THE SONOMA COUNTY
FALCONS FOR FUN!!!
by Al Aiello, July--2002
Do you remember the Falcon service vehicles that PG&E and Pacific Bell used in California? If you are under 40, then probably not!
Back in the sixties and seventies, PG&E and Pacific Bell used Rancheros and Falcon Vans (Econolines) as service vehicles. There may have been other vehicles (sedans, wagons, etc.) used by these companies, but the Rancheros and the Vans are the ones I recall.
I didn't like the color of these Falcons. The PG&E service vehicles were an unappealing brown, and the phone company vans were what I would call Army Green.
Here's a photo that Wayne Yeager sent to me from a PG&E publication of the late 60s era. The photo is taken in front of the then new Marin Civic Center in San Rafael, California. Frank Lloyd Wright, a well-known American Architect, designed the Civic Center.
After several years of service, PG&E and Pacific Bell would sell their Falcons to the public. My friend had one of those Pacific Bell vans. He did not have any seats in the back of the van, so if you were a passenger back there you sometimes felt like a bowling pin rolling around due to his occasional erratic driving.