Named after Henry Ford’s Dearborn estate, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Fairlane wagon is a model of car that once dominated suburbia. Now, much rarer, we’ll have to see how domineering its price appears.
In the 1970s, British Leyland was the automotive equivalent of public housing, with disparate marques and models thrown together and told to get along. The 1980 Triumph TR8 we looked at yesterday was one of the results of such an upbringing, and while age and what appears to be some careful curation ensured our candidate TR8 was not without its charms, those charms didn’t extend to its $13,500 asking price. That failed to find favor amongst most of you, managing to muster nothing better than a 57 percent No Dice loss.
Speaking of public housing, here in the U.S., many were the result of the Housing Act of 1949. That was a piece of legislation signed into law by then president Harry S. Truman, the intent of which was to address the housing crisis afflicting the nation following the twin whammies of the Great Depression and WWII.
The boom in construction engendered by the Housing Act extended outside of cities as well, creating what we know today as the vast suburban sprawl that encircles most major metropolitan enclaves. Those suburbs, in turn, gave rise in popularity for a particular style of automobile: the station wagon.
This 1966 Ford Fairlane 500 is the suburban station wagon in nearly its peak form. I say nearly because it is missing one crucial element: a fold-in-the-floor third-row set of seats.
Besides that besmirchment, it’s got the goods. According to the ad, it features factory power steering and brakes, optional A/C, and a two-barrel 289 Challenger V8 under the hood. That Windsor mill made a factory-claimed 200 (gross) horsepower and is paired with a standard Cruise-O-Matic three-speed automatic transmission.
Other plusses include the clever “Magic Doorgate” in the back, which allows for load area access by either folding or swinging, along with a set of handsome Styled Steel wheels wrapped in new Cooper tires.
Per the ad, everything works as it should, save for the A/C, which, being old-school, would likely need to be replaced and updated anyway. The car has an older respray in metallic gold, and that looks to be, at best, a 10-foot job. The seller helpfully points out in the ad the areas where the paint is popping, or prep work for the shoot wasn’t properly done. Those aesthetic issues should probably be tackled eventually, but overall, the car appears solid and not in need of anything immediate.
Things are better in the capacious cabin. The upholstery is not original, but the velour and vinyl seat covers are clean and tidy and do the job of matching the color of the door cards. Carpet and period-correct rubber floor mats adorn the footwells.
It appears that the car’s original exterior color was cream-white, as evidenced by the dashboard and well in the back. The current gold color is a bit more appealing, but should a new owner wish to fix the paint, there’s always the option to return to that factory hue. Nicely, the car still wears its black and gold California license plates, which only add to its throw-back appeal.
The ad notes that the odometer has rolled over and now reads 100,819 miles. That’s not too bad, and neither is the clean title, which means this Fairlane should be fairly easy to re-register in a new owner’s name. To do so, however, there’s the small matter of the car’s $17,950 asking price.
What do you think about this former suburban stalwart asking that much cash? Does that seem fair, given the car’s condition and appeal? Or is that too much to turn back the clock?
You decide!
Seattle, Washington, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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