In the car world, it’s sometimes hard to know when another car person is pulling your leg. I glaze over and start looking for the exits when I hear someone exaggerating horsepower numbers or talking about their mom’s ’62 Mustang and how they’d regularly take down those Hemi Oldsmobiles. Every once in a while, however, there’s a grain of truth in the outlandish. Take, for example, this ’70 Fairlane wagon. It was owned by “the same gentleman since 1972” who used it to check up on his gold mines throughout the western United States. That’s a new one to me, but I’ll play along and examine this San Diego-based wagon, which is on craigslist now for $12,500. It’s brought to us by our friend Rocco B.
Tire kickers usually start under the hood when inspecting a new car, and this wagon has an interesting powertrain: a 351 Cleveland two barrel with a three-speed stick on the column. In reality, there’s nothing wrong with a Ford all-synchro three-speed, especially when paired with a torquey 351. It does have quite a spread between gears, but if you’re not going for outright speed, it’s a good transmission. Speaking of stories: This Cleveland is apparently “rebuilt, balanced, and blueprinted.” I remember reading a lot about blueprinting in car magazines when I was a kid, but I haven’t seen many truly blueprinted street engines. Either way, the engine looks as if it’s had some miles on it since the work was done. The intake manifold has been swapped for an aluminum replacement and the 351 now has an Edelbrock four barrel on top. The H-Code Cleveland is a great street engine, with intake ports that aren’t quite as big as the floor drains on the four-barrel heads. Once again, if you are not going to race your new wagon, this is an excellent combination. You’ll also get power steering and power brakes.
Inside, the Fairlane 500 Wagon was your basic no-frills hauler, the lowest rung in the intermediate wagon line. With a traditional bench seat (is that original upholstery material?) and some supplementary gauges, this just might be the kind of car a gold man might use to check on his operation. Things are looking up for this old Ford; people who keep cars a long time and use them for long-distance traveling tend to maintain them well, and judging by the faded carpet and slightly cracked dash pad, this could be an original interior that someone has lovingly preserved.
Being a western car, it’s rust-free aside from the tailgate (according to the ad). There are no pictures of the undercarriage, but the rockers look like new, so I imagine that there will be no surprises from that corner of the ring. It even has those trim little mudflaps to protect the fenders from road debris. OK, I’m hooked. I believe the gold mine story.
All joking aside, this looks like a clean old wagon with one repaint (in the ’80s) and some peeling clearcoat on the roof. It’s not perfect, but it might be perfect for you if you want a solid cruiser with a neat story that will probably last a long time, especially if you have any gold mines to visit.
Good write-up Aaron. Pretty cool wagon in good shape. Base model, 351, three-speed manual; someone knew exactly what they wanted. Assuming this is how it came from the factory; a Marti Report would tell us. From the time when one could spec a vehicle how they wanted it; today, its Package A or B with a handful of stand-alone options.
Always advisable to take sales verbiage with a grain of salt. I remember a conversation with a brash and confident co-worker about her family’s ’57 Mustang.
Another popular claim back in the day was “My engine has a 3/4 cam”. Heard that one more than once. Don’t know how it ran with only three quarters of a camshaft. Lol
Don’t forget the other phrase often used “It’s got a Vette engine in it” was used by several storytellers back in the day!
Another thing to add on my, “Hey I never knew this but now I know thanks to Barnfinds list.” I didnt know you could get a 351 Cleveland with a 2 barrel. I just remember in my teans hearing if its a 351 Windsor or a 351 Cleveland, the Cleveland being the performance one you’d want in a Mustang or a Torino, etc.
This is a cool wagon. Like Bob said, this was ordered with a purpose with the 351, 3 speed manual trans etc. Its impressive that its in the great condition its in, even if the repaint isnt 100 percent up to snuff.
Great find and great write up Aaron.
Thank you again to Aaron and ALL the Barnfinds staff for all the excellent finds and write ups. I really enjoy them and many of the comments too. I always enjoy learning something new on here.
