A Ford Fairmont station wagon with fake wood panels probably would not be most people’s first choice of a drag racing platform but that is exactly what I recently came across.
However the more you think about it the more sense it might make. The Fairmont is built on an early Fox body platform which continued all the way to 1993. Crucially the Mustang also sat on the Fox body platform which means a dizzying array of aftermarket parts are available. While a Mustang might seem like a more obvious drag racing base car the Fairmont is a few inches longer and the wagon body style would place a few more pounds over the drive wheels.
I do not recall every seeing a station wagon with a full cage and parachute before. I assume the skinny rear wheels are on there are merely for getting on and off the trailer. Speaking of the trailer check out those neat rear light housings. The trailer appears to sporting Mustang rims as well.
Further Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1981 Ford Fairmont Futura Wagon – Dystopian Family Hauler?
Curbside Classic: 1979 Ford Fairmont – The Ur-Fox
I love it, Di-Noc and all.
Saw a pic of a Fairmont wagon with Mustang front clip a while ago (might have been on here, actually.)
Somewhere there’s a Mustang with a Farimont front clip.
Literally laughed out loud at that one!
I didn’t realize how closely the Mustang and Fairmont fenders line up. The fenders *are* different, aren’t they? The contours are quite similar.
On a similar note, I’ve long wondered how easily the dashboards of different Fox cars can be interchanged. Obviously the ’80-’82 Thunderbird dash will fit into a Fairmont or Fox Granada, since Ford itself did this on the Fox LTD. Since the Mustang used the same dash as the Fairmont (except that the full set of gauges were standard rather than optional on the Mustang), can I assume then that the T-bird dash will also fit into a Mustang? How about the ’82 Continental dash? The later Fox T-bird with the curvier design?
The only dash swap I’ve seen in a Mustang was an SN90 dash nicely fitted into an ’80s Mustang
Hmmm, front clips and dashboards and powertrains swappable between models and decades. I had never considered the Fox platform as the Studebaker of the 80s but maybe it is.
That Fairstang needs to have the side door molding extended down the side. Apparently these are easily done, a google image search found plenty of them.
And another:
The second pic is a LTD nose on a Futura body, that clip bolts directly on. Grafting the Mustang nose on takes custom bodywork to the fenders and hood(the Mustang has a taller cowl, so the fenders will NOT bolt on). The dimensions are identical and the designs are similar enough that blending isn’t difficult, but it’s not as straight forward as it looks.
Lol, I own both a fox Mustang and a Stude Silver Hawk!
IIRC, there is a Fairmont wagon on another website that is set up for racing on autocross type circuits.
One of my “dream” cars is a Fairmont 2 door sedan, that from all appearances is a “stripper model” but actually has a built 5 or 5.4 liter SBF under the hood.
Another car I’ve imagined building is a Fairmont or Zephyr 2 door sport coupe (the one with the basket handle roof) with the sloped/aero front clip from a slightly later model LTD or Marquis (the Fox-based models), again with a built engine.
I just happen to have a boxtop Fairmont, a ’78 🙂 . Mine’s actually slightly “Brougham” in that she’s got a full “vaquero” as Ford calls is (a slightly brownish red) vinyl top and a cool vaquero VELOUR interior 🙂 ! Currently she’s powered by a healthy 306 SBF but in the future I plan on (hopefully) a Coyote transplant.
Oh, you mean like this 🙂 ???
The LTD front clip pairs with the Futura roof better than the actual Fairmont front did.
Yes, that’s what I’m talking about, though with a nearly solid black car it’s hard to really get an idea of what the finished product could look like.
What got me to thinking about a “slope-nose” Fairmont was a “small” Marquis I found on the local Craigslist.
Wonder how this looks in light/pastel looking colors?
Having had a Fairmont Fututra back in the day, when I first saw that picture, I was in love. My ’79 was Midnight Blue Metalic and I could just envision that car in that color. I like the way that guy did the striping over the basket handle too. Nice touch.
WoW! I really like that!
The trailer wheels are Chrysler 10 spokes. They almost have a Halibrand look to them.
Awesome photos and interesting how they are using a Silverado to tow a Fairmont instead of an F-Series. The trailer taillights are neat indeed though I wonder if the license plate should be mounted in a less vunerable location?
License plate location = double duty as a mud flap.
The whole set-up is actually very nice and an almost assured crowd pleaser, particularly if he can get the front end off the ground. Station wagons, with their additional weight out back, are great for wheelies. There was an outfit, Kammer & Kammer, that ran out of Kil-Kare dragstrip, Xenia, OH, that had a very nice 1967 Belvedere station wagon drag car. I was lucky enough to be at its first run when it got major air off the line, standing on the rear bumper. Unfortunately, it landed hard and broke something so I never saw it run again.
Get a Mustang GT fuel injected 5.0 and start slapping the relatively cheap go fast parts on it. That could be one formidable wagon.
I think I need another Fox wagon.
Me too. I sadly wrecked my only Fox wagon, a ’79 Fairmont, back in ’89. Sooner or later I’ll have another one 🙂 .
Some years back there was a mustard yellow Fairmont woody wagon that earned itself a fierce reputation in drag racing circles before rust did it in. In more recent years Hot Rod did an article on some guy running 9s in a Fairmont coupe powered by a turbocharged ( I think ) junkyard LS engine.
Many have heard of Matt Happel by now. “Sloppy Mechanics”. Search that.
http://www.lsxmag.com/features/car-features/cheap-thrills-matt-happels-turbo-4-8l-swapped-ford-fairmont/
Check his time slip on the video.
These trailer taillights look remarkably similar to those tubular thingies on the roof of the Lexus Pimpmobile from today’s earlier post. Perhaps they were meant to be high mounted stoplights or turn signals on that poor misguided Lexus, sort of like a Citroen.
You know, even though I know they’re both on the Fox platform, it NEVER occurred to me that a Mustang front clip could be put on a Fairmont!
Station wagons (especially the early Nova) were not an uncommon sight on the drag strips of yore. The rearward weight bias and higher center of gravity are both favorable for the strip. They (were) cheap and plentiful, and usually had a V8/auto trans combo – also favorable for the strip.
Oh man…I would absolutely drive that woody Fairmont wagon. A crate Ecoboost 2.0L would really float my boat, but I may have a hard time parting with that kind of money. A turbo T-bird engine is, then.
I sure wish there were more of these around, they’ve been extremely rare! I can’t even recall the last time I saw a Fairmont or Zephyr of any body style, a long time for sure!
I cant approve of this enough! A caged tubbed woodgrained wagon dragster just couldn’t be any more stupid…but that’s why its cool!
I think the Futura front clip would’ve looked better on this wagon, since the exterior is the full on “Country Squire” look with the Di-Noc and all. But I don’t think the wagons got the Futura clip until ’81 or so when all the Fairmonts got the four-eyed look up front.
I’m a little biased though having had a ’79 Futura.
Total coolness.
If anyone’s interested, there a nice, never-wrecked, low-mile ’83 wagon (six, 3-speed) for sale on eBay right now.
Interesting: the 3.8 Essex V-6, evidently not available on US Fairmonts.
Bonus: Dry, southwestern car.
Difficulty: vehicle in Mexico City–how hard is it to import one of these?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1983-Ford-Fairmont-4-door-/262974555318?hash=item3d3a8144b6:g:c~EAAOSwrhBZEMl2&vxp=mtr
My 86 LTD wagon is for sale, for those of you that love the Fox wagons!
https://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/6130301856.html