Thanks to Blindmarc for sending in this great car! This 1967 Ford Fairlane 500 is a tribute to the one that Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan) drove on the show, Dragnet. It’s found on eBay with a current bid price of $710 and the reserve isn’t met. It’s located in Riverside, California; sort of close to where the show was filmed in Los Angeles from 1967 through 1970 in the “revival” of the original 1950s show.
I can’t imagine a better car for Bill Gannon to drive than this Ford Fairlane: a beige car for a beige character. Don’t misunderstand me, Dragnet is a top-five show for me, but his character was meant to be sort of non-colorful so this car fits perfectly. This Fairlane 500 is as straight-laced as either Officer Gannon or Officer Friday was. Well, nothing is as straight-laced as Joe Friday was. The seller says that there are some “minor dents and scratches” but I’m guessing they got those chasing down some light-blue-windbreaker-wearing, clean-cut-and-surprisingly-polite perps. I prefer this era Ford Fairlane with the stacked headlights and this one is nice with no rust at all that I can see.
This Pebble Beige car is in great shape inside, too. The Light Parchment interior is amazing, including a non-op (as they say) Motorola police radio. The backseat so clean that they must have made the grizzled criminals ride in the trunk, which is equally as clean. The seller isn’t giving us too much information on this car, just the facts. They made 51,522 Fairlane 500 sedans in 1967, by far the most popular body style Fairlane for the year.
This is one nice engine compartment filled with one nice engine. Ford’s 289 V8 has 200 hp and 282 lb-ft of torque, just enough but not too much; sort of like Bill Gannon himself. This car looks super nice and even if it wasn’t for the Dragnet connection I would expect bids to be much higher than they are. I love Dragnet and this car would be fun to own. Are you a fan of either the show or this car, or both?
I’ve always liked this model of Fairlane. I’d sure be interested if it was closer to home. Four-door. Small V-8. What’s not to like?
Great find.. This was considered “mid sized” back in the day, but by today’s standards is quite large.. Very clean for it’s age and the engine compartment is all there.. Too bad it doesn’t have “ice”… (AC)
Great find and a very nice car..
HA!!! I KNEW IT!! Had to be Scotty G. the minute I saw this. Scotty and I share a love of older TV shows. Dragnet, Adam-12, ( and the less popular, Emergency), not so much for the corny plots, but the incredible car spotting. To be clear, and I mean no disrespect Scotty, Joe Friday never actually said that in an episode, (although, “Just the facts” was his catch phrase)( kind of like the “rich, Corinthian leather” thing) As for the car, what a great find. ( Where’s the portable red light Joe would put on the roof?) I wonder how many young folks could relate to a car like this, and might say, “it’s just a frumpy, ’60’s 4 door”, without knowing who or what Dragnet was all about. It was ground breaking for a TV show. It, for the 1st time, brought the real problems right into your living room, and was the mother of all TV cop shows to follow. This car personifies that era, and should be in a TV museum, like Andy Griffith’s cruiser. ( another of Scotty and mine’s favorite) Great find.
I too grew up watching Dragnet and Emergency, Adam 12, I loved those shows. I like this car, wish it was a whole lot closer to home, I would love to pick it up.
The town over from were I grew up used Fairlane’s as Police Cars during the 60’s of course these small towns would have the same cars for like 10 years before getting rid of them. Neat car I do like how they added the radio and code chart to it!
Maybe off a cliff?
When you Google a make and model, a site often comes up that takes the HP and weight of a car and creates a theoretical 0-60 and quarter mile time (you have to really read the fine print to know its not reality). Best place to get the 0-60 figure would be from a period Popular Mechanics or Motor Trend road test.
My pal Jim bought a nice ’67 GTA in ’68. The 335 hp 390/automatic was a strong runner. Pale yellow / white, awesome car. :-) Terry J
I could be mistaken, ClassicCarFan, but this is where I found that info.
https://myclassicgarage.com/marketplace/knowledge_base/1967-ford-fairlane
now at $ 4662.12 with reserve still not met. this would be a great daily driver and way into the hobby if the reserve is not much higher. great find.
nice car but gotta have the right buyer on this one who has some personal /nostalgic attachment. 2 doors too many. IMO
cool car…..always thought old Bill was shoeing a big 390…..there’s at least one episode with the tire’s squealing….love the old show’s before Pauch and what’s his name
Tons of fascinating info about the 60’s Dragnet show at imdb.com.
Yes! Dragnet for sure. Simple is always best. Love it
I too question 0 to 60 in 6.6 seconds for this car. Maybe 8.6? 9-something? Not 6.6 though.
The actual car on the show had a 390 in it. I caught that, it was on the front fender.
I have one of these only in Green-been in my Family since my Grandpa bought it in ‘67; I have all the original paperwork too. Too bad it came with a 200-6cyl engine.
I’d someday like to set her up to tow my little 69 Serro Scotty trailer; folks say she’s got enough HP but I’m not so sure without some extra work. 53k original miles, btw; always been garaged but paint is faded now- She sure is FUN to drive though-Loved Dragnet as a kid, thanks 4 the Memories!
I too have a green 4-door sedan with the 200 inline 6 cylinder engine. I had it redone back in 1994 and always referred to it as my Dragnet car even though it lacks the 289 V-8 engine. Still though it rides nice at 60 MPH and gets pretty good gas mileage.