The very first car I ever purchased was a 1961 Ford Fairlane 500 two door sedan. There are a surprisingly large number of photos available online for 1961 Fords but most of them are of convertibles or two door hardtops, or cars that have been customized. These photos are the best representation of my car that I could locate. I purchased the Ford for 75 dollars in the early summer of 1968. Now this was not much money for a car even back then; as purchased the Ford would move under its own power but just barely. Thus began my saga.
It was equipped with the 223 CID inline six and a three speed manual transmission. The clutch was pretty shot; you could ease it out with the car in gear and it wouldn’t stall, just slip. This was unimportant to me as I had another engine and transmission to swap into it. A few weeks before this I had wrecked my father’s 1960 Ford; this car had a recently rebuilt 223 and a good Fordomatic and these could easily be swapped into the 1961.
One of my father’s co-workers, Mr. Keach, owned a small repair garage that he operated as a sideline and he agreed to perform the engine/transmission swap for us. Mr. Keach is good people and, while I don’t remember how much he charged us for doing this, I’m sure it wasn’t very much. What little I know about working on cars I learned from Mr. Keach; his standard response to any automotive problem was “aw, tell you what, bring it on out to the shop and we’ll take a look at it”. He certainly went out of his way to help me keep my well used cars on the road. The only downside to him doing the work was that it took a while to get things done. In the overall scheme of things it wasn’t that long a wait but the sixteen year old me was not very patient, especially not when it involved having to wait for my wheels.
Eventually the day arrived and my “new” 1961 Ford was returned to me, just in time for my senior year of high school. Mr. Keach did a good job, he swapped in the new engine and transmission, fixed several electrical issues and even patched some of the rust holes. He also painted the car in a light blue color, similar to the car pictured above, with paint that he had left over from another job; this was great as the original paint job had started to oxidize to the point where it could be rubbed off with minimal effort.
The car really looked good; it probably looked better than it really was as it was still a ’61 Ford with little power and the interior was pretty ratty. I didn’t care, I had wheels, and wheels meant freedom. I grew up in a small town in western Kentucky and if you didn’t go somewhere by car, chances are you stayed home. Now that I had a car I was free to go where I wanted and do what I pleased. The irony is that I don’t think I ever drove the Ford more than the 10-12 miles it took to get to Evansville, Indiana, a larger community that was just across the river from my hometown.
Many of our younger readers have no real idea how much effort was involved in keeping even an 8-9 year old car on the road back in the sixties. Now, you can buy a 12-15 year old Toyondasan and feel confident that even if it has well over 100,000 miles, the car still has quite a bit of life left. Cars from fifty years ago would wear out much quicker than that, and they required frequent maintenance just to keep them mobile. I ended up owning the ’61 Ford for only 8-9 months and during that time I replaced the starter and the generator. The generator was fairly easy to swap out; as an adjunct to his repair shop Mr. Keach had a junkyard in the field behind his garage and he let me pull a generator from a suitable donor.
The starter was more problematic; for one thing it was late December when it failed and the only place I had to work on the car was the unheated garage behind the family home. I was out of the wind but that concrete floor was really, really cold. The real problem with changing the starter was getting the old one loose. As I recall the starter was held on with three bolts; two of them came off easily but the third gave us lots of trouble. We used copious amounts of WD40, penetrating oil and everything else we could think of, that puppy was rusted solid and it is still a mystery how we didn’t break the bolt head off. We finally did get the bolt loose by heating it with a torch and banging on it with a hammer. I’m sure that my younger siblings learned some new words that day. If the people who designed cars had to work on them they would do a lot better job of locating the components for easier removal.
