1966 Ford Fairlane GT/A
1966 Ford Fairlane GT/A
Owned by Phil & Joni Spruit
Bradford Township, Minnesota
1966 Ford 427
Sideoiler version block. Steel crank.
Comp Cam (mechanical), Harland rockers (roller).
Edelbrock aluminum heads & hi-flow aluminum water pump.
Two Holley carbs. Blue Thunder intake.
MSD distributor, coil, wires & ignition box.
Howe aluminum radiator.
Dynoed @ 470 hp @ 5800 rpm
465 lbs torque @ 4600 rpm.
During the motor build, I continued looking for a car to put it into,
when this rustfree convertible Fairlane GT/A came my way.
I thought THIS would be THE CAR to install this motor.
This GT/A Fairlane was originally a S-code, 390ci/335 hp car with a
cruiseomatic, C-6 automatic transmission.
The 427 badges now adorn her fenders.
Ford produced about 50 of the 427 Fairlanes. Those factory 427 cars
are very rare & quite expensive today.
They were all hardtops & painted Wimbleton White. Those prized
cars also had the functional ram air hood you see above and many other
racing oriented amenties. Even though many folks could not even think of
getting one of these at the local Ford Dealer, many cars found there way
to the track, as the 427 racing motors were available to anyone who wanted
to buy one. Click here
to read a breif summary about the racing heritage of 427 Fairlanes.
This GT/A Fairlane was orginally shipped from Ford's Lorain, Ohio plant
to DOS Los Angelos. It was purchased by a collector working in LA and he
moved it to his storage barn on a farm in South Dakota. The California
plates that were still on the car had it last registered on the road in
1981.
I restored the car completely.
The car's paint jobs were stripped off & the car was repainted
back in it's original Ford Candyapple Red. The interior was changed back
to it's orginal configuration per the vehicle's body code tag with black
vinyl upholstery by me. The dash (plastic) pieces were all rechromed in
Canada. All the rest of the chrome on the car was replated here in Minnesota.
Inside the car, the only changes to I made were a few improvements I just
had to make. An AM-FM/CD player is in the glove box (original AM is still
in the dash), 2 speakers placed in the back seating area, and temp &
oil pressure gauges added. |
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I purchased the car on August 3, 2000 from a dealer who purchased the
car from a collector. In it's past, somebody had painted the car white
& the interior was reupholstered with a white-cream vinyl. Main parts,
like the center console & dash pad were gone. At first glance, the
car looked like a piece of junk. But closer inspection showed the body
straight & rust free. I ended up finding many parts & other items
like a straight dash console & steering wheel through sources like
Woody's Fairlane website, Fairlane Club of America & eBay. I was on
a quest to bring this car back to the the day it look when it left the
dealer showroom in 1966. |
| The convertible top was originally white. I thought a black top would
look better and would not be an issue with any purists thoughts, in how
to present a mid 1960's muscle car. The trunk space is very spacious. The
Ford nine inch stock rear end was a limited slip 3:25:1, 28 spline axles.
Those were replaced with Detroit Lockers, 3.89:1 gears and 31 spline axles
(same as the 427 Fairlanes). Torque Thrust II and BF Goodrich radials replaced
the hubcapped steel rims and poly tires. |
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