The Fairlane Story
The Fairlane drew it's name from Henry Ford's mansion near Dearborn, MI.
Introduced in 1955 as the luxury version of the full size Ford, the name was
also used on the retractable roof Skyliner models. Then Ford introduced a new mid-size car for the 1962 model year and
Fairlane became more than a version of the big car; it now was a whole
new model line of car. Sixteen inches longer than a Falcon and 400 pounds
heavier, no sheet metal inside or out matched that of the Falcon. Also new was an optional 221 cubic inch V-8 engine, which used a thin-wall
casting technique to produce the lightest complete V-8 engine of the time.
Horsepower was upped from 143 to 164 with the new 260 cid V-8 in the 1962 1/2 Fairlane 500 Sports Coupe and just over 297,000 Fairlane 2 door and
4 door sedans and 2 door sport coupes were sold the first year.
In 1963 Ford added 3 wagons and a true hardtop coupe to the Fairlane lineup. In 1964 there were now 5 engine options, 170 cid and 200 cid sixes and a 260 cid
and 2 289 cid V-8's. The 64 models lost their fins and sales which had hit over
340,000 in 1963 dropped to under 270,000. Overall length and width were increased
in 1965 along with a total restyling, but sales continued to slip to under 225,000 units.
In 1966 the Fairlane was dramatically restyled, model choices expanded to 13 and the GT models with a 390 cid 335 HP V-8 were available in coupe and the
first Fairlane convertibles. Sales of all Fairlane models increased to over 315,000.
For 1967 only minor styling changes were made and sales declined to less than
240,000 units.
!968 saw another styling change to the Fairlane line and the introduction of the
name Fairlane Torino which carried through to 1969. By 1970 the Fairlane was
just a base model of the intermediate line and was identical to the 1970 1/2
Falcon which likewise was at an end.
During it's 9 model years life the Fairlane sold over 2.6 million units and achieved
a performance image from it's small block hi-po 289 engines, it's 390 and 428
big blocks and of course from the 427 Thunderbolt drag racer. Referred to by some as "the forgotten Fords" the Fairlanes are revered by many
enthusiasts today.
Ken Grahame 2000