Another difference between cars of 50 years ago and cars of today is that cars from the past tended to have more individuality (read quirks) than do new cars. One of these quirks, as you can tell from the picture above, is the total disregard of anything related to safety. The instrument panel is covered by nothing more than a thin layer of FoMoCo paint and systems such as lights and wipers are operated by knobs sticking out several inches from the panel. It might not be obvious from this photo but the Ford, like all Fords thru the mid-sixties, had the ignition key on the far left side of the panel. There are many theories as to why this is, my favorite is that it allows you to start the car with your left hand while using the right hand to hold the shift lever up firmly up in Park.
My favorite Ford quirk was the vacuum operated windshield wipers; I’m sure this saved Ford a few cents per car but it was a real annoyance. At idle there would be lots of vacuum in the intake manifold and the wipers would go “flopflopflop” at a good, quick pace. However, at wide open throttle, which was how I tended to drive then, there is little or no vacuum available and the wipers would sometimes come to a dead stop. This is not very reassuring when driving in stop and go traffic in the rain.
In any event the Ford served its purpose, to get me on the road and widen my horizons. Would I have liked my first car to have been a new Mustang or a new Camaro, sure, but it wasn’t and I managed to deal with the disappointment. I acquired my next car shortly after graduating from high school and sold the Ford, for $150 dollars I think.
(click on the author’s name at the top to see the rest of his COAL series)
Pretty plain. Hard to believe there was even a plainer version, the non-500 Fairlane.
The base, no frills Fairlanes, Biscaynes and Plazas of the world were quite common and sold in decent numbers. Most were sparsely equipped, with maybe an automatic as a concession to a newly licensed wife. In 1961 over 300,000 Fairlanes and Fairlane 500’s were sold and Chevy moved 540,000 Biscaynes and Belairs. Camry and Accord would love those numbers today. In1961 there were still many with memories of the depression who just didn’t feel right about paying more for flashy Impalas and Galaxies. For years my doctor uncle drove a ’62 Belair with Powerglide the only option.
This was actually another trim level below the “non 500 Fairlane”, the Custom 300, now that was pretty basic.
My guess as to why the ignition key was on the left of the steering column? After starting the car the driver dropped his hand down a little bit and “popped-off” the emergency brake.
Not in 1961. The Custom 300 was the base Ford for 1958 and 1959, then dropped from the line-up for 1960. It was replaced by the Fairlane which was the base model for 1960 and 1961.
Fairlane became the name of Ford’s new intermediate entry in 1962. For the big Ford the bottom model was dropped, the remaining two being the Galaxie and Galaxie 500, with the limited sub-series Galaxie 500 XL.
In 1963 the cheapo base series returned, now know as the 300. It was replaced in 1964 by the Custom, which lasted all the way to 1973 when the base became the Custom 500.
Confusing indeed.
Sorry to disagree but there were Customs in 1961….not many were sold, only 303 4 door sedans and 49 2 door sedans.
And while the Custom name did get replaced for one year with the 300 (Custom 300 was the series name from 1957 to 1961), the Custom name actually was still around until 1977 and not 1973 as the Custom/Custom 500.
I have about every piece of full-size Ford sales literature in digital form and there is no mention of a ’61 Custom anywhere. AFA the 70’s Custom, things are a little nebulous. What is known for sure is that there surely was a Custom 500 from 1975 to 1978 in Canada.
Canadian sales lit also identifies a ’79 Panther “LTD Custom 500”. In the US, 1975 had only LTDs listed. Some sources indicate a Custom 500 for fleet use.
It may have been a fleet-only model. As Roger628 says, there’s no mention of the Custom series in the retail literature.
Note that the brochure reads, “…Fairlane is actually Ford’s lowest-priced big-car series for ’61!”
How could you get any lower than that? Would it come with doors? Windows? Tires?
I read that in 1961, Rambler was no. 3 in sales after Chevrolet and Ford. In fact, Ford was no. 1 in sales due to the popular Falcon. I guess a lot of frugal people went for the Rambler and Falcon as well.
