Running V8: 1960 Ford Fairlane 500 Club Sedan
This 1960 Fairlane Club Sedan is a running, driving project that is ready for someone to take on and return it to the road. You will find it listed for sale here on Craigslist. The Fairlane is located in Greensboro, North Carolina, and is being offered for sale with a clean title. The owner has set a sale price of $7,500 for this Ford.
The seller states that this Fairlane has rust “in the usual places.” Given how clean the outside of the car appears to be, we can only assume that there must be rust in the floors somewhere. It would be nice to know whether this is right, and if so, how extensive it is. Externally, the car presents quite well. There is a chrome trim missing off the driver’s door, but the paint looks consistent, and there is no rust visible around the windows, or in any of the lower sections of the body.
The interior looks pretty good, and it could be used exactly as it is. The chrome trim strips on the door trims are starting to peal, and the vinyl on the bottom corners has pulled back a bit, but fixing this should be pretty easy. The upholstery on the seats looks really good, and the carpet looks like it will respond well to a clean.
Under the hood is a 292ci V8. This is hooked to a 3-speed manual transmission. The car runs and drives, although the seller does say that it needs brakes. The seller only indicates that he has fitted a new water pump, but I can also see fresh rubber fuel lines and a fuel filter, and it also looks like the carburetor may have had some tinkering as well.
Looking around at what’s in the market at present shows that there are a number of project-grade Fairlane Club Sedans available in this car’s price range. Where this one stands out from those cars is that not only are they not quite as clean as this one, but the majority have pretty ratty interiors, and all of them have 6-cylinder engines. If you look at what this car is currently competing with, then it looks like it’s a pretty competitive proposition.
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Comments
Saw a black/red interior one of these parked near my work @2007 and thought little of it. Until I saw the 406 emblems. Parked and knocked on the door of the house it was in front of. The nice lady told me her daughter just bought it off craigslist that morning $3000. She said another guy showed up while her daughter was looking at it and immediately offered more money($5000). The seller said she got there first (nice guy) and took the lesser amount. Well, she let me look at it closer 260?(it was a small block)v8/auto with 9inch in back. Looked original but I couldn’t tell for sure. The 406 emblems had me confused. I told her if it was a converted 406 car it was worth more then she paid for it. Mom was excited to hear this.
Must have been real 406 car because I never saw it again. Did any of these really come with 406’s? Was 406 an appearance package? Anyone?
cold340t – my memory says “yes” (see my other comment). Wiki, which as we all know is not 100% accurate would have us believe that ’62 is the first year for 406’s. By their list, 60 biggest 352, 61= 390, 62= 406, 63= 427. All FEs. I don’t remember fender emblems (Wings with the engine size in the middle) on 352s, but they sure were on the others. Yes, I am a mostly Ford guy and followed all this stuff during my youth (religiously). The other answer to what you saw may be the previous owner bought the “Wings” and put them on for “show”. You’d sure never fool anyone with a small blocks sound vs a big block…
I thought the 401 was in there in ’60 and ’61.
bog, you are correct. No 406 in ’60. “61 had a hi-po 390 which was replaced by the 406 in ’62. THEN Ford became King of the HIll in ’63 and later with the lion-hearted 427 ci.
Biggest engine Ford offered in 1960 was a 352 FE block. The 406 was first offered in 1962.
Look familiar????
Isn’t that a Canadian Ford (forgot the name)?
Look familiar????
I know, the 1960 Edsel kind of looks like that year Ford with a 64 Imperial grille on the front.
One of the few full-sized cars of that era I like. Matter of my taste and vehicles’ styling. With time,space, and $$$ would be tempted to swap-out tired 292/three speed for period correct 406 Tri-power w/4speed and correct rearend. AND upgrades to brakes/suspension. Maybe baby Moons, “maybe”….
Cool….think we could stillrun some shine with this cutie………
Upgrade the suspension and brakes, make sure all rubber and fuel lines are new, and then bolt this in…
https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-9000-PMCM
“Super” – that’s a nice package… Too modern for my taste though. Would still rather have an FE and fool around with that. Note: I’ve owned both a brand new ’67 Fairlane GTA (390 FE), and traded that in on a BOSS 351 I ordered (yep, ticked all the boxes, or not, as one could then) even chose the day of week I wanted it built. That GTA got to haul me (and a$$) all over Europe for more than 2 years. Not as much fun driving in Alps as on Autobahn and Autostrada, believe me ! Glad it had front discs !!!
Ding ding ding! We have a winner for “Worst idea I’ve heard all day”!
The Sunliner is gorgeous, but I am a notchback fan and this galaxie has lots of its own charm.
Fairlane, not Galaxie.
My Dad drove one of these, same engine/tranny config. It was a sleeper, had lots of get up and go but was about the tinniest pos that Ford ever put on the road. His had a factory ‘hang on’ a/c that could have been used to age beef, it was so cold.
292 and three on the tree? I’ll take it just the way it is, thank you very much. I had a ’61 Fairlane town sedan with the same combo, and it was fun to drive. Mine had only 35,000 original miles when I got it in 1981. It had an extra-thick clutch pedal pad because the left leg of the elderly lady who bought it new in Iowa was an inch or so shorter than her right.
This seller has some interesting iron for sale. Check out the Caddy Ambulance and Corvair truck
For being located in Greensboro, I’m surprised at the amount of surface rust on all their cars for sale. The ambulance appears to be a steal with everything working (and even a gumball, gurney, coffin and curtains) but HEAVY HEAVY pitted horizontal surfaces instead of paint. The Corvair Rampside and Stude didn’t fare much better.
Now we’re talking. This is what I call a practical car. Basic transportation with just a touch of umph, with the V8. I would buy this if I could.
PatrickM – I’m with you regarding that 401cu engine. Not mentioned AT ALL in Wikipedia…though I continue to find inaccuracies there. I’m old enough to remember all these models when new. A friend of mines’ Dad owned the local Ford dealership right down the block from us, and it was always fun to see the new cars come in every Fall. I’m going to check other sources later, but for now relying on memory only, is that FoMoCo had a 401, then a 405, then 406, then 410, then the 427 variants and the various “monsters” that went in T-Birds and Lincolns. 460’s and bigger ???