A shot like this, posted at the Cohort by Pikesta, is guaranteed to make it to the front page of CC. That goes for many of Pikesta’s shots, as the combination of the colorful settings in and around Cape Town, SA. and the equally colorful cars are both delightfully exotic. They remind me of Mexico, ten or twenty years ago.
This car is the antithesis of the predictable “classic” seen at American car shows. Which is why it has my undivided attention. The difference: most American “classic” cars are too much like most American architecture: it’s all the same, except for a few variations of a theme. Boring. This car, and its setting, isn’t.
When I saw this car on the Cohort a few days ago I thought “nice Fairlane”, then I saw the rear shot and assumed it was instead a Falcon in Australia.
I can’t remember the last time I saw any car with a rake AND sidepipes.
The South African Fairlane looks like a car that needs its story told here. Those taillights were the first difference from the American version of the car. They give the car a bit of an AMC Ambassador vibe. I presume that this is quite a bit newer than 1966-67?
I remember seeing a lot of cars with that kind of rake back in the first half of the 70s. But with 2 door cars so common then, most hopper-uppers didn’t mess with the 4 doors.
“AMC Ambassador” was also my first thought. Beat me to it!
The sidepipes are awesome.
Jacked up in the back. Man, it’s been ages since I’ve seen something like that in the States. Used to be The Thing to do with your old car.
There were more than a few cars like this in my high school parking lot…
Yeah, remember when that was the rage. Not as radical as this car shown. And growing up in western PA. it was very hard to pull off. Was against the law to “alter suspension” in anyway. And I literally believe that the State Police could smell it a mile away. Had a ’62 Dodge Polara with a couple extra leaves on the rear springs..an easy “oh, hello officer!”..and “62 Ford Galaxie with tired rear springs so I put “shackles” on them. Didn’t even raise the rear end up over the height it was suppose to set at. Another “oh, hello officer!”
From the lead photo I would have assumed Mexico as well.
With some dust it would look like something out of The Road Warrior.
Brings back memories of how many young guys modified their first car back in the day. Ladder bars, thrush muffler, wide wheels and usually fender-well lips pried out so the tires weren’t sliced to ribbons when you loaded all your friends in the back. Pioneer cassette deck and some mood lights under the dash. Bonus points if your car only had two doors!
Its an Australian Fairlane from about 1971,, I knew they sold some Falcon GTs there, so it makes sense that some of these made it there.
The relationship of the rear of the door and the wheelarch shows signs of how it was stretched form the Falcon. The whole middle looks very like the PC Cresta/Viscount also sold in South Africa.
My first reaction to the jacked up butt end of this Fairlane was disguist as \i recalled some of the greasers who drove up jacked up beaters giving the illusion of a fast car. This was in the early seventies. After a time the province passed a law under the Motor Vehicle Act outlawing jacked up rear ends because of the explosion hazard that could and did result from many rear end collisions. As you know rear mounted fuel tanks were the norm back then.
Two door or four door, I have always been a fan of the Fairlane no matter what the year.
The problem with American architecture is that the interesting stuff all got bulldozed, and what little remained has either been mutated into bad facades, or is buried deep in a decayed and forgotten area.
I will say though, if you stay away from car shows with trophys and entry fees, the variety improves greatly. The weekly summer cruise nights in my area actually have cars like this in abundance.
Buckaroo Revival is the architectural equivalent of Brougham. (c:
“Buckaroo Rival”? Heading towards a showdown?
I wonder if the building to the left is a ‘rival’ streamline moderne/art deco, or original?
I’m going to feel like a damn hypocrite saying this because this weekend I moved from a 125-year-old building to a 20-year-old one, but there’s still a lot of gems in Chicago- and i mean the neighborhoods, not the Sears Tower/Hancock/Prudential stuff downtown.
I remember this stuff. State Street in Erie, PA, cruising on a Friday night, late 60’s, early 70’s. Jacked up rear ends were mandatory (ok, maybe 80% of this car), and the poor guys were doing it with a four door sedan because they sold a lot cheaper than a two door.
This reminds me of HS in the 70’s. 2-door cars were cooler than 4-door cars back in those days, but more-doors were cheaper or sometimes all that was available.
I recall one student had a ’65 LTD 4-door with headers, jacked up in the rear, with mag wheels. This car reminds me of that one.
I miss this… reminds me of my ’71 Chevelle and ’70 Nova.
That car is almost certainly an Australian Fairlane. The fact it is RHD pretty much seals the deal. That shape was introduced in ’66/’67 just after introduction of the second generation Falcon body. This Fairlane is indeed a stretched Falcon. This body style ran until 1972, when the Australian designed XA Falcon (and ZA Fairlane derived from it) took over. The car in the picture is from 1969 or later, as evidenced by the extension of the C pillar past the rear window, giving the rear window an inset appearance and the profile thicker C pillars. Ford Australia did export to South Africa, intermittantly, back then. This generation of Fairlanes was an extraordinary success in Australia. It was the default senior exec company car and provision of one was actually written in to many executive job descriptions. It was available in two trim levels – the less expensive being Custom, which had a six cyl engine (200 then 250’s) and the 500, which had a nicer interior and the smaller of Ford’s V8’s (289 then 302) as standard. 351 V8’s were a popular option in later versions. Custom’s were a rare sight.