A friend of my older sister had a similar ’61 Mercury Meteor back in the late ’70’s. As I remember, it was pretty basic, with the dog dish hubcaps and not much else. There wasn’t much rust on it – unusual for an old car here in Ontario with our salt-encrusted roads, and cars of that vintage were pretty much gone by the ’70’s. Still, it got her around and it was always cool to see someone driving something a little different.
I inherited a ’61 Galaxie from my uncle in 2000. He had owned it since 1963. The original 352 2v had been replaced with a 390 4v. It’s funny that Ford offered two different 2 door sedans that year. I ended up selling it on eBay a few years later.
Very nice car and story. For some reason in this era, I liked the Fords from odd model years. I think it started with the ’63 Ford, which was a memorable car, especially in fastback form, and retroactively I realized I liked the ’61 but not the more rounded ’62. The ’64 also rounded off the basic shape of the ’63 to my dismay. My best friend’s mom drove a ’64 yellow wagon with wood (DiNoc) trim and it always just looked like a ripe banana to me. Then when the ’65 with its sharp corners and stacked lights came out, it was a stunner. A year later, the ’66 seemed diluted from the ’65, though 50 years later I see its refinement of the 1965 style. But the 1967 Ford put an end to this pattern. And by then I was becoming a teen, and full-size Fords had lost any appeal when there were Porsches, Camaros and Volvo142’s to admire.
Ive got one of those 65 fairlane 500’s in the back right now. 289 engine and 4 speed manual, no power brakes and no power steering but has add on AC. Thinking to sell it.
In the 60s my family owned 4 different full-sized Fords: a 60 Country Sedan, a 64 Country Squire, a 66 LTD 4 door hardtop, and a 69 LTD 4 door hardtop. The 60 and 64 had pretty much the same exact dashboard as the car pictured here, while the 66 and 69 had 2 different dashboards. Seats were almost the same pattern in all three of the later cars, just the upholstery was different, with the 66 having nylon tricot seats that stained just by looking at them.
A nice car , even with the i6 engine .
I remember these fondly even though I’m a Chevy lover .
-Nate
A strippo Ford from those years always seemed more basic than what Chevy and Plymouth sold as basic transport. I had no idea that Ford was still offering vacuum wipers as standard equipment.
I am guessing that your replacement automatic was the 2 speed Ford-O-Matic? That mated to the six in one of these probably made for some pretty leisurely travel.
I have always liked the 60-61 Fords, but found the roofs on these basic sedans to be on the awkward side. These could be really attractive or fairly unattractive, based on body style, trim level and color. The light blue is quite complimentary of the car’s lines, and makes it one of the better looking of these I have seen.
I’m not really sure when Ford discontinued the vacuum wipers and went to the electric motor as standard equipment. As a guess I would say some time in the mid-sixties. I could be mistaken but I’m fairly sure that some (if not all) American Motors products retained the vacuum setup longer than that.
Yes, the combination of the 223 CID six and the two speed Ford-O-Matic did make for leisurely travel. The reason why I tended to treat the gas pedal as an on/off switch. Actually though, for a beginning driver this combination wasn’t so bad, it was hard to get going fast enough to get in over your head.
I have a ’53 Ford F100 pickup that came with two-speed electric wipers from the factory, so they may have offered vacuum and electric wipers for various applications at the same time.
American Motors cars featured vacuum-powered windshield wipers as standard equipment until the 1972 model year!
I like this a lot. $75 for a 7 year old car is a lot of depreciation!
It wasn’t unusual at all back then for a 7-10 year old car to sell for $50 to $100. They’d usually be pretty beat by then unless you found a little-old-lady car that spent most of its life in a garage.
Why did you sell after only 9 months? Any idea what happened to it?
It was pretty much at the end of its useful life, even with the relatively fresh 223. In order to get a more or less even surface to paint Mr. Keach had to patch a lot of rust; each of the rear fenders probably had five pounds of Bondo, with more Bondo in the rocker panels and elsewhere. The interior was pretty ratty as well; you have to remember that the car pictured above is not the one I had, those pictures were sourced from the Internet. I acquired a much better car as a high school graduation present (stay tuned for the second installment).
