Power Wagon: 1981 Ford Fairmont EV Wagon
Those of you who are unfortunate enough to know me either personally or online, know that a car like this 1981 Ford Fairmont EV wagon really turns my crank, even though this one doesn’t have a crank. Or an engine. Or a gas tank, or a fuel pump, etc. Yes, it’s battery-powered. It can be found here on craigslist in beautiful Eugene, Oregon, which is consistently named one of the best places to live in America year after year. The seller is asking what seems like a very reasonable $5,000. Thanks to Wyatt M-K for sending in this great tip!
IT’S ELECTRIC! As far as a 1981 Ford Fairmont wagon goes on its own right, this car looks like it’s in great condition, not even taking into account that it came from the factory with no engine. At least this Fairmont is a wagon and it looks clean as heck, unlike this Fairmont EV sedan that we saw here on Barn Finds a little over a year ago. $1,000,000 or $5,000? (doing the scales-of-justice motion with my hands)
The seller doesn’t give us much to look at as far as showing a wide variety of photos. That’s not really surprising anymore but it’s always disappointing. One good and bad thing about the internet, things show up, sometimes forever, and this car showed up in a couple of other stories and they included photos. Such as a front seat photo showing the 4-speed manual stick shift (cool), and also a back seat photo. In a story about this car online, an owner of this car said that the charger seen in the back seat doesn’t belong there. The seller says that you just plug it into a 110 outlet and let it do its business automatically.
I believe that this Fairmont wagon EV would have been made by Electric Vehicle Associates, Inc. (EVA) out of Cleveland, Ohio. The seller says that 40 of them were made and I have only seen one other battery-powered Fairmont wagon, other than this one which is shown on the internet in a few spots. These cars came as a “glider” with no engine and companies such as EVA took over and added their magic touch, which included 22 six-volt batteries, according to one source, and the related controllers. Some of them had regenerative braking which is pretty advanced for 1981. I don’t know if this example has that feature or not.
The seller says that the batteries are new and they look like Duracells which are just under $100 each so that’s a good percentage of the asking price right there. The tires are also new and they say that the chargers are new. I believe that this car would normally have had a 2.3L inline-four from the factory as they were available with a 4-speed manual. EV conversions don’t usually get too many positive comments but this one looks like a winner to me. Good buy or good-bye?
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Comments
This over the Mustang Mach-E change my mind
This is a fox body mustang with a wagon on the back. So you practically got your wish.
Even at $60,000 +, I’ll take a Mach E, thank you. I bet this one has a top speed around 50 mph and 50 or 60 miles of range, tops. A Mustang Mach E GT sounds like a hoot with 0-60 in the 3-second range. Add in ~250 miles of range and a purpose-built electric chassis, and you get a car rather than a college engineering project.
Ok you changed my mind
I dunno. I learned to drive on a Fairmont, 2.3L, 4-speed. It was pretty freaking awful. Sure the Mach-E is not going to win any prizes, but it’s gotta be better than the Fairmont. It didn’t even have a clock.
+1
Me too.
Aaaaa no thanks, all that battery in the back cargo area, not to mention the gassing of all those lead acid batteries. Looking like a terrible accident waiting to happen. Save the world and new owner. Recycle it.
Just like radio technology has changed (now called infotainment), so has EV tech.
Its one thing to have a 36 volt E-Z-GO on the golf course; its another to have triple that amount on a two lane with distracted drivers.
It’s neat to see what was, but how safe and practical today?
I think this is best served as a 5.0 or turbo transplant. The manual setup is already there. Those batteries will go to good use in the aforementioned golf carts.
Deep cycle batteries are good for trolling motors. Is there enough Fairmont left here to convert it to Windsor power? The Pinto four cylinder used in these was a 2.3 liter.
Arrrgh! Good catch, CJinSD, sorry about that typo. Thanks for catching that!
How hard would it be to convert it back to gas? Clean Fairmonts are getting hard to find.
The company that made this or in part may have been in charge of the Change of Pace AMC Electric AMC Pacer. Not sure and haven’t looked it up. This is a fantastic chance to jump in on the electric vehicle band wagon. The Fairmont wagon makes it nice as a multi use vehicle. A cars and coffee cruiser to getting groceries to building material.
One thing is clear. With battery tech changing going forward there will be many opportunities to upgrade this car with lighter higher power batteries. Everyone hating now will change their mind when gas gets $4-$5 a gal when everyone has Jeeps and pickups would appreciate something like this. I certainly wouldn’t rule it out.
AMCFAN has some interesting thoughts. The car is a wonderful idea, and
with advanced technology could turn into a real winner.
Interesting concept idea. Bad idea for the battery’s to be in the rear cargo area all open. This is one of the reasons I got rid of my 2 – C3 Corvette’s. I didn’t like the idea of the 12 v battery sitting behind the drivers seat only covered by a material covered piece of cardboard. often I could detect the fumes from the battery. might be different now with gel batteries. My Corvette now has the battery where it belongs…..under the hood!
One purpose of having a wagon is to be able to haul things, not a permanent location for batteries, which probably necessitated beefing up the rear suspension to handle this load. I had an ’80 Fairmont wagon gold with the vinyl wood trim in the early 80’s until we got our first Dodge Minivan in ’86. As we were starting to build our family, the Fairmont was a great car. Once we hit 2 kids, our family started out growing it. It was the only wagon we ever had as we got into the minivan line with a 85 Dodge shorty, then adding a ’97 Grand Caravan, ’96 Windstar, ’07 Oddessy and now a ’19 Oddessy, The minivans were great haulers for our 5 kids and great hand me down cars to the kids as they started driving.
CJ – wasn’t this a 4 motor model – i4, i6, v6 & v8? Or may B that was the nxt fox gen, #2 (1st ’75 granada, this 2nd tru to 3rd ’83/6 LTD/Marquis & onto last SN-95 stang ’04)? I seek a wagon anywhere in there (well ’75 – ’86). Can’t see the ‘way back’ but if no room have the drive train for it.
Boy would I get a charge out of this thing. In fact, I’m all amped up about it.
AMCFAN speaks the truth when he tells
you that electric cars are getting better
every year. Newer smaller lithium ion
battery designs will make it possible to
move all those batteries under the hood
where they belong. Faster charging stations will shorten charging time to
about a fraction of what it is today. In
fact, I don’t think it’ll be the least bit
shocking to see more of them on our roads in the next decade.
I swear, whoever designed this car would have made the wheels square if they could ….This makes a 240 Volvo look aerodynamic
When these came out they were ugly and with time they are FUGLY!
I live in quebec, canada and we cannot get a license for a modified car and this is modified so it cannot be used on our streets/roads , not that i would want to …
Clean Fairmont wagons are getting hard to find. But $5K for a rust free roller may be be too unreasonable. Throw all the battery crap and electric motors away and you’d have a nice basis for a street machine.
I dunno. I learned to drive on a Fairmont, 2.3L, 4-speed. It was pretty freaking awful. Sure the Mach-E is not going to win any prizes, but it’s gotta be better than the Fairmont. It didn’t even have a clock.