Ford Fairlane (Americas)

See also Ford Fairlane (Australian)

The Ford Fairlane was an automobile model sold between 1955 and 1971 by the Ford Motor Company in North America. The name was taken from Henry Ford's estate, Fair Lane, near Dearborn, Michigan.

Over time, the name referred to a number of different cars in different classes; the Fairlane was a full-size car during the 1950s but became a mid-size car in the 1960s. The mid-sized model spawned the Australian-built Fairlane in 1967, although it was considered a large car there.

1950s full-size car

For 1955, the Fairlane name replaced the Crestline as Ford's premier full-size offering. Overshadowed then and especially now by the contemporary Chevrolet Bel Air, the Fairlane was nevertheless successful and considered quite desirable and stylish. Six different body styles were offered, including the Crown Victoria Skyliner with a tinted, transparent plastic roof, the regular Crown Victoria coupe with lots of stainless steel trim, a convertible Sunliner, Victoria coupe, and traditional sedans. All featured the trademark stainless-steel "Fairlane stripe" on the side. Power options were a 223 in³ (3.7 L) straight-6 engine and a 272 in³ (4.5 L) V8.

1956 saw few changes; a 4-door Victoria hardtop was introduced, and two new, more powerful V8 options, of 292 in³ (4.8 L) and 312 in³ (5.1 L), the latter available up to 225 brake horsepower (168 kW).

For 1957, a new look gave a longer, wider, lower and sleeker look with low tailfins. A new top trim level was added, the Fairlane 500. For the first time, the lower-level Custom line had a shorter wheelbase than the Fairlane. Engines were largely the same as the year before. The big news for '57 was the introduction of the Fairlane 500 Skyliner power retractable hardtop, whose solid top hinged and folded down into the trunk space at the touch of a button. Unfortunately, it attracted more attention than sales; the option was expensive, somewhat unreliable, and took up almost all the trunk space when retracted. Even so, it required the roof to be made shorter than the other Fairlanes, and the trunk to be larger.

Another facelift for 1958 saw fashionable quad headlights, a grille that matched the '58 Thunderbird, and other styling changes. New big-block V8s of 332 and 352 in³ (5.4) and (5.8 L) replaced the previous largest V8s, and a better 3-speed automatic transmission was also available.

1959 saw a new top-level full-size model introduced at mid-year, the Ford Galaxie. Full-size Fairlane and Fairlane 500 models continued through 1961.

1960s mid-size car

The Ford Fairlane was reintroduced in 1962 to contest the intermediate class, being eight inches longer than the compact Falcon and nearly one foot shorter than the full-size Galaxie. There were a two-door hardtop and two- and four-door sedans.

The 1962s had a 221 in³ V8, with an optional 260 in³ Challenger V8. The 500 Sports Coupe débuted mid-year and featured bucket seats and a mini console. The 260 was bored out to 289 in³ for 1963, the same year a station wagon arrived, called the Ranch Wagon and Ranch Custom Wagon. The Fairlane 500 trim appeared in this year, too, continuing to the 1971 model year.

The Squire wagon (a fake woodie) was available for 1963 only, including one model with front bucket seats.

The 1964 and 1965 Fairlane ranges consisted of similar body styles: two- and four-door sedan, two-door hardtop and Sports Coupé, and the station wagon.

The Fairlane was revised in 1966, and spawned a Mercury Comet twin. XL, GT and GTA packages were introduced, as well as a convertible to join the existing range of sedans, hardtops and station wagons. The GT featured a 390 in³ V8 as standard, while the GTA had a SportShift Cruise-o-Matic automatic transmission. The base 390 in³ engine, meanwhile, developed 335 bhp and had a four-barrel carburetor. In c. 60 Fairlanes with a Special Handling package, Ford installed a detuned 427 in³ unit, rated at 410 bhp rather than the 425 of the NASCAR cars. The Country Squire wagon débuted for 1966.

Minor trim changes were introduced for 1967 as the Fairlane was mildly facelifted. The 289 in³ small-block became standard, with the 390 in³ optional (with either two- or four-barrel carburetor, at 275 and 320 bhp respectively). The 427s were still available, either with a single four-barrel carburetor or dual quad carbs, developing 410 and 425 bhp respectively. The notable addition for the 1967 model year was a Ranchero pick-up truck as part of the Fairlane range.

The Falcon Ranchero and Falcon station wagon were, between 1966 and 1970, identical under the skin to the Fairlane versions of the same model. Only sheetmetal and trim differed.

Thunderbolt

File:Thunderboltmodel.JPG

Plastic model kit of 1964 Ford Thunderbolt

As the muscle car market took shape, Ford introduced a Fairlane for drag strip racing for 1964, heavily modified to incorporate a 427 in³ (7.0 L) V8 with two four-barrel carburetors on a high-riser manifold, ram-air through the openings left by deleting the inboard headlights, equal-length headers, trunk-mounted battery, fiberglass hood, doors, fenders and front bumper, Plexiglass windows, and other lightweight options including deleted rear door window winders, carpeting, radio, sealant, sun visors, armrests, jack, lug wrench, heater, soundproofing, and passenger side windshield wiper. This special model, of which 111 to 127 total were made depending on who you ask, delivered 500 hp (373 kW) at 7,000 rpm and was known as the Thunderbolt.