Some guy in his early twenties bought the Ford, after I advertised it for sale in the newspaper. Presumably he needed cheap wheels. Even though this was a small town I never saw the car after that; don’t know if it died shortly after the sale or what.
I like the side saddle air cleaner. Never saw one like that before.
Mom and Dad had a white 61 that looked like this. 352/auto iirc. I first saw it when I came home on leave. The thing despised me and would always break when I drove it. All things pass and so did it but it did well for my parents. We drove a lot of Fords over the years and I really don’t have bad memories of it. That’s probably because I chose to forget.
Long time lurker, first time poster.
Grandpa had this exact same body style in a slightly darker blue, 6 banger and automatic. Legend has it that his very successful brother bought it for him, and it was this shade of robin’s egg blue; Grandpa had it repainted darker. I still have the promo model he got with the car, which of course was a Galaxie.
When Grandpa bought himself a 67 Fairlane 500 as a pre-retirement present, my dad (his son in law) got the 61. Dad had to endure me and my fellow questionably talented CYO baseball teammates piled into the car as we proceeded to lose every game when I was in 6th grade. I kept hoping that the 61 was going to be my first ride, but in 8th grade, the rear axle went and Dad got rid of it. At least I got to drive the 67 to take my road test a few years later. My grandfather had been a traveling salesman way back when, and he loved to drive. He was a good luck charm; everyone he drove to their road test passed first shot. Even my uncles’ friends would have him take them. I like to think I inherited his internal compass and love of the open road; there have been many times when I know he was riding with me when I got thru some sticky situations.
I’m a couple decades younger but can remember the late’70s/early ’80s cars being used up and rusted out at 10 years and 100,000 miles but didn’t imagine the pre-FWD big boats of the ’50s and ’60s were even worse (after all, “they don’t make ’em like they used to!”)
Speaking of, I distinctly remember a cousin having a ’75 – early ’80s Econoline with the left side key. I always thought it was so you could reach in and turn it on or off as needed on a job site.
A good friend of mine bought this same “61 Ford 2 door with a 6 and automatic around 1968. It was slow & hard to steer. But he enjoyed it immensely since it’s back seat was as wide as a couch!
My 65 Tempest had the ignition key on the left side, I have no idea why.
I loved those late 50s – early 60s Fords. By the time I was of driving age there were few left, so I never had one despite wishing desperately for one while way too young to drive.
My father had to work on our cars all the time. I washed, waxed and scrubbed them inside and out every weekend, in time for church. My older and younger brothers have amazing car repair experiences. I depended upon them to help me and I reciprocated the best I could. We all were taught to sweep with a broom first before my father let us do anything else. The broom was another tool to do the job right the first time.
The three car garage was heated during the winter and shaded during the summer. That was where the men and boys were. There was no need for a man cave. My father kept everything in top condition and spotlessly clean. It was were regular auto work was done.
I have great memories of doing this regular auto work. You really got to know your cars inside out, from underneath to overhead. You learned how to use tools. Working on cars gave us a chance to talk about guy stuff. Sports, women, cars, and about being a man.
I don’t want to return to those days, but experiencing them gave me an edge that today’s young men don’t get anymore.
_PLEASE_ talk to my Big Brother ! .
He thinks being a pig is some sick badge of honor , then I have to work on his filthy oil covered nasty junkers GRrrrrrrrrrr .
-Nate
If the undercarriage on that ’61 Galaxie is a clean as the rest of it this is a real bargain @ $6K .
.
-Nate
Great read. Can definitely relate to the aspect of the quirkiness of the 50’s and ’60’s cars, and what it took to keep them running. Among others, I had a ’52 Chevy business coupe that would flood from sticking carb floats. Tapping the side of the carb body would get me going again.
