The Fairlane nameplate arrived on full-size Fords in 1955 as a nod to Henry Ford’s estate in Michigan. The car would hold the top spot until the Galaxie arrived in 1959, and later on it would transform into a mid-size model through 1970. The seller has a pair of 1956 Ford Fairlanes that are offered for parts, but I don’t know if you wouldn’t want to try one or two restorations. Located in Oxford, Mississippi, this duo is available separately for $5,200 a piece (any discount for taking both?) here on Facebook Marketplace. Credit for this tip goes to Zappenduster.
A signature of the early Fairlanes was the stainless steel “Fairlane stripe” on the body sides. It lent itself to two-tone paint jobs like the ones on the seller’s cars (white over deep red and white over medium blue). While an inline six was standard, a variety of V8s were available, with the list expanded in the second year (1956). The cars were little changed except for the front turn signals, and the V8s included displacements of 272, 292, and 312 cubic inches.
The seller’s pairing lives under a free-standing carport in the Deep South. We assume both are V8-equipped, though we see only one motor and the seller provides almost no details. And at least one of them has an automatic transmission, as indicated by the Ford-O-Matic script on the trunk lid. The interiors seem to be incomplete, missing seats and the like. Perhaps the seller believes those shortcomings add up to parts cars.
Neither vehicle looks to be a rust bucket, and the paint jobs are okay, though one of the machines appears to be dirtier than the other. We assume there’s a story behind the Fords and how they ended up here together. One doesn’t seem to be any better than the other, so if you bought the pair for about $10,000 to merge them, that might be a mistake. Would you take only one and – if so – which one would it be?
The engine picture is a 351 Cleveland,you can see the canted front section of the valve cover on the driver’s side which is a dead giveaway.
10K is over twice what I’d pay for this pair.
The red and white is definitely nicer but I didn’t realize until looking closer the white and blue is a convertible. Tough choice. When picking up the pair, if you hear any banjo music you better run.