FREEBIE FAIRLANE

In summer of ‘22, my parents and I went to South Texas for a family memorial. While we were there, my great uncle over dinner one night told me he had this car that had been sitting for a while and is just taking up space. He said that he would like for me and my dad to have it since we like old Fords and maybe I could sell it or something for money for college/trade school. At this time, I had no clue what this car was. He proceeded to tell me about the car and show me pictures. I could not believe my eyes. A 1964 Ford Fairlane 500 could potentially be mine. We talked and I got to see it in person while we were down there and a few weeks later it followed us home. The craziest part about the 1964 Ford Fairlane is that a few weeks prior from all this going down, I had just graduated high school and told my dad I’d like to get another project to build up. A 1964 Ford Fairlane/Galaxie was top of my list. Who knew a few weeks later I would get one for free and the car would stay in my family. And to answer the question people may be wondering, no I’m not going to sell it for school and no I never will sell this car. I have loved the Fairlane ever since I knew what a hot wheel was.

My Fairlane isn’t super close to being done but is most definitely on the downhill part. When I got the car it ran and drove, but not great. It had some brake issues as well as some severe front frame rail damage due to an exploded battery decades ago.

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The car sat for about a year till I could start on it due to other projects in the way. While it sat, I built a mild roller 302 for it, collected some car parts, acquired an AOD transmission and a few other parts here and there.

The car originally had a 260ci and was 3 on the tree. As of right now I have the entire front clip taken off and about to get ready to repair the front frame rail and do some engine bay work.

So far, I have undercoated a lot of the car, completely rebuilt the 8” rear end; I switched from a 3.00 open differential ratio to a 3.80 true Posi-trac. My goal for my Fairlane is to build it how a fella in the late 60s would have built a ‘64 Fairlane.

The AOD is the only “modern” touch this car will have besides a roller block 302 and my reason for the AOD is 1. I got It for a great deal and can’t turn down a good deal and 2. I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and would like to daily drive this car at some point. After all the metal work is done, I plan to repaint the car Wimbledon white with a black stripe inside the chrome trim on the side and add fiberglass bumpers and a classic teardrop hood.

The wheel and tire combo on the car is probably my favorite part about the car right now. I have 27” by 8.00 or so Radir cheater slicks on the factory 14x6, FoMoCo stamped steel wheels and ET Wheel 15x4 front runners on BFGoodrich Silvertown’s. If I want this car to look like someone built it in the 60s, then the tires need to match too. I still have a lot of work to do to this car but I signed it up for Gathering At the Roc this October so that is my hard set deadline.