1960 Ford Fairlane - Jon G. Robinson, Road Scholar

40
CARS & PARTS
Built-for-People
Comfort
After decades of waning, the 1960 Ford
Fairlane’s half-moons are finally waxing.
By Jon G. Robinson / Photos by Al Rogers
CARS & PARTS
41
As the owner says, “flow” is the key word for the 1960 Ford’s design.
For five decades, Richard Radcliffe, of Livonia, Michigan, cared for a 1960
Ford Fairlane two-door sedan when no one else did. As recently as 12 years
ago, a car show organizer begged Radcliffe not to bring his Ford to the
show because it was “ugly.”
Galaxie line had large, bright-metal
panels behind the rear wheels and a
spear that reached forward of the rear
wheels. They had a bright appliqué
in the concave panel between the
taillights. Galaxie four-door hardtops
Today, his two-door sedan is a nearly – starting at the top and removing had wide, bright moldings on the sail
perfect, unrestored, one-owner original trim to create the simplified form he panels and thin, bright strips reaching
prefers – the fancy model comes first. forward over the roof from the outer
with just over 20,000 miles on it.
Radcliffe was born in 1930, and, In the Galaxie lineup, the Starliner edges of the rear window. Sedans had
while he remembers cars of the 1950s two-door hardtop and the Sunliner bright-metal exterior window moldings.
pleasantly, he sees the 1960 Ford as a convertible were Galaxie Specials. The Galaxies had full wheel covers and a
rebuke of late-’50s stylistic excesses.
“The key word is ‘flow,’” Radcliffe
says. “The 1960 Ford flows from
top to bottom and front to back. I
think the half-moon taillights are just
fantastic the way they blend into the
car. There’s nothing about that car I
don’t like. Some people might think of
the flat fins as excesses, but when you
compare it to a Buick or something
from the late-’50s, the Ford is really
very smooth. On some of those other
cars, the more trim you remove, the
better they look.”
Full-size Fords came in three models
for 1960: the high-trim Galaxie, the
medium-level Fairlane 500, and the The 223ci overhead-valve six-cylinder was the base engine for the 1960 Fairlane, but, in
spite of the owner’s efforts to get the cheapest car he could, this one did leave the factory
economy-line Fairlane.
Approaching Ford the Radcliffe way with a 292ci V-8.
42
CARS & PARTS
The wraparound windshield was an innovation of the 1950s. The
1957-59 Ford windshield wrapped so far around the sides of the
car that it crowded the front door openings. People called that
intrusion the “dog leg.” In 1960, Ford emphasized “built-for-people The dealer was desperate to sell one more 1960 Ford in February of
comfort,” and Ford’s TV commercials specifically pointed out the 1961, so he let Radcliffe add accessories at half-price, including
elimination of the dog leg.
the radio.
decorative Ford crest in the middle of
the hood’s leading edge.
To create the Fairlane 500, remove
the large bright panels and spears
from the rear fenders, and leave only
five flying-V ornaments on each side,
just forward of the taillights. Remove
the appliqué from the back of the
car, and leave a chrome “500” on the
gas cap door in the middle under the
large “Fairlane” block letters on the
trunk lid above. Remove the full wheel
covers, and leave only small hubcaps.
Remove the carpeting, and leave a
rubber floor mat that’s color-keyed to
the exterior of the car.
To strip down the rest of the way
to the Fairlane, remove the five flyingVs from each side, and remove the
bright metal from the outside window
frames. Remove the “500” from the
gas cap door, and leave only a blocklettered “Ford” on the trunk lid. The
color-keyed floor mat disappears, and
a black floor mat remains. Four plain,
block letters replace the Ford crest on
the front of the hood.
Ford thought of these cars the same
way Radcliffe does. The commercial
for the Galaxie series is lavish. A
comet streaks past an observatory
telescope, and three Fords appear in
a grassy field – a new-for-’60 Falcon,
a square Thunderbird, and a gleaming,
white Galaxie four-door hardtop. Men
in tuxedoes and women in ball gowns
mill around the cars in awe of the
Galaxie’s splendor.
