1966 Ford Fairlane Base Model 4 Door Sedan on 2040-cars
Edmonds, Washington, United States
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I am the second owner of this vehicle. The original owner was the City of Long Beach, California and I bought it at the municipal garage auction in 1980. It had under 59,000 miles on it when I bought it. This was a District Special Order car for the city and the DSO number is stamped on the VIN plate. The DSO consisted of heavy duty brakes (2.50 front x 2.00 rear), heavy duty radiator, HD battery, thick sway bar on front suspension (so it won't roll going through a corner like other base model cars), and I suppose some other stuff. Originally it was an odd gray-green color, special order on fleet cars, but common on Ford trucks in the 40's and 50's. The city resprayed it in green and since then, it has been resprayed black.
This car has a 289 2v V-8 engine. Because it was originally sold in California, it has the Thermactor emissions system on it which is still intact and still works. Over the years, I've replaced the gulp valve and a couple of other things on the system. The transmission is a C4 automatic. Condition. I've heard too many horror stories about people buying cars online only to find out that the description was inadequate to the actual condition of the car. I'll tell everything I know about this car; after 33 years, I've had plenty of time to become familiar with it. By the time I'm done, you'll run away screaming, "No! No! No!" but I can't be anything but honest about it. From 1980 until about 1987, the car was in use as a work car; from 1987 until 1997 I drove it to work in Wash. state. From 1997 until 2000, it was in dry storage in so. CA. From about 2000 to 2008, it was stored outside in WA and driven occasionally. From 2008 until present, it has been stored in my garage here in WA state. These days, I drive it every few months. It starts easily without priming after sitting for extended periods. The body is pretty straight, no rust in the floors, rocker panels, quarter panels, etc. The only rust I know of is a bubbled spot in one lower corner of the driver's door; and two small pots below the rear glass that show bubbles. The car body has numerous little dings in it from use and storage (small objects got dropped on it now and then). Circa 1988, I backed into a tree with the right rear corner and damaged it which was repaired professionally by a body shop with the insurance company paying the bill. The clear, untinted glass is in good condition with some scratches on the driver's side window. the windshield is intact with no cracks or hawk-eyes but has a few light pock marks. Front bumper is so-so, with two rust-dripped areas below the hood cracks where water ran for years. I got some "chrome paint" at the auto parts store to touch up these areas, but it doesn't look anything like the cap on the can. It looks like silver paint. Sigh. The pie-pan aluminum trim is somewhat dull all around; the lacquer coating on these wasn't meant to hold up for 40 years. The interior is kind of a mess. The front seat was rebuilt and recovered in original fabric in 1986, but it has splits in it again and needs work. The headliner stitching in the back has rotten and popped apart but there are holes in the C pillar areas anyway so it needs replacement. The instrument panel pad looks like a bomb went off over it. The instrument panel knobs have been replaced with 1961 Linc. Continental hardware, which was my handy-work because I thought that '66 Fairlane knobs were the ugliest ever. I still do. This car, as a base model, has rubber floor mats rather than carpet and these are still in pretty good condition. The car was built without a radio. Not long after I bought it, I got the radio, antenna, and instrument panel plastic and installed what would now be called the "sound system." I don't know if it works these days, as I never listen to AM radio anymore. The 289 is the original engine to the car. It runs good, doesn't smoke but for many years hasn't had a smooth idle. I suspect it has a burned valve but I haven't done a compression check on it for over 25 years to confirm. I've driven it on multi-thousand mile trips in this condition and it still gets 18-19 mpg on the highway. It's been my practice to change the engine oil and filter every 3,000 miles on the engine so can say that it doesn't use oil between changes. I've never heard any bottom end noise in this engine, even before the oil galleries get refilled after an oil change. It has a Motorcraft 2v replacement carb on it that the city put on in 1974. The C4 transmission shifts fine. I had it out for resealing in the 1980's but that's the only work that's