how about a ford fairmont thread?

[Kruse]

I've got a '78 Mercury Zephyr Z7. (same thing as Fairmont)
Factory installed 302 with C4 tranny. Future plans call for a stroked 351W based engine or if I get into the 1/4 mile scene again, it may be with a 460. The Ford Motorsport catalog still lists the parts to do this swap and no cutting or pounding is required. Remember that this is the original Fox body and most Mustang parts interchange.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: javacontour


I think the cold start instructions were to pump twice and then start without touching the throttle to set the choke.


Oh yes! I remember the days of sweet talking the car and saying a little prayer to help achieve a cold start! Our 1979 Granada had it's share of carb issues, mainly when it was newer. It had a "test pipe" in place of the cat for many years and for some reason had a new cat put on much later on when my dad sold me the car around 1988.

 

[oilboy123]

Yes they would make a fun street project car......

 

[addyguy]

When I was growing up in one neighbourhood, we had good friends of the family that lived a few houses down. They had a maroon, 1978/1979 Mercury Zephyr wagon. Don't know what engine it had, but I think it was an I-6.

We used to spend a lot of time at their cottage, and I used to get driven there regularly in this car. I always thought it was a nice car, but it didn't feel as solid or powerful as my dad's 1978 Malibu wagon with a 305.

I moved away, and lost track of them for a while. Later on, I worked at a WM they shopped at, so I strted seeing them regularly. We got to talking about cars, as they had inherited an interesting car from one of their parents. I asked about the Zephyr, and they said, 'Oh, we just got rid of that a couple of years ago! It was a great car!' This was in about 1997; so they had had the car for over 15 years of daily driving!

When I moved away from the neighbourhood they lived in; in our new neighbourhood we had a family across the street that had a green, 1978 2-door Fairmont sedan. Soon after we moved in, the father put it up for sale. I asked him about it, and found out it was the first car they had bought after coming to Canada. This was in about 1987/1988, and the car was rusting out, and his family was growing, so he had no use for it.

It was dark green with an all-white interior, and had a 2.3-litre 4-speed powertrain with well over 200k miles on it. I remember him telling me the car had been fantastic, had never let him down in all the driving he did with it. He didn't really want to sell it, but he had no time or room to deal with it. He was hpoing some college/university kid would pick it up to get around in. I remember it sold very quickly - he was asking very little for it.

 

[oilboy123]

Fox body had no separate frame, the Malibu's did. Hence not feeling as solid.

 

[Footpounds]

My mom had a Fairmont and the thing I remember about that car was how you had to honk the horn. The horn was activated by pressing on a stalk like the turn indicator. In fact, it might have BEEN the turn indicator...I don't remember. But anyway, you had to push in this stalk to honk the horn. In the event of an emergency, your instinct is to push the middle of the steering wheel, not press some dainty stalk. I don't know what model year she had or if all Fairmonts were like this but I thought at the time that it was a dumb idea.

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: Footpounds
My mom had a Fairmont and the thing I remember about that car was how you had to honk the horn. The horn was activated by pressing on a stalk like the turn indicator. In fact, it might have BEEN the turn indicator...I don't remember. But anyway, you had to push in this stalk to honk the horn. In the event of an emergency, your instinct is to push the middle of the steering wheel, not press some dainty stalk. I don't know what model year she had or if all Fairmonts were like this but I thought at the time that it was a dumb idea.


I forgot about this! A lot of late 70-early 80s Fords were like this.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Footpounds
My mom had a Fairmont and the thing I remember about that car was how you had to honk the horn. The horn was activated by pressing on a stalk like the turn indicator. In fact, it might have BEEN the turn indicator...I don't remember. But anyway, you had to push in this stalk to honk the horn. In the event of an emergency, your instinct is to push the middle of the steering wheel, not press some dainty stalk. I don't know what model year she had or if all Fairmonts were like this but I thought at the time that it was a dumb idea.


Yup! I remember that. The little "fairmont family crest" thingy in the steering wheel would even pop off if you hit it angrily enough. I guess the multifunction switch setup saved them a "clockspring" or whatever tech preceded it.

