A Fairmont, really? A Ford Fairmont, that boxy Ford commodity car from the ’80s is a maybe collectible model? When you find one in stellar condition like this 1982 example, it will cause you to stand up and take notice. It is located in Powell, Ohio and is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $3,800. Thanks to Joseph I. for this tip!
The Fairmont was produced between 1978 and 1983 and was a back to basic, plain-jane design, almost a salve for the wretched excess of massive, landau topped, opera window equipped, hood ornamented, 4,600 lb. behemoths slothing along through the ’70s with their weazing 190 HP, 13 MPG V8 engines. That said, back in 2018, Brian Chee, a New York Daily News automotive writer, reminisced about the Ford Fairmont as follows: “There’s just something so distastefully square about this car, like being forced onto a cabbage soup diet, or eating a bag of carrots. Thing is, inside and out the Fairmont was dull. The plain steering wheel. The long front bench seat, and monster-sized dashboard gauges. The comprehensive squareness of it all, combined with the faint desperation of a car company trying to survive during the 1979 fuel crisis. All of it made the Fairmont sedan and wagon, and the Futura coupe variant, a relatively short-term play that helped get the company out of trouble. It would go to do great boring things until 1986, like spawn a new Granada, and then a resurrection of the LTD, forming the basis for three different nameplates cursed with grocery-getter looks and a most forgettable place in American car history.” Ouch! Harsh stuff and a bit subjective.
I actually find Chee’s words misplaced when taking a close look at this 55K mile, all original Ford. The interior shows as new, it looks like it has never been inhabited. It’s nicely equipped too with power door locks/windows, power seats, cruise control and non-working A/C (the seller claims it just needs a recharge……). The interior’s red hue (not seen in recent times) contrasts very nicely with the silver exterior. The instrument panel and gauges are not sophisticated but are certainly simple and functional – something I miss in modern cars and especially a challenge if you rent a lot of cars. The seller adds that the headliner and sun visors have been replaced too.
Other than some typical fading, the exterior of the Fairmont is still sharp 38 years on. The seller states that this Ford has always been garaged and not driven in winter weather – good to know for an Ohio based car. There is no indication of crash damage, misaligned panels or missing trim. Nothing is out of place!
1982 Ford 3.3 Liter In-Line Six-Cylinder Engine
Under the hood is a 3.3 liter (200 CI) in-line, six-cylinder engine good for 87 net HP. The seller claims that this Fairmont, ” runs and drives very well.” The standard engine for an ’82 Fairmont was a 2.3 liter, four-cylinder engine that actually generated five more (92) net HP so that’s a bit of a twist. The torque rating on the six, however, is significantly greater (154 lb. feet vs. 119). So, how’s the performance? Not great, a performance report from ’82 claims 0-60 MPH times of 16.1 seconds. There are no images of the actual engine included in the listing and thus the Ford sourced mock-up.
Ok, so maybe it’s a stretch to get too wound up about a Fairmont but this is a true survivor, a remarkable feat for a commodity car of this nature. It’s actually a nice-looking sedan in its own boxy, 1982 way. And there’s usually a bottom for every seat so I’m sure this Ford will find a new owner soon – the asking price is pretty reasonable. How about a show of hands for current or prior Fairmont owners, tell us about your experience.
Nice write-up Jim.
Basic, boxy, underpowered, four doors…. muscle car enthusiasts need not apply. But if you at least appreciate the common cars of their day, here is an excellent example. It obviously has had decades of love. Nicely equipped. Inexpensive. I’m sure you would get plenty of attention at Cars and Coffee. Driving it when taking your friends out to eat (when things calm down!) would be fun.
One more thing: Mr. Chee’s writings are why I pretty much don’t read any automotive “professional” writers any more. Their goal often seems to be to just stir things up. I think my opinions, and the opinions of others on Barn Finds, are just as valid. Perhaps more so.
Towards the end of 1982, we purchased a 1982 Mercury Zephyr, two tone pewter with red interior. Beautiful car. It was and has been the only vehicle I have ever owned that I could change the oil without getting under it. It has the 200 six cylinder.
The image of the engine is more likely to be of a 170 from the early 60’s (note the generator.)
I owned an ‘81 Faiont that had the identical interior to this car, but a maroon paint scheme. It was my first car, and I absolutely loved the reliability. The straight six took some serious abuse. That bench seat came in handy for a high school kid who thought he was a real stud. The “love machine” lasted into college before I traded it for a much “sportier” Cavalier.