Thank you! Regarding the 351s, it doesn’t help that Ford made three of them (the Windsor, Cleveland, and “Modified”), and you didn’t always know which one you were going to get.
you always knew which engine you had just by looking . the 351W has 6 bolt valve covers.. 351C/M had 8 bolts. They made the 351C from 1970-1974. The 351M from 1975 on. I had both the 351C 2V and 4V in my 72 Gran Torino Sport.. the 2v was much more streetable with a Holley 650 4v. The factory 351 4V was always a dog on the bottom end with the C6 auto. I put that engine in my 69 Mach with a 4spd and as long as you kept the RPM’s up.. it never bogged. I installed a 351W in my 78 Mustang II with a top loader and it ran like a scalded dog! Not as much low end terks but it was very happy to rev higher.
Bolivar, a quicker way to tell the difference is by looking at the orientation of the water outlet and upper radiator hose. On a 351C, the hose is vertical, the 351W it’s horizontal, facing towards the radiator.
Steve R
351Cs did indeed come with 2 bbl or 4bbl carbs. The best combo is the “2bbl engine” with a 4bbl intake and carb. Whoever built this engine knew there stuff. The balanced and blueprinted engine will be more economical, powerful, and durable.
Have the coolest ride 😎 hands down when you’re dropping the kids off at the hockey 🏒 rink.
“Inside, the Fairlane 500 Wagon was your basic no-frills hauler, the lowest rung in the intermediate wagon line”
Looks like they forgot the 70 1/2 Falcon wagon. Same drivelines available, but no power windows….. Gotta love the marketing guys :)
Ah, I forgot you could get one of those in a wagon midyear…Well, I’m half right, anyway. :)
The real oddball is the 2-door post, the only one offered of the Fairlane-Torino that whole run. Especially since the 2-door “real” Falcon’s real replacement was the 2-door Maverick, and the 70 1/2 was only needed to fill the 4 door model gap until the Mav sedan was ready.
Definitely a desirable old wagon with the right power train combo I don’t buy the story about the gold , iregardless it sold fast
I remember when everyone claimed their ford v8 was a Boss ___
I thought the 70 Fairlane wagons had headrests. My neighbor’s mom used to take us to school in one that looked very similar (white, automatic) but I’m thinking it had headrests on the front seats. Am I mis-remembering?
The lack of headrests is a good point. The seat does not seem to have any accommodation for them. My understanding is that headrests were required by 1968, but maybe it was that they were required to be offered as an option. Or, alternatively, the seat is out of something from 1967 or earlier. Hopefully someone else can enlighten us on headrest requirements.
Interesting observation about the head restraints. I had to google it to get the exact date and wording: the requirement was head restraints to be on all cars manufactured after December 31, 1968. Which dredged up something l hadn’t thought about for a very long time….
I kept a close eye on the inventory at my small town Ford dealer, even as a kid. At a point in time I remembered seeing all, or almost all, of the new cars coming in had head restraints listed on the sticker. I think they were an extra-cost option, but I’m not sure if that was the case. I remember thinking, this must be some sort of requirement, as the dealer wouldn’t have been inclined to equip cars that way. Plus it was on every car. So, in hindsight, those cars must have been 1969’s as this new requirement was coming into play, and/or was in play.
Maybe the seat was swapped in from a pre or early ’68, or a Ranchero which didn’t need to have them (trucks didn’t until 1991 or ’92)?
Too bad someone stripped out the factory a/c equipment under the hood. I can never understand why folks do that. Even if they do, seal the ends of hoses and connections and retain the removed equipment. This will sell anyway but the cost to reacquire everything will be high.
I don’t know WHY you’d do it but has anyone ever heard of a three on the tree, being converted to a four on the tree, and a separate arrangement for reverse? Many years ago a mate and I discussed the possibility.
Perhaps a Bowden cable or a solenoid for reverse.
You’d have to ask Mercedes WHY. I’d heard they offered a 4 on the tree back in the 60’s on one or two of their lower end models. The only reference I could find was for a 1952 220A Cabriolet with a 4 speed manual column shift.
I have had the pleasure of driving an S class Mercedes from 1958 with 4 on the tree all over the world in old car rallies. Cool wagon