A wise man once commented that, if you don’t like Elvis Presley, “You just haven’t heard the right Elvis!” Similarly, Ford’s mid-sized Fairlane exhibited multiple personalities in the ’60s, with progressively smaller redesigns for 1960 and 1962, followed by the body seen here, which started in 1966. This 1967 Ford Fairlane GTA convertible’s body style ended that two-year run when Ford penned a fresh Fairlane for ’68, and again for 1970! Subsequently there’s a 1960s Fairlane for every enthusiast, and these ’66 and ’67s are among my favorites (thanks to wikipedia.org for some details). After a long slumber, this Bowling Green, Kentucky classic needs a new owner and a barn-load of work before once again impressing drivers, passengers, and admirers. Thanks to our reader, “Junior,” who spied the listing here on Nashville, Tennessee craigslist with a reasonable-sounding asking price of $4000.
This convertible looks like it barely survived a few rounds with Muhammad Ali, wearing dents and discoloration on nearly every body part and trim. The seller bought this car in 1984 in Denver and installed a 390 cid V8 that’s become locked during its long hibernation. The listing states it’s an original four-speed car, but the “A” in the GTA badges shown stands for “Automatic” transmission. Other non-original parts include a Ford 9 inch Traction-lok rear end from a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1.
Much like the badly beaten body, the “interior,” such as it is, foretells an equally murky future. The chrome-trimmed clutch pedal looks original and shifter seems to match up with the referenced T10 four-speed manual.
The GT/GTA package mandated the 390 V8 in 1966, but a 1967 GT (manual transmission) or GTA (automatic) could have left the factory with a host of V8 engines. The listing includes no VIN or body tag; file that under “Things that make you go Hmm.” Following the seller’s story, one might wonder how long this 390 “ran perfect,” considering the lifting chains are still attached. It also seems that someone got bored and attacked the engine with a can of blue spray paint. I’m normally an eternal optimist but if the metal on this car has as many holes as the story, I might just pass. Are you chomping at the bit to give $3500 for this forlorn Fairlane?
Sooo… is it a GTA with three pedals, or a GT? Too many unknowns on this one.
I’m very close to this one and would normally offer to inspect for someone, but in this case I think the pictures tell the whole story.
Car is probably a ’66. It has a ’66 hood, grille, dash, and steering wheel.
Rodent – yep, I bought a brand new ’67 REAL GTA and though they are quite similar to the ’66, those items you mentioned are indeed from a ’66. If there were a picture of the tail lamps that would really “tell the tale”. It’s possible that the basic shell is a ’67 and everything else is “cobbled”. Pretty sure most things interchange with these two, the one for sale is a mess. I loved mine, except for filling it with premium gas in Europe for over two years. Whoa ! But then, there was that good old Autobahn…
Fairlane was a stripped down Galaxie until ’62
luv em.
Like to pare this w/same yr ‘chero
1967 ranchero (link 2 pic)
(1 vert 4 summer, etc; one for haulin, few – no passegers).
Stacked head lghts looked great!
If it is a real S-code 390 car that would make it a worthwhile project. If it is an actual GT or GTA it seems like a pretty fair deal.
Thank you Fred but from the look of it I would be buried in this thing in terms of restoring to a nice driver state. So I’ll pass.
How can I say this nicely///Junk
It looks pretty beat-up, but I’m not seeing a lot of rust. I would think this would be a worthwhile project, especially if it’s a factory 390 car. Considering what a 66 Chevelle or GTO would go for, this isn’t a bad price either.
Looks pretty beat to me, I love the 66Fairlane, but, not this one and, I agree, no VIN? or is that because he doesn’t want to publish it ? .. looks like he started it, found out that there was still lots more to do, and ignored it for a time
I’d rather have one of the Ford trucks….
He bought the car in 1984, put the 390 engine in it and it ran perfect. Now the engine is locked from sitting 42 years. So what year is this? The car should be saved, I like the hard tops better. And I hope the seller gets the house he wants.
Strongest Fairlane in ’67 was the 427 powered screamers, but not available in the GT or GTA. The other host of V8 engines available for the GT/GTA besides the 390 were nothing short of completely boring. Great looking cars, one of my favorite body styles of all time, but that 390 really fell short for a brand that bragged total performance and spent so much on racing.
I also noticed those figures didn’t add up .. The posting says current owner installed a 390 sometime around 1984. That wasn’t 42 years ago. This is going to take a vault-load of funds to rehab to any degree
I have a 67 Caliente conv with the 335hp 390, C6, and posi, and it is anything but boring. It launches quite well.
It doesn’t have the jam of my warmed up 454 in my Chev Cameo, but it is a very nice driving vehicle.
It look pretty beat, but these cars look great when restored.
Bob
My first car was a five year old ’67 Fairlane GTA S-Code hard top. Since then I’ve owned it’s twin and two ’66 GT hard tops. That said…… This is a 1966 Fairlane GT (Not an “A”) as there’s a factory clutch pedal barely visible below the steering wheel… I’ve driven and flown halfway across the USA to look at ’66-’67 GT’s & GTA’s and I’ve left most of em where I’ve found em within the first ten minutes of inspection of areas that this seller hasn’t photographed or written about. Being a convertible that probably hasn’t always been stored under a roof, the floor pans are likely shot, the cowl to firewall seam looks rotten and probably is, the torque boxes could be and are likely to be rotted and the rear boxed wheel arches are probably rotted as well. I’ve seen quite a few of these that have fairly rust free exterior sheet metal only to be Swiss cheese in their nether regions… And those cars were from SOUTHERN STATES. Not knowing or posting the VIN is pretty sketchy at best. Granted… If it’s even a factory small block GT, it’s worth a fair amount of cash rotted, if nothing else but for parts… But I wouldn’t get into it with the thoughts of restoration unless I had a LOT of photos of it’s bottom side or an in person inspection. It’s really easy to get “upside down” on one of these cars…
Ron – maybe you got my former GTA, it was yellow with black interior and stripes. It no longer had the Wide Ovals as they couldn’t take the high speeds of the A’bahn in Germany. I traded it for a ’71 BOSS 351 I ordered when I came back to the states…
This is ridiculous. It’s a parts car, if there are any.