been done to it other than periodic changing of the ATF and filter. The car has the removable carrier differential and it is fairly quiet. I've replaced both axle bearings in it over the years. The service brakes are good, no leaking cylinders, lots of lining left, good master cylinder which I replaced once. Tires are economy radials 205-75Rx14 with about 12,000 miles on them and in good condition. The car has power steering, it's in good condition, works fine and the hoses do not leak. Front suspension is in good condition; I've replaced the upper control ("A") arms twice. Second time, I had an old guy cut lube access holes in the spring towers so the second set has lasted longer with regular lubrication. Let's see, what have I forgotten. Oh, the electricals are all fine on the car and everything works, but then again, when a car has so little equipment on it, how much can go wrong?? So I will end with what courtroom lawyers get a shot at, a summation. This car isn't a glamor car like most '66 Fairlanes remaining, you know, muscle cars, convertibles, etc. However, "remaining" is the operative word. As a special order car, this wasn't entirely routine when made, and now, how many of these former "working" cars can there be left? My guess, not many. Please feel free to message me with any questions you might have. |
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2014 Ford Fiesta ST
Tue, 15 Oct 2013I'm not overly inclined to professional jealousy, as a rule. Sure, I go a bit green around the eyes when Ramsey draws the 911 GT3 trip to Weissach, Harley is tapped-in to drive a completely stunning Porsche 911 by Singer, or, you know, Drew Phillips gets to shoot a Lamborghini Veneno in the middle of a desert like some sort of sheik. I hate you guys...
Honestly though, one of the new car events that dug me the most, was when our Steven J. Ewing got to fling the Ford Fiesta ST around some hot corner of Europe. What goes around comes around, I suppose, as Mr. Ewing himself espoused an envious nature of the Focus ST trip that came before.
The good news in all this covetous intra-office behavior? All the cars mentioned, and specifically the Fiesta ST, are just wonderful to drive. I can say that with more confidence than ever now, having joined Ford for a good bit of Fiesta-flinging myself. In my case, the locale was slightly more pedestrian (Michigan not Portugal), and the car in question was the five-door version of the Fiesta ST that we get here in The States, as opposed to the three-door number they get across the pond.
George W. Bush's 2009 Ford F-150 fizzles with $300,000 bid at Barrett-Jackson [UPDATE: w/video]
Sun, 20 Jan 2013Despite some truly impassioned pleading from Jay Leno himself - including calling on Arizona's notoriously Republican-rich voters to beat the $600,000 level set the last time Leno sold a vehicle for this particular charity... in California - bidding for George Bush's 2009 Ford F-150 pickup truck stalled at $300,000.
All proceeds will be sent to the Fisher House Foundation, so at least it's $300K going to a good cause. Feel free to check out the live image gallery above, which includes shots showing Leno's skills helming the auction, and read through the official auction description below.
*UPDATE: Video of the auction and Leno's prods to the crowd for more money can now be seen below.
Ford Edge Concept previews new look, can park itself remotely
Wed, 20 Nov 2013It turns out the image we saw back in February did, in fact, reveal the next-generation Ford Edge - at least in concept form. We still have to wait to see what the design will look like in production guise, but until then, Ford is giving us a good idea thanks to the Edge Concept being introduced at the LA Auto Show.
The new styling is an evolution of the current crossover's face with narrow headlights and a prominently slatted grille, while the rest of the design adds a more dynamic appearance with interesting body creases and horizontal taillights. We haven't gotten a look inside the Edge Concept just yet, but Ford is promising a suite of advanced driver-assist technologies including a new self-park system that allows activation from inside or outside the vehicle along with obstacle avoidance and an adaptive electric power steering system.
Ford will continue to offer an EcoBoost engine option in the upcoming Edge, and it will get active grille shutters to help maximize fuel efficiency. No word yet on when we'll be seeing the next-gen Edge in production form, but as we reported recently, it will become a global model in markets including Europe, China and South America. Ford's press release is posted below, but we'll have more information and images up later today.