1928 Falcon Knight - mister-cars.com

Say the word `Falcon' and most people think of the enduring Ford Falcon manufactured in Australia since 1960. But in another time in a different place Falcon was a car manufacturer in it's own right, putting aside the financial interest of John North Willys, of Willys Overland fame.

Our featured car is a 1928 Falcon Knight 12 we spotted in the National Toy and Transport Museum on New Zealand's South Island. Being a car museum junkie we couldn't resist the chance to visit the collection, just 10 km from Wanaka during the 2010 Nissan Australia launch of the new 370Z roadster. The vast museum collection is housed in four aircraft hanger-size buildings, along with a few aircraft.

The Knight in Falcon Knight refers to the sleeve-valve engine designed by Charles Yale Knight. Willys used the Knight engine in his Willys cars from around 1914 marketing them as the `Silent Knight' in reference to the engine's quiet running. Willys was a great proponent of these engines and was among the first of the non-exclusive European brands to buy the technology.

This car was purchased new from J.M. Grieve & Co., at Invercargill, at the southern tip of the South Island – home to Bert Munroe of `World's Fastest Indian' fame – by Mr John Craig on April 6, 1929. A decade later in 1939 he sold the vehicle to his son, Lindsay of Alexandra who in turn sold it in 1975 to Bill Skeggs. In the meantime the car had been cut down to a farm ute and used to tote fruit around the orchard and to the rail head. What Bill Skeggs purchased was a heap of parts that were lying in a paddock. Fortunately, the car parts not used for the truck were stored in a shed. Over a period of several years the car was restored to it's former glory and in 1984 was back on the road.

In 1988 it was shipped to Sydney, Australia to take part in the Bicentennial Rally and also visited Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne – covering almost 5000 kilometres – in a trouble-free cross-Tasman foray. In September 2002 the Wanaka museum purchased the car from Mr Skeggs. The car features the 6000cc straight-six sleeve-valve engine with a bore of 74.61 mm by stroke of 98.43 mm. It puts out 45 hp and power is delivered through a three speed selective sliding gear transmission. It has four-wheel Bendix mechanical brakes.

Falcon Motors Corporation was launched in late 1926 with John A. Nichols as president. Nichols was a former Dodge vice-president and he took with him Dodge knowledge plus a number of Chrysler and Dodge management personnel. The car was to be built in Willys Overland Ohio plant at Elyria which had built Knight engines for Willys cars. The first Falcon Knight was seen in early 1927 and bore a remarkable resemblance to the Willys Whippet 93a model. This in turn was facelift of the Willys Model 93 Overland 6.

To have a car company announced one month and have product on the road so soon after is remarkable and could only take place by using the Willys body. Badge engineering was alive and well. In almost all respects the Willys Whippet 93A and the Falcon Knight were identical. The main exception was the engine which was slightly smaller than the Knight engine manufactured by Willys. The 1928 Model 12 was released, but still bore a remarkable similarity to Willys product. It underwent a minor facelift to the sun visor and bonnet. If you look at the bonnet vents in this car there are three horizontal rows similar to that found on the Willys Knight 66A.

Strangely, while the Falcon management proceeded to build the Knight, Willys – a major shareholder in Falcon – proceeded to develop Knight-powered cars similar in appearance and price, to the Falcon vehicles. It was a policy that could only end in one way. Willys Overland – although not known these days – was a massive company between around 1910 and 1930. In rivalled Ford, Chevrolet and Chrysler. So to expect a new brand in Falcon to compete against similar product and price was always going to fail. In early 1929 major changes took place with Falcon absorbed into Willys Overland and the plant at Elyria, Ohio turned into making truck components for Willys Overland.

As such Falcon Motors Corporation made a brief appearance on the world motoring scene and besides local US sales, cars were exported to Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand. The Australia and New Zealand market was covered by local importers Eager & Son, based in Brisbane and set up by Edward and Fred Eager in 1911-12 when Edward Eager was granted the southern hemisphere rights to Willys Overland by John Willys himself. No doubt this connection was also used to import the Falcon Knight.