I love it. But then I worked at a governmental agency that had a white 1980 Fairmont wagon
The wagon arrived shortly after I did. I was the primary driver. 2 statewide delivery routes, twice a week. Wednesday’s off
That lasted about 6 months. The car remained in service at the agency after I left in 1987. About 1992 I was informed the car was finally totaled out in its 4th wreck. First one was December 1984 when a drunk lady creamed it when it was parked at the curb. Careful choice of body shops saved it from getting totaled that day. Definite unibody damage driving it before it was repaired.
End result was 154,000 miles on the 200 cubic inch 6 with automatic transmission.
Tough little car. Biggest problem I ever had was the right rear Firestone tire attracted nails very easily. I was always changing a flat tire on that corner. Seem to remember 7 patches on it by the time it was worn out.
I’m not a Ford guy, but I really like the way these look. For one, the headlights are where they belong on a car, the front, not halfway up the hood. The tail lights are on the back of the car, not halfway up the fender. It’s a Fox body, so you can have a lot of fun with it. It’s actually really nice to see this car, I like it! V8 and a manual would be swapped in though.
I had a Mercury Zephyr as a company car in the early ’80’s…same car…different badging. These cars are on the same platform (I think) as the Fox Bodies Mustangs of that period. As light as they are…this car would make one heck of a sleeper with a warmed up 5.0 and a 6 speed auto from a late model doner.
Best car Ford ever made-besides the Mustang. Had a ’78 Fairmont factory V8 I inherited. The 140 hp V8 could fly. Transmission shifted late/high under full throttle(like it had a high-stall converter) for some strange reason. Number of V8 Camaros found out what the car was-the hard way.
The latest trend with these is to take an LS 5.3, slap a turbo on it and run 10’s all day.
Wow, best car ever made.
Now that is a huge stretch.
He said ‘Ford ever made’…
This was the first car I owned. A 79 Ford Fairmont Futura. Great pick up, it was rear wheel drive. I loved that car… until I blew the transmission on it.
I’m betting the next owner will be putting a Mustang 5.0 engine and GT suspension on this slug. Then it will be a fun driver.
A buddy of mine bought a yellow 1980 wagon back in the early 90s for $50. He drove it for 3 years and anything that went wrong, he always fixed it himself. It finally croaked on the side of the highway with over 180,000 on it.
For what it is, this is very nice. Uncommonly well-equipped; most of these were just basic transportation with power steering, power brakes, and AM radio.
These were tough, dependable cars that were roomy for their size–just the ticket for many, many families. The 200 Six moved them around well enough, especially considering the low speed limits in force when the car was built.
Very surprised to see one with original silver paint that hasn’t deteriorated by now.
Mods? I’d definitely swap in Futura or Turbo bucket seats, add a Mustang rear sway bar, and possibly swap in an AOD trans. That’s about as far as I would go.
This is my high school driver’s education car except ours was red. Other than that identical.
My parents had one as a Hertz rental in Florida March 1981. Definitely the archetypical rental car. It was pale blue with navy blue vinyl. Was decent enough for what it was. Amazing to see one in this condition now. Ohio seems to have its share of survivors. Not sure why.
Nice find! Based on the Fox body mustang platform. Modifications abound for a killer clean, affordable sleeper.
Just sayin.
Our driver’s ed car as well, but in yellow. With 4 teenagers and a large instructor inside, it struggled and choked to get up hills, and then would rocket down the other side like a Nascar racer without brakes. No fault of the car, but a bus driver had pasted it down the entire driver’s side. The bare metal quickly rusted and left brown streaks down the sides. We were quite the site, in our nearly new, battered, tiger striped yellow Fairmont with the giant “Student Driver” sign on the roof!
Nice looking car. I remember the Ford Fairmont. I was too young at the time to drive. But I’ve known people who have owned them. The Fairmont sedan and wagon had a different grille than what’s on this car. The grille on this car is from the Falcon Futura. Nice. :)
Not from any Falcon – it was a Fairmont grille.
These were (& are) great transportation cars.They’ll
run forever with little maintenence.
We had a ’78 wagon that we kept for over 10 years.
I’d never kept any car for that long.
For 1982, the Fairmont was renamed Fairmont Futura and they all had this grill.
So nice to see one loaded with options like this one has. Only thing not ordered was the 255 V-8, which bumps horsepower up to 110 or so. Definite candidate for a 302 swap so it can be a much more exciting driver.
Visions of Fleet, US Postal, Hertz, Budget and that carburetor rebuild. But this is a nice example. Still would stay away because of that carb.