On the other hand, a commercial
for the Falcon and Fairlane series
introduces the two as the “Economy
Twins.” The cars are in the driveways
of two small, suburban houses.
While the Galaxie commercial
portrays an elegant ball, the Economy
Twins commercial starts with Charlie
Brown and Lucy from Peanuts flying
a kite. The Galaxie commercial sells
CARS & PARTS
43
From 1952-’64, Ford’s big, round taillights stood right out, but Ford
deviated from this theme in 1958 and 1960. Radcliffe believes
In spite of being Ford’s lowest-priced full-size offering, the Fairlane this is why collectors have less desire for those cars today.
does have a few nice touches. (The red and black overspray you Unlike most buyers at the time, Radcliffe specifically liked the
see at the bottom of these doors is the result of the dealership’s half-moon taillights. The dealer, Al Long, allowed Radcliffe to add
accessories for half-price.
rust-proofing package.)
Naturally, the Fairlane originally came with small hubcaps, but
Radcliffe saw a set of Galaxie wheel covers in a junkyard in the One of the extra-special accessories on Radcliffe’s Ford is the
early 1960s and liked them. He paid $3 for the wheel covers and a spotlight mirror. This was one of the accessories the dealer let
set of rear-seat arm rests and added them to his car.
Radcliffe add for half-price.
a dream to people with luxurious
aspirations, but the Fairlane ads sell a
car to families.
Radcliffe had been an elementary
school teacher in the 1950s. He became
a salesman in 1960, and his first
company car was a 1960 Ford Fairlane
500. He liked the car so much that he
decided he wanted one of his own, and
he wanted a manual transmission with
overdrive. He did not want an automatic
transmission, power steering, or power
brakes specifically because he did
not want more potential trouble in the
future. The base engine for the Fairlane
was the 223ci, overhead-valve six, but
Radcliffe’s Ford left the factory with a
292ci V-8.
“I bought it in February of 1961,”
Radcliffe remembers. “I really wanted
overdrive. Years earlier, I had a used
’50 Hudson. It looked terrible, but
that car ran like a watch with its
overdrive, and I loved it. It’s just a
44
CARS & PARTS
With only 20,000 miles on it, the Radcliffe’s Ford is one of those time-capsule gems we all
hope to discover. It’s one of the “newest” 50-year-old cars on the road.
three-speed transmission with no
overdrive, and I almost walked away
from this car because of that, but I
loved the Meadowvale Green color.
The dealership needed to sell one car
by the end of the month to get their
full rebate for the 1960 model year.
So, I helped them out, and they let me
Richard Radcliffe bought this 1960 Ford Fairlane brand-new at Al
Long Ford in Detroit. By 1965, the Ford only had 800 miles on it. It
has just over 20,000 miles on it today.
add a radio, Rustoleum underneath, a
spotlight mirror, hood ornament, front
and rear bumper guards, and backup
lights at half price.”
Radcliffe took the car home for
$1,819.40, which was $300 less than
the lowest priced, full-size 1960 Ford
during the model year.
In the early ’60s, Radcliffe removed
the interior and painted everything
with Rustoleum. He did the same
in the trunk. He also added Texaco
The hood ornament is one of the accessories the dealer added at
half-price.
rustproofing to the underside of the
car. His Ford is super-protected from
the elements.
In 1965, when Radcliffe went back
to teaching, the Ford only had 800
miles on it. Radcliffe began treating
the Ford as a collector car when it was
only five years old.
“I’ve driven it to Florida, to central
Illinois three times, and to Chicago,”
Radcliffe tells. “It now has about
20,000 miles on it, and I attribute
about half those miles to long trips. It
drives like a new car.”
The car was anonymous for many
years, but finally, the half-moons seem
to be rising.
“I’ve actually had people at car
shows ask me what kind of car it is,
even though it says Ford right on it. It’s
gotten more compliments in the last
three years than it did in the previous
46 years. The 1960 Ford is finally
coming into its own.”
n
CARS & PARTS
45