Still, that makes an R-Code Fairlane cheaper than a Boss 429 'Stang or a 1967 Shelby GT500, which were less powerful and produced in larger numbers.įor more on this legendary muscle car, we recommend watching the YouTube video below by V8TV.Anyone else in the room question your decisions after the fact? Wish you could go back and tell yourself, “Told you so!”? Eh, that sounds good rhetorically, but realistically any vacillating I do in retrospect is all for show. Since many were extensively raced, highly original, low-mileage survivors are extremely hard to find, and when equipped with the R-Code, they usually demand well over the $200,000 mark. Today, this fantastic muscle car has taken a backseat to the Mustang and even to the Torino, but back in its heyday, it was the most impressive street-legal muscle car that Ford had to offer. The same was true for NASCAR, where, during the 1967 season, the Fairlane was the only car that could keep up with Richard Petty's HEMI-powered Belvedere. In the stock drag racing classes it competed, the R-Code Fairlane was very successful, breaking records and becoming one of the most fearsome contenders. That didn't make it quite the quickest car on the road - mainly due to the unavailability of an automatic - but with a skilled driver behind the wheel, it still terrorized Mopars. With its powerful 427 R-Code, the Fairlane was capable of quarter-mile runs in the low- to mid-fourteens. Not quite an all-around Mopar slayer, but pretty darn close However, manufacturing issues persisted, and the total production of 427-powered Failanes peaked at 229 units - despite Ford's willingness to produce more. Though the price was still high, so was the demand. This version and the R-Code 427 were now available on the fancier 500XL and the standard Fairlane 500 but were still absent from the GT's options list.Īpart from the W-Code and the customary year-to-year cosmetic revisions, other changes included more colors, a steel hood with a redesigned scoop, bucket seats (on the XL), and the addition of power assist to the standard front disc brakes. In 1967, Ford tried to make its high-performance Fairlane offering more street-focused and available in larger numbers by adding a 410-hp W-Code 427 with a single four-barrel carb. The low-production 1966 500 427 R-Code was more affordable and streetable than the 1965 Thunderbolt, yet still a drag strip-oriented model with a hefty price tag that made it about 50 percent more expensive than the base model. That changed midway through the 1966 model year when the R-Code option was added to the Fairlane's order form. While the Blue Oval bragged about offering Total Performance, it did that on the track more than the street.įor 1965, the Fairlane lineup was still very successful but lacked a high-performance model that could compete with GM and Chrysler's most capable intermediates. Chrysler gave buyers 426 HEMI-powered rides, and GM was not far behind with models like the GTO or Chevelle Malibu SS.įord had offered drag racing enthusiasts the specially prepped Fairlane Thunderbolt in 1964, but although technically street-legal, that wild model was prohibitively expensive and impractical for daily use, so it wasn't quite what buyers wanted. By 1965, the horsepower war was heating up on the street and the drag strip.Īpart from racing their intermediate daily drivers on the street under the cover of darkness, many enthusiasts began entering them in drag racing competitions, making stock classes extremely popular.īuyers wanted ever more powerful street-legal intermediates that they could race on Sunday and drive to work on Monday, so Detroit's Big Three happily obliged.
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