When a genuine Curbside Classic appears, I think it’s important to document it even if conditions are not ideal. You may never see it again, so this may be your only chance to shoot it. Sort of like hunting any sort of wild game. And I don’t “poach” at car shows–that’s like hunting elephants at the zoo. So when I happened to pass by this 1964 Ford Fairlane 500 4-door sedan parked one block away from me on William Street, I had to whip out my weapon and act fast, as the remaining daylight was rapidly disappearing.
There it was, gleaming, mint condition–totally out of place in the year 2022. Parallel parked on the street just like any typical modern car. What’s the story behind this odd survivor? Standing next to it, it seemed to create the feeling that it was circa 1968 again this evening–as if I had walked through an inter-dimensional portal.
Lots of little 1950s style details on this car: the “Thunderbird” (or “Galaxie”) roofline with its wide FORD crown emblem; the forward-leaning “air intakes” on the rear door; the clean, straight horizontal lines. However, 1963’s fins (which looked like 1957’s fins) have been smoothed away.
Don’t you just love this rear end styling? It’s simple but not dull. The big round taillights are still saying “Space Age”, resembling rocket afterburners. And I really like this emerald green color! If I have my ’60 Dodge Dart professionally repainted, this is the color I’m going to pick!
“God Bless America”. Yup. And all the beautiful things she has created! “Stand beside her, and guide her, through the night with the light from above.”
So that’s what I saw this evening, June 8th, 2022 at approximately 8:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time in Boonton, New Jersey. I thought this was worth sharing with you. Too dark for interior shots, but hey, you take what you can get, when you can get it. After all, how many 1964 Ford Fairlane 4-door sedans have you seen on the street lately?
Great find. My first car in 1972 was a used ’64 Fairlane 500 4-door just like this one, except mine wasn’t two-toned and had the 260 cu in V8. I can’t tell if this one is a V8 or not – the first pic seems to show a “V” call-out on the front fender just behind the headlamps, but the second pic doesn’t show one.
It was a good car for a new teenage driver – you at least had a V8 that you could put some “Thrush” mufflers on but not too fast to get into any real trouble…
Wow!! What a find!! I miss the days when American built cars with personality.
The 64 was the first Fairlane I could identify by year – it was hard to miss with that big side scoop. My Uncle Max had a baby blue sedan and my 16 year old cousin’s best friend (with a new driver’s license) was given the use of his father’s burgundy “Sports Coupe” hardtop with black bucket seats and a 4 speed. I liked that one a lot.
That said, with a 64 Olds Cutlass hardtop in our garage, the 64 Fairlane always looked old fashioned to me, both inside and out. It was like something from 1961 or 62. Which it kind of was. But the Ford Motor Company in the early 60 was kind of old fashioned too.
The Fairlane’s styling is a bit of a head-scratcher. When it was new in 1962, it looked so much like the 1960 Comet, except for the different fins, which in themselves looked badly out of touch, especially so since the ’62 big Ford had already lost them
The basic shape and roof were ok, but it seems like the stylists had just run out of ideas. And the ’64 wasn’t much better; yes, it lost the fins, finally, but that side scoop was something off the ’59 Cadillac 60 Special. Oh well.
The 64 is beautiful compared to the 65 – one of the worst annual restyling jobs ever. We had both the 63 and the 64 and I think of the four years, these two were the best though nothing outstanding about any of them..
Remember two of the “65’s” running the streets of my hometown. One until about 1978ish.
The other, a blue wagon, I recall seeing up until 1984-85.
It was looking ‘aged”, yet not “decrepit”.
As for the other, it was a tan (or light brownish) sedan.
The paint on that one really suffered. I’d bet neither one had a lot a miles “relative to their ages”.
And it would take a severe turn for the worse in ’65.
Mopar products that same year still favored some ’50s styling cues as well. Mr. Mitchell’s influence at GM was in full force by 1964 when he was arguably introducing a preview of the sheer look with the 1964 intermediates. The direction of styling was suddenly clear; lay off the doodads, let the shape of the metal speak for itself.
Great to see this—the car sure looks to have a devoted owner, and how many of these can there be compared to Mustangs of nearly the same vintage? I’d give it a good home in a heartbeat…
The ordinary becomes the extraordinary. A few days back I was just turning off my street to leave the neighborhood, and a 1964 Chevrolet Malibu sedan rounds the corner where I was stopped.
On a hot day, it was obviously air conditioned, and its condition was both excellent and very original. I was in love – rather surprisingly to myself.
