When I first caught wind of a Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt in the February 1985 issue of Car Review magazine. I yawned.
And why not? Nineteen sixty-four Fairlanes were not interesting to me — I wanted to see GTOs, GSXs, and Daytonas and Superbirds. This was mostly true for any of the factory drag cars that would appear within the covers of the several muscle car magazines I was reading as a kid entering his teens. Super Duty Catalina? I preferred the Judge. Hemi Dart? Compacts are cheap!
Yet with age comes wisdom and a possible realignment. Did I learn about the error of my ways? Or did I double down? For the most part, the former. While the 1964 Fairlane doesn’t share the sleek roofline of some of its Blue Oval brethren from the same year, it’s still a handsome basis for a race car. And, unlike the competition at the time, the Fairlane was a mid-size car — something new and unusual in the world of Super Stocks.
Ford built only 100 Fairlane 500s for Thunderbolt conversion by Dearborn Steel Tubing, and this isn’t one of ‘em. It’s also not a 100-percent authentic build, but it appropriately pays homage to the Thunderbolt including the ram air tubes from the headlights to the 600cfm dual-quad Holleys on the 427, aluminum intake, bubble hood, Rotunda tach, single sun visor, van-spec seats, and more. What’s different here is that the 427 is street-friendly, it’s tied to a five-speed manual, and the rear wheel wells have been tubbed for meatier rubber. In other words, the perfect street/strip car that invokes the full Thunderbolt vibe.
Muscle Car Campy joins Andy Cerrano for a ride in this fine tribute to Ford’s Total Performance days. And click here to view more videos from Muscle Car Campy.
