Classic & Vintage - help me identify my bike

Hi all. First post and I'm hoping to enlist the help of you good people.

I've been riding a bike I picked up at a police auction in Buffalo, NY. I'm assuming it was stolen property, as it's all painted black. As you can see, we've got some rust happening, and it's heavy as hell, but everything's working on it. I only paid $20, so I'm pretty happy with it overall. Here's what I'm wondering -

a) Roughly how old it is and who manufactured it. The gears seem to have been made by Falcon, a company which I hadn't heard of but seems to have been around for awhile. Maybe the bike's a cheaper one of their line?

b) Whether it would be a good candidate for conversion to fixed gear. I've been reading about this process on here and Sheldon Brown's site and I'm very interested.

I hope the pictures help. I'm not very knowledgeable about bikes but I tried to shoot the crucial bits.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Not much to go on here except the rear dropouts do not look to be investment cast, and the components are low quality, thus these two things alone would be an indicator of a lower grade bike like a Montgomery Wards which if my faded memory serves me, I seem to remember they had a decal color scheme like the one on your seat tube. But those stripes could have been put on long afterwards since the other decals are gone. Probably made in the early to mid 60's. Also since the components were Falcon those could also be replacements of the original.

I'd keep it clean and lubed; treat the rusty spots with some naval jelly then ride it into the ground.

It's a good candidate for a fixed gear. It appears to be a great commuter bike.

You really think it's that old, freako? I would said 80s, but what do I know. By the way, the stripes are definitely "after market"--they were applied with a coarse paint brush. Love that bumble bee look, though!

I've got an old Sears Free Spirit with Falcon parts............looks identical..........except for the "customized" paint on yours......ride it into the dirt............

I've got an old Sears Free Spirit with Falcon parts............looks identical..........except for the "customized" paint on yours......ride it into the dirt............

You may be right, it may be a Sears instead of the Montgomery Ward as I was thinking. I knew it was a catalogue store bike but couldn't place which store.

definitely and 80s era bike probably later 80s, other than that i dont know man

It's a generic cheapie. With components that I hate working on. Please feel free to remove them and make it a fixie. No better candidate for that, really.