Dad's car had another one of these crests between the gauges, where the PRNDL indicator would have gone had it been an automatic. Had a huge speedo on one side, I still recall every MPH marked with a little tick, of course 55 was in a circle, and it went up to 85. Other side was the same round hole but filled with goofy stuff like a clock that broke very early on (but would randomly come back to life), the gas gauge and some idiot lights.

 

[fdcg27]

Good friend of mine had a 2.3 liter 2 door automatic way back when.
They kept and used that car for quite a while.
I don't recall that it ever had any serious problems.
With the four cylinder, it was not fast, but it would eat my 240D alive and it was almost as economical in typical use.

 

[Jason2007]

They were great solid made cars for the time that were fuel efficent. Still see them on the road just about everyday.

 

[Oldswagon]

We had a '79 Fairmont wagon in the early 80's, it was a huge POS. The car was a 302 2bbl, so it had decent power - when it ran. Lots of carb problems, the engine leaked and burned oil and was completely shot in less than 100,000 miles. The car was always in the shop. The body was starting to go when it was about 6-7 years old when we sold it off and bought a GM fullsize wagon (which was a great car).

At the same time, some of my extended family members bought a '80 Zephyr wagon brand new, with the 200 six. It was more relaiable than our car, but the 200 was GUTLESS. Topped out at 140km/h (if there was no wind)! My cousin is a mechanic and kept it running until they sold it aroun 1997. Lots of little problems, but nothing major, but it had barely over 100K miles when sold. It stayed on the road for at least five more years as a solid beater though (we used to see it every now and then).

Another set of family members bought an '82 Cougar wagon around the mid-late 80's with a 3.8L V6. It was riddled with electrical problems and minor mechanical issues. It was constantly in the shop like our Fairmont. They traded on a 1st Gen Taurus wagon (which is a whole other story).

Nobody in our family had great luck with the Fox body cars, but I guess for the time they weren't bad. I also distinctly remember the horn on the turn signal stalk, nobody like that.

 

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: Footpounds
My mom had a Fairmont and the thing I remember about that car was how you had to honk the horn. The horn was activated by pressing on a stalk like the turn indicator.


LOL I had forgotten about that too! My school had a 1980 Fairmont as a drivers's ed car; the instructor went to great lengths to point out where the horn was (in case we needed to use it I suppose - OR to make sure we didn't use it by mistake!).

 

[addyguy]

I never knew/noticed that the Fairmont horn was on a turnstalk - that's not a bright idea to deal with in an emergency!

 

[PT1]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: CROWNVIC4LIFE
Originally Posted By: PT1
My first car was a red 1960 Ford Sunliner convertible...LOL how about a thread for that?


The 60 Ford Sunliner was one of the best looking cars ever...My dad a 60 Ford Fairlane 500 and it was the best car ever...No issues what so ever...I think it had the 302 engine in it.


My dad's first car was a Fairlane as well with the I6. Thing was apparently invincible. Him and his brother abused that car to no end but were never able to kill it.


I had a 1966 Fairlane 500XL Convertible with a 300HP 289 Shelby engine, Hurst 4speed trans, Cragar mags, candy apple red w/black interior. What a car. Very fast and definitely a chick magnet. I had more fun abusing that car than any other vehicle in my life. It was built by a young guy and his father. The son was killed in Vietnam and the Dad couldn't look at it in the garage anymore. I came to look at it and the Father said "you can have it for $500 if you leave with it right now." So, I did. I was the first person to show up at his house on a Sunday morning to see the car. About 3 years later it was stolen and stripped. I got it back and they took all the chrome off the engine but not the engine & trans

which was the whole value of the car. I rebuilt it and a year later some drunk in a Cadillac Fleetwood rear ended me going 80mph...tore the Fairlane in half. I got out and walked away. Sold the engine for $100. Oh well.

 

[Ausfahrt]

I remember riding home with my Dad in 1972 in his first brand new car, a Ford LTD with a 400 CID two barrel if I recall correctly. My father was in a rather foul mood considering he had just bought a new car so I asked him what LTD stood for. He replied "long term debt".