Ford Fairlane 500 Hardtop Coupe 1964Coordinates 47.6465496,-122.3237652
Picture dated
The Fairlane was produced by the Ford motor company from 1955 to 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 Fairlane name replaced the Crestline as Ford's premier full-sized 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, the Victoria coupe, and traditional sedans.
For 1957, a new style gave a longer, wider, lower, and sleeker look with low tailfins. A new top trim level was reversed, the Fairlane 500. 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. Another facelift for 1958 had fashionable quad headlights, a grille that matched the 1958 Thunderbird, and other styling changes. A new top-level full-sized model was introduced at mid-year 1959, the Ford Galaxie. The 1959 Galaxie displayed both "Fairlane 500" and "Galaxie" badging.
Full-sized Fairlane and Fairlane 500 models were redesigned for 1960 and again for the 1961 The Galaxie series continued as the top-of-the-line full-sized Ford. Fairlane 500s were mid-level in the lineup and base level Fairlanes were primarily sold for fleet use (taxi, police).
In 1962 the Fairlane name was moved to Ford's new intermediate sized model, to bridge the gap between the compact Ford Falcon and the full-sized Galaxie. With an overall length of 197in and a wheelbase of 115.5in, it was 16 in longer than the Falcon and 12.3in shorter than the Galaxie. All 1962 Fairlanes had "B" posts despite the popularity of the pillarless hardtop and convertible styles in that era.
In 1963 Ford introduced two pillarless hardtop coupes in Fairlane 500 and Sports Coupe trim. The 1964 and 1965 Fairlane ranges consisted of similar body styles: base Fairlane and Fairlane 500 two-door coupes and four-door sedans, and Fairlane 500 and Sports Coupe two-door hardtops. The Fairlane Squire wagon was dropped, but the standard station wagon was continued.
The Fairlane was revised in 1966. The appearance was changed to match the full-sized Galaxie, which had been restyled in the 1965 model year. The front end featured vertically stacked dual headlights. Minor trim changes were introduced for 1967 as the Fairlane was mildly facelifted.
For its final years, a redesign happened in 1968. A fastback Sportsroof model was introduced in the Fairlane 500 series, as well as a more luxurious Torino model at the top of the intermediate range. At the start of 1970, only the Fairlane 500 remained as the base trim model in what was now effectively the Torino series.
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