Racing in NHRA Super Stock class on 7 inch tires, the Thunderbolt set elapsed time and top speed records in 1964 at 11.6 seconds and 124 mph (200 km/h), took the Super Stock title, and won the Manufacturer's Cup; it is very possibly the fastest drag racing production car ever produced. The car as delivered was in fact slightly too light to meet the NHRA 3200 lb (1451 kg) minimum weight unless it was raced with a full tank of gasoline, which would bring it to 3203 lb (1453 kg). NHRA rules then required a metal front bumper, so the cars began to be supplied with an aluminium bumper and previous purchasers were supplied with one.

Finally the NHRA changed the rules to require 500 models of a car to be manufactured for Super Stock competition, and Ford, which had been losing $1500 to $2000 on each Thunderbolt sold at the sticker price of $3900, gave up. The first 11 Thunderbolts were painted maroon, the rest were white; 99 had manual transmissions. Many still race, still delivering quarter mile elapsed times in the very impressive 11 second range and occasionally lower. About 50 similar Mercury Comet Cyclones were also produced by Ford in 1964, destined to be modified to represent Ford in A/FX competition, which they dominated as well.

Arrival of the Torino

A full redesign took place in 1968. Mercury introduced a Montego version of the Fairlane in this model year. The wheelbase remained at 116 in but it grew in other dimensions. The two-door sedan was deleted. A fastback Sportsroof model was introduced, as well as a more powerful Torino line, designating the top Fairlanes. Therefore, there were also Torino sedans and a Torino Squire station wagon. The Ranch Wagon model name was deleted: Fairlane wagons had either the base or the 500 trim. The GTs were part of the Torino range, and no longer the Fairlane's, with a 302 in³ as standard, with optional engines being the 390 in³ and 427 in³ V8s. The latter was replaced by the Cobra Jet 428, developing 335 bhp. There was even a Super Cobra Jet. The Ranchero had a GT model, in addition to standard and 500 versions.

The Torino Cobra GT was introduced in 1969. Basic models featured the 302 in³ V8 and three-speed manual transmission as standard, but bucket seats—which had been standard—became optional. The 1969s tried to capture the spirit of the lightweight 1964s, as a basic car with a lot of power. Options included the 390 in³ and two 428 in³ V8s. The Cobras, meanwhile, had a standard 428 in³ V8 with 335 bhp, and options included bucket seats, hood scoop, clock, tachometer, power disc brakes and 4·30-to-1 gearing. "Regular" Fairlanes and Rancheros continued, all with bucket-seat options.

An even more powerful version, the Torino Talladega, was created to compete on the NASCAR Grand National speedways. Only 754 were built. Like the Plymouth Superbird, the Sportsroof-based Talledega got a sloped nose and flush grille. The 428 in³ V8 was standard, but mated to a C-6 Cruise-o-Matic automatic transmission.

The 1970s

Probably at the instigation of Ford president Bunkie Knudsen (who was fired by Henry Ford II in September 1969), the Fairlane grew again in 1970, now with a 117 in wheelbase. The largest engine was now a 429 in³ with four-barrel carburetor and 360 bhp, on the Torino Cobra. Different heads were optional and gave the Cobra 370 bhp and higher compression. Other options included the Cobra Jet Ram Air 429, though Ford quoted the same power output, and the Drag Pack rated at 375 bhp. However, the ’70s were slower than the ’69s, and race teams were forced to run the older models.

Falcons appeared for 1970½ (on January 1, 1970) as a low-spec version of the Fairlane in this generation, making them intermediates and not compacts. These are relatively rare, Ford having produced only 26,000 examples of all 1970½ Falcon types.

The Fairlane two-door sedan returned for a single year, while the Ranchero gained a Squire trim level.

As the muscle-car era drew to a close, the 1971 Fairlane engines were downgraded. Engines now began with a 250 in³ six, with 302 in³, 350 in³ and 429 in³ V8 options. However, the Boss 429, the most powerful (375 bhp) engine, was no longer available. It was the last year of the Cobra and the convertibles.

The Falcon and Fairlane 500 were replaced by the Torino, as the higher range began to absorb the lower ones. The base Torino became the Torino 500 for 1971, while the Ranchero 500 was replaced by the Ranchero Custom. Consequently, no Fairlanes were offered in the US in and after 1971, even though the Torinos that year had all been derived from the 1970 Fairlane.

The Torino became a new line for 1972, independent of the Fairlane.

After this, the Fairlane name was used only on luxury, long-wheelbase versions of the Australian Ford Falcon (v.s.).

2008 Ford Fairlane

According to Motor Trend in October 2005, the new Ford Fairlane will be a five-door Station Wagon resembling earlier models. See: http://www.motortrend.com/autoshows/coverage/112_05_detas_fairlane/index.html

External links

A 1970½ Ford Falcon