Ford Fairlane is First Produced

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 initially a full-size car but became a mid-size car from the 1962 model year. The mid-sized model spawned the Australian-built Fairlane in 1967, although it was considered a large car there.

For 1955, the Fairlane name replaced the Crestline as Ford's premier full-size offering. 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 CID (3.7 L) straight-6 engine and a 272 CID (4.5 L) V8.
1956 saw few changes; a 4-door Victoria hardtop was introduced, and two new, more powerful V8 options, of 292 CID (4.8 L) and 312 CID (5.1 L), the latter available up to 225 brake horsepower (168 kW).Lifeguard safety package was introduced.
See also: 1957 Ford
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 1957 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...

The Ford Fairlane was produced by the Ford motor company from 1955 through 1969. The original body design was the full sized Ford body which started out as a family vehicle and slowly evolved into many different available models and body styles. The exterior paint and trim options, seemed endless with elaborate cloth woven seat covers and a rainbow of paint combinations, you could virtually have any variety of Fairlane your heart desired. Variety was big in the early days which makes these cars somewhat more difficult to restore but all the more interesting to the collector.

From 1955 through 1959 the Fairlanes were big and bold. The 1957 introduced the very popular convertibles and retractables with folding tops into the trunk. These cars were available with a handful of engine options to include, the 223, 292, 332, and the powerful 352 Thunderbird V-8 with 300 horsepower.

1965 Fairlane Sports Coupe

From 1960 to 1962, the Fairlanes began to decrease in size and went from a very large car to a mid sized car. The 1962 introduced some new styles to the Fairlane and were available with one of the first small block V-8 engines Ford ever built. The original 221 billed as "the world's first economy eight" eventually evolved into the 260, then 289 which has been used extensively with numerous changes since inception. The 1962 Fairlane began the first Fairlane sports coupe which continued through 1965. These Fairlanes were bigger than a Falcon, yet smaller than a Galaxie and offered the best of both worlds, solid performance, with great economy. The 1964 Fairlane body was also used to build the "Thunderbolt" Fairlane stuffed with 427 high riser V-8 engine designed for the drag strip. Only 54 of these rare birds were produced and are legendary in the Ford racing history books.

1966 Fairlane GTA convertible

In 1966, the Fairlane again changed to a new body style, this time, getting larger again than previous 62/65 models. Although not a full size, these Fa...

Manufacturer Ford Motor Company
Production 1955-1971
Successor Ford Torino
Class Mid-size

Body style(s)
2-door coupe
2-door convertible
2-door sedan
4-door sedan
2-door station wagon (1964 only)[1]
4-door station wagon

Layout FR layout