I had usually found the Malibu sedan rather off putting as no amount of money could get you chrome door window surrounds and a few other details that forced a visit to a higher division of the General’s ranks.
But this blast from the past, tooling around suburbia like a time machine, looked unique and refreshing to eyes that rarely see such metal.
The one I saw leaned a bit greener than this, but otherwise identical…
I always thought that the 64 Chevelle looked like the frumpy sister. It was not ugly, but it was not attractive either. The B-O-P versions were soooo much nicer. And that was unusual for a Chevy, because if there was one thing Chevrolet knew how to do, it was put out an attractive car. That problem would be fully resolved for 66.
Our neighbors was turq-blue. They had a “garage” (one of three) on the street.
The car stayed quite nice looking for many years.
I mentioned this Meteor in a comment a couple days ago. Now that it’s on topic, I should verify the claim!
Very nice to see this once extremely common car still out there and looking good .
-Nate
This 2 door hardtop used to live nearby, but I haven’t seen it for quite a while. Excuse the Nokia flip phone picture. 🙂
This article reminds me of Mr. Niedermeyer’s brilliant treatise on the 1960 Ford Falcon and its many derivatives.
This looks identical, even the color, to one of my uncle’s ’64 Fairlanes. He had several. They were so much sleeker than the GM alternatives. They appeared to just cut thru the air. Very simple, conventionally engineered cars that were very attractive and durable.
I had a friend with one of those, white/cream colored, weren’t they all? He was absolutely convinced it was the best American car to own at the time, mid 70s. Much smaller than the traditional “full sized” domestic car, peppy if not fast with a small V8 and either CruiseOmatic or three on the tree, roomy inside but not huge outside. He made a good argument. I put a few (very few) miles on his and one a cousin had, they didn’t seem bad, except for marshmallow soft suspension. And my friends other car was a ~66 E type Jag. Which the last I saw of it was rapidly becoming one with the earth again, it had 4 inches of water in the front seat footwells. But that’s another story.
My first car in 95′ was a 1965 Fairlane 500, 4 door, light blue with dk blue interior the V8, auto, and the under dash a/c. Bought it from the original owners son for $800. I learned how to do a drum job on that car the day i got my liscense. In tge DMV prking lot a block from my house. Ahh…. good times and cars. Ive owned that car twice and it disappeared from where it was at 2 yrs ago. Now I want a 2 door 65′
Dad ordered this Guardsman Blue 64 Sports Coupe and for 14 year old me it was a painful experience because he cheaped out on everything but the model. If you look at the front fender you’ll notice an important badge is missing. Sad. Nice interior, though, and our first car with bucket seats. Fortunately this car was traded for a like new 65 Thunderbird a couple years later.
Always liked the shape of these, after they lost the old-fashioned fins.
CC-in-scale has a two-door, converted from a drag kit.
My dad’s in Israel, on or about 1968, with granddad and sister posing. Only a six, it served him well although even my frugal dad admitted it was a “bit under-powered”…
The 1964 Fairlane 500 4 door sedan in V8 form was sold in Australia as Fords absolute top of their passenger car range. Ford Australia assembled them for CKD packs and they were built in right hand drive form for wealthy Australians.
Being luxury cars, these ‘64 RHD Ford Fairlanes sold directly against Jaguar, BMW and Mercedes Benz. They were NOT the peoples car in Australia that they were in the United States and sold in very small numbers
My Grandfather on my Dad’s side had a ’63…baby blue paint. I remember him commenting that it was too “light” as he considered it, replaced it with a new ’72
Chevy Biscayne (also baby blue) which I guess was heavy enough. Only 2 cars I knew him to own.
My Dad? He was still in his Rambler phase, he owned the 2nd of 2 Classic Wagons while my Grandfather had the Ford.. Dad traded his cars a lot more frequently than Grandpa, and when the 2nd Rambler was totalled in 1965, he bought an Olds F85 wagon, which itself was replaced by a ’69 Ford Country Squire.
That color was known as Dynasty Green. Dad had a ’64 Custom 500 in that color and I remember going with him to Towson Ford in March of ’64 when he ordered it. It was the first car we had with a/c (the factory unit was under-dash in ’64), a real godsend in the Baltimore summers. The color was very handsome and the interior was completely color-keyed with it, with attractive patterned cloth seats. Although it was an economy model it was a very nice car that I remember fondly, my favorite full-size Ford to this day.