Taking its name from the Dearborn, Michigan estate of Henry Ford, the Fairlane nameplate was used for seven different generations of vehicles.

For the 1955 model year the Fairlane name replaced the Crestline as Ford's premier full-sized offering.

The new proportions and modern styling were a hit with customers to the extent that the Ford outsold Chevrolet in 1957 for the first time since 1935.

The big news for 1957 was the introduction of the Fairlane 500 Skyliner power retractable hardtop, whose solid top hinged and folded down into the trunk space at the touch of a button,[4] while the Ford Ranchero 2-door coupe utility was also introduced.

[6][7]The Fairlane name was moved to Ford's new intermediate, introduced for the 1962 model year, to bridge the gap between the compact Ford Falcon and the full-sized Galaxie, making it a competitor for GM's A-body "senior compacts", the Plymouth Belvedere, and the AMC Rambler.

Like the Falcon, the Fairlane had a unibody frame, but the body incorporated an unusual feature Ford dubbed torque boxes, four boxed structures in the lower body structure designed to absorb road shock by moving slightly in the vertical plane.

The Sports Coupe option débuted mid-year and featured bucket seats and a small floor console.

For 1963 and later Sports Coupe models, the center console, which had come from the Falcon parts bin for 1962, was changed to be similar to that of the Galaxie.

The "K-code" 271-horsepower 289 V8 continued into 1964, gaining dual exhausts, while a 195 horsepower (145 kW) version of the 289 with a two-barrel carburetor and hydraulic lifters was introduced.

Styling features for 1965 included body-color headlight bezels for the deluxe models and rectangular taillight lenses, a return to the 1962-1963 trunk lid, along with less chrome on the body and a small standup hood ornament.

Australian and New Zealand models had longer cut-outs in the rear bumper to accommodate their license plates.

As the muscle car market took shape, Ford built a small number of Fairlane two door hard tops prepared for drag racing during the 1963 season.

The racing Thunderbolt was a two-door post car, heavily modified to incorporate Ford's new 427 CID (7.0 L) V8 race engine with two four-barrel carburetors on a high-riser manifold, ram-air through the openings left by deleting the inboard headlights, equal-length headers, trunk-mounted battery, several fiberglass parts (hood, door skins, fenders, and front bumper), acrylic glass windows, and other lightweight options, including deleted rear-door window winders, carpeting, radio, sealant, sun visors, armrests, jack, lug wrench, heater, soundproofing, and passenger-side windshield wiper.

Racing in NHRA Super Stock (which required only fifty cars be available to the public[15]), on 7-inch (180 mm)-wide tires, the Thunderbolt was based on the midlevel Fairlane 500 two-door pillared sedan, and in 1964 set elapsed time and top speed records at 11.6 seconds and 124 mph (200 km/h).

The car as delivered was slightly too light to meet NHRA's 3200-lb (1451-kg) minimum weight unless it was raced with a full tank of gasoline, which would bring it to 3203 lb (1453 kg).

Thunderbolt production was ended due to NHRA rule changes for Super Stock competition, requiring 500 vehicles be built to be entered in that class.

The first 11 Thunderbolts were painted maroon (known as Vintage Burgundy in Ford literature), the rest white; 99 had manual transmissions.

[2] The appearance was changed to match the full-sized Ford Galaxie, which had been restyled in the 1965 model year, and adopted vertically stacked dual headlights.

The XL, GT, and GTA packages were introduced, as well as a convertible to join the existing range of sedans, hardtops, and station wagons.

The GT featured a 390 CID FE V8 as standard, while the GTA also included the newly introduced the SportShift Cruise-o-Matic automatic transmission.

The 427s were still available, either with a single four-barrel carburetor or dual quad carbs, developing 410 (W-code) and 425 bhp (R-code), 427s were available on XL models, but very few were built.

Adapted across the entire range of Ford models for 1967, Fairlanes included a number of federal government-mandated safety features, including a new energy-absorbing steering column with a large padded steering wheel hub, soft interior trim, four-way hazard flashers, a dual-chamber braking system, and shoulder belt anchors.

The 390 four-barrel was supplanted mid-year as the top performance engine by the 428 cu in (7.0 L) Cobra Jet, developing 335 bhp (250 kW).

The Cobras had a standard 428 CID V8 rated at 335 bhp (250 kW), while options included bucket seats, hood scoop, clock, tachometer, power disc brakes, and 4.30:1 rear axle gearing.

The straight six-cylinder was the economy power, while largest engine was now a 429 cu in (7.0 L) with four-barrel carburetor and 360 bhp (270 kW).

Other options included the Cobra Jet Ram Air 429, though Ford quoted the same power output, and the Drag Pack rated at 375 bhp (280 kW).

The Falcon name was transferred from Ford's now discontinued, in the US, compact to a basic, even lower-trim version of the intermediate platform as a "1970½" model on January 1, 1970.

The two options were a 221 CID 6-cylinder with 132 hp (98 kW), and the old 292 phase I (1969–1971) CID "Y-block" V8 which had been last used in the 1964 F-Series truck; it was rated at 185 hp (138 kW), in 1971 the Ford Motor Company Argentina decided to make an improvement on the 292, was started by the covers mainly the problem of spark plugs was solved by giving an inclination towards the front of the engine that allowed an easier extraction in the car, changed the opening order and exhaust cam, valves larger intake (of the 292 heavy duty American) were placed, fuel lines making them more direct was improved with a new admission very similar to that of the small block 289, 302 pistons maximum compression with lomo brand Buxton were used, raising the compression at 8 to 1, allowing the engine erogue 185 HP at 4500 rpm, another improvement were leaks with individual manifold runners, eliminating the original American system of a manifold connected to another in series, used in trucks, in cars they were always individual.

[29] The "people-mover" Fairlane crossover utility vehicle concept featured three-row seating for six passengers, and previewed the chromed three-bar horizontal grill design, which also appeared on the 2006 Ford Fusion sedan and 2007 Ford Edge crossover utility vehicle.