. The heaters were moved up under the dashes, not on the floors. The seat brackets were wider and longer.
The tranmissions mounts changed also. Before 65 they had a circle rubber mount that bolted to the chassis. From 65 on they became a more flat surface with two bolts to the chassis.
But to your question about external differnces there was not much.