Yeah, those carburators would start to leak. With them being positioned over the exhaust, those leaky carbs would cause fires. I learned that lesson twice with these 6 cylinder Ford Fairmonts. Great cars until they turned into crispy critters lol.
Nice, I like it. I would wear a black suit and Ray ban aviators every time I drove it for that 80’s FBI effect
Owned an 81 wagon for 23 years. Ordered it new with 4 cylinders and manual box. Optioned the Mustang dash with tach. It was quite peppy as long as you used the stick and revved the engine. Did go through 3 engines though. Easy to change because of all the under hood space
My father beat one around for 5 or 6 years,paid 500 bucks for it, sold for 500. Tan on tan 4 speed car. It would actually spin the tire on command. 😁
The company I worked for in 1978 bought a fleet of Fairmonts…simple, basic 4 door sedans. When the sold them to buy Chevy Citations around 1981, I bought 4 of them for 400 bucks each…gave one to my daughter, my son, my girlfriend and me…we all drove those things to well over 250k miles without problems…I bought a 1980 that was outfitted more like this one…drove it for several years without problems. They are outstanding utilitarian vehicles. Oh, I did keep my 1972 Mazda RX-2 rally car through it all ;)
Good write up, the car is the King of the Ultimate Driver’s Group. I had a
Futura with the weird rear side windows, and I liked it very much. I’m also a fan of square or slab sided cars. I have no room otherwise I’d jump on it.
I always wanted to get one of these in 2 door and drop a 460 with a 4 speed in it just for fun. They were basically the falcon of the 80’s.
God bless America
The futura version looked quite stylish, for a boxy car – almost looked like a baby thunderbird & better looking than the ’80 t-bird.
Could you get a 4 speed with the 302?
True dual exhaust & a 4 bbl on stock motor might make it a good performing car.
Dad had a four-cylinder with automatic and factory air. Absolutely the best air conditioner I’ve ever experienced in my life. Going through some mountains in New York State with four of us and luggage on board we barely did 50 miles an hour uphill. And why in the world did Ford put the horn on the turn signal lever? You had to push it in to blow the horn. Wasn’t too bad for me as my 1962 Renault Dauphine had it. If I leaned on the front fender it would oil can in and pop out when released. Thin metal!
I owned a 1978 Fairmont Futura with a 2.3 stick shift. I loved the car until I put the wrong PVC valve in it and blew out the seals. I made it to 128,000 miles even then, but it took a lot of oil. It had bucket seats. It actually moved pretty good for a 4 cylinder.
These looked like they were designed by a 1st grader.
Most cars designed during that period were pretty poor. The only car I liked the design of was the 1970s Vettes. They remained pretty sleek.
We had one as our drivers training car. Slowest piece of crap I have ever driven except for my 66 Chevy II that had so much blow by, the oil vapor came out of the hood until I swapped out the motor.
The stereo didn’t work until I punched all the station buttons at once hard. The only good thing was our instructor was a hot substitute teacher who wore short skirts that would ride up. Imagine a 16 year old kid trying to concentrate with her in the car. Great memories but not for that useless thing..
Fairmonts are great cars. My dad bought a 1980 new and it was in the family until 2005. The last 10 years in my custody. Simple, reliable, easy to work on, roomy inside, and great on gas. The other respondent is correct, because the oil drain plug was on the side of the oil pan and there was so much room between the engine and the frame rails, you could perform an oil change entirely from above. All you had to do is slide the drain pan underneath. This one is uncommonly well equipped. I have never seen one with a power seat and seen very few with power windows. Definitely worth preserving.
Here’s a rare Ford Fairmont, a 1980 Turbo-a 1 year only model.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zqdCfWCI0o
I bought a decked out silver ‘79 four-door with silver vinyl roof in CA for $200 over list (somewhere under $5k) and the salesman was mad at the lot manager, but they were dying and needed to move cars. I was just outta high school with first huger flipping job and you’d think a Camero or ‘Stang would have been my choice, but I’ve always loved sedans, and boxy ones. My folks had given me a ‘65 Caddy Calais sedan to drive as a senior, and then bought me ‘75 Impala sedan for graduation from a friend. It got stolen and trashed when my sister had it at a party, so I decided to buy a car. They Fairmont had a 4 banger and stick (we couldn’t have the six with stick in CA due to smog rules) and was pretty gutless after those V-8 behemoths, but was economical for sure. Drove it for several years, then fell in love with a 1949 Buick Super sedan in daily driving condition! Told you I like sedans! A friend bought the Fairmont, and her husband nursed many many miles out of it for many years.