The Ford Fairlane’s hit the scene in 1955 replacing the Crest Line as a full-size sedan. It came in 6 distinct body styles, but all had the trademark Fairlane stripe down the side.
1957 introduced some new designs that helped Ford surpass Chevrolet in sales for the first time since 1935. Also released was the trim level ‘Fairlane 500’. And hallway through ‘59 the Galaxie trim level is added as a top-level model.
The Galaxie name now represents all of Ford’s full-size models. In ’62 Fairlane model represents a new market segment the intermediate size car with ‘Fairlane 500’ remaining the top-level trim.
the ‘Thunderbolt’ was introduced in 1963, with only 100 cars ever made, especially for the dragstrip (Click this link to learn more)
In 1966, Ford reintroduced a wagon model of the Fairlane and a special R-Code car.
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‘67 saw the new the ‘Ranchero’. Body shape & appearance varied significantly for both these models, but they were all the same cars.
In ’68 for the 6th generation, Ford adds several trims to the Fairlane lineup, the ‘Torino’ and a new fastback model for the ‘Fairlane 500’ series.
1969 brought us the famous ‘Torino Cobra’ which was specifically meant to compete with the Plymouth Road Runner’.
In 1970, Ford made the Torino the top model and Fairlane became the sub-series.
With no less than 13 different models to choose from these were
‘Fairlane 500’ as the base model and moving up with Torino, and Torino Brougham.
Torino Brougham
Torino Brougham models came standard with extra exterior and interior trim, finer upholsteries, wheel covers, unique emblems, extra sound insulation, and “Hideaway” headlights. “Hideaway” headlights had headlight covers that were styled to look like the grille of the vehicle extended across the front end. When the lights were turned on, vacuum actuators would flip the covers up and out of the way to expose the quad headlamps.
Motor Trend wrote “when you get into a Brougham, it’s the same feeling as an LTD, or even, dare we say it, a Continental. But on a more manageable scale
The two sportier versions, are the Torino GT and Torino Cobra.
Torino GT
New options for the Torino GT were a reflective laser stripe, which ran down the middle of the side of the Torino from the front fender to the door, and Hideaway headlamps.
Motor Trend magazine tested a 1970 Torino GT SportsRoof with a 429 CJ, C-6 Automatic, and 3.50:1 gears, and obtained a 0 – 60 mph (97 km/h) time of 6.0 seconds, while the quarter-mile took 14.4 seconds at 100.2 mph (161.3 km/h
Halfway through 1970, the ‘Falcon’ name was introduced for this body style, which is unrelated to the original Ford Falcon car.
In ‘71, the ‘Fairlane 500’ and Falcon names were dropped by Ford, and all intermediate-size cars were now ‘Torinos’.
The Torino was made until 1976 when the name was retired and has not returned.
