57?? Ford Fairlane 500

ThunderDave

Registered User
Sorry for the poor picture quality. Night time on a camera phone. :rolleyes:
Anyway, I spotted this at one of the malls we clean in Raleigh. Anyone have one of these before? Looks like it would be a smooth riding tank on the highway.
 

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That's a '57. My uncle had a new one with a 6 cylinder and 3 on the tree when I was young. It was a great (if not powerful) car.

Jon
 
Definatley a 57. My dad bought a new one in 57 with the police interceptor engine [ I believe it was a 352 CI] he raced my uncles 57 Nomad with the FI engine and beat him. I still remember that car. At the time dad worked at the Norwood Ohio Chevrolet assembly plant. He always said he would never buy a Chevy cause he saw how they were built. He was a Ford guy till the day he died.Guess that is where I got it from.
 
Actually, the 352 debuted in 58 in the Edsel and T-Bird; the best engine in 57 was the F-code 312 Y-block with the Paxton supercharger, although it was super-rare. The E-code dual quad 312 and D-code 4-bbl 312 were much more common.

The 57 Ford is a good car. One of my co-workers has a 57 Ranch Wagon (Ford's version of the Nomad) and it's just an awesome old wagon. It's got a 312 with a 3-2 intake setup and an AOD transmission, front discs, all sorts of good stuff. True story: we put that car on my racing wheel scales and the wagon balanced out with better weight distribution (50.1/49.9 F/R, no lie) than his track-only Porsche 944. But with that said, it's not much of a handler, just a great cruiser.

I have a 57 Thunderbird, and although that car shares some body components with the 57 Ford passenger car, its suspension is actually based on the 54-56 Ford passenger car. In 57 the Ford got a complete suspension redesign that's much better than the 54-56/Thunderbird garbage. Go to www.ndgearheadscruiserproducts.com to find some neat suspension products for Fords of that era. Personally, I prefer the smaller, less expensive 300 series to the 500, but they're both good Fords.

Any specific questions about them?
 
Oh, and 57 was the first year for the 9-inch rearend. It's a 28-spline small bearing 9-inch, but it's still a really strong rear axle. We just put Wilwood four-piston calipers and 12-inch rotors on my 57 Bird's rear axle--sweet.
 
I believe the 58 Edsels had the 361 variant plus the big 430. My dad had a 58 Edsel Ranger with the 361. Isn't the 361 a slight variant of the old 352?
 
I'm learning about FE engines now, as I recently bought a 62 TBird and had to replace the engine. It's got the 9.6:1 390, but I think the 427 lb-ft of torque listed on that Wikipedia page is a bit optimistic, even if it is a gross rating.
 
We can't necessarily trust the Wiki info as it may not all be accurate but it does give a nice overview of the FEs.

Very nice with the 62 TBird. I'm a TBird guy through and through. My dad had a 64 Landau with the 390, then a 70 hardtop with the 429. I got the 70 until I foolishly let it go in 1989. Now I have a 93 SC 5-speed that I'm keeping! Also, I'm looking to get one of the older ones again. My favorites are 60, 66, 70, and 71. I'm actively looking.
 
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The only thing that I can say is the distributor was in the front of my old mans car and the Y block cars had the distributor in the rear at the fire wall. I have owned a 312 transplanted in a pickup truck and the distibutor was in the rear [like a Chevy]. Remember that he special orderd the car with a police package it may have been extra special. I have owned a 58 wagon with a 352 2 barrel so its not much of a stretch.
 
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