Did not realize that vacuum wipers were still in use in ’61.
Nice-looking cars, these ’61 models. It does seem kind of amazing to think of the advances in reliability and durability though. To look at three Fords, your ’61 was on its last legs by ’69, and that was with a rebuilt motor. Things hadn’t necessarily gotten a lot better by the malaise era–my Dad had a ’79 Fairmont that was on its way out by ’88 when he traded it on a newer used car. On the other hand, my daily driver is a ’97 Crown Vic, still going strong at age 19. Not sure if it’s the influence of foreign competition, or just advancements in materials and technology. Probably some of each.
For the curious (12/31/16), bits from the PM survey of August 1961; obviously, not a “long-term” thing. (Interesting that they mention the wide sills that Jason Shafer talked about with his ’63 Galaxie.)
Part 2 of 5:
Part 3 of 5:
Part 4 of 5:
Last one today:
The thing about old cars is that until not long ago every little thing that would make the
car easier to live with ,look better and maybe keep you alive was OPTIONAL EQUIPMENT
This is the problem with the base model cars The first skinflint owner is not going to
pay a dime more for a side mirror or decent wipers a lighter hah!
If this was a Galaxie it would have probably a padded dash ! radio! power steering!
look at how nice that interior is in the blue Galaxie 500!
The auto makers probably had heart attacks when the feds forced them kicking
and screaming to install standard safety features
Could someone please tell me the 60 TO 64 fords were so heavy was it designed
that way on purpose or did they just turn out that way ?
I just pulled up a few rough stats online (I know this all varies by sub-model), but even comparing the ’59 to the ’60 the full-size Ford was apparently a few hundred pounds heavier, with wheelbase slightly longer, overall length growing, and then width going from under 77″ to 80+” (which got the 1960 Ford in trouble in some states, where laws specified different lighting for the presumably-commercial vehicles that would be wider than 80″).Perhaps for ’61 it went on a bit of a “diet,” though…(I grew up in a ’60, while the neighbors had a ’61, which always felt a little smaller.)
JPG, if you wanna relive the experience, there’s a clean-looking ’61 (six, 3-speed) here in Chicagoland—looks like a solid car:
http://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/cto/5937189860.html
I will pass on that. While it might be interesting to drive a 1961 Ford for a few minutes just to see if the reality matches up with my memories of nearly 50 years ago; what I don’t want to do is spend my money for the privilege.
In the early 60s an ex-GM engineer told me they put their distributors at the rear of the engine simply because Ford put theirs at the front. Maybe that’s why the key is on the left.
Nice to see another first-car Fairlane owner – mine was a 64 4 door with the 260 2 bbl and Fordomatic. Just like you I had bendix starter issues that were a real pain to fix. Other than that, it was pretty reliable.
Good car for a young driver – not really powerful enough to get you into trouble but sounded good with some aftermarket Thrushes…
My Grandfather bought a brand new sky blue 2 door 1961 Ford. We called it “Lurch”. It had a V8 and 3 on the tree with overdrive transmission. It had no model designation i side or out, just the Ford lettering on hood. I still have the 1961 Motors manuel that has a listing for the Ford Car seperate from a Galaxy or Fairlane. Grandpa was a penny pincher and didn’t buy anything special. I can’t swear it wasn’t a Custom or some other designation but parts shops would always look it up as a “Ford Car”. Wish I still had it but got $25 for it at a scrap yard in 1974.
I own a Plain Jane ’61 FORD Fairlane. She has 36,000 Original Miles. NO: namebadges, reverse lights, , power steering power brakes,tinted windshield wiper, or seatbelts. Vacuum wipers with the rubber pump button on the floor for the windshield washers. Automatic transmission and an AM radio. A 292 V-8 engine. The body is almost rust free. Not my 1st car, that was a 1963 MERCURY Meteor 4 door. Similar to the Fairlane of that year.