1962 Ford Fairlane

1962 introduced the Fairlane as an intermediate line beneath the full-size Galaxie, split into the plain Fairlane and the better-trimmed Fairlane 500, with 79,606 Fairlanes and 217,510 Fairlane 500s reported for the model year. The Fairlane 500 total is not a single-source figure: a second, independently named lineage in a 1997 reference book carries the identical 217,510, read via a search-inside snippet, and while that agreement does not itself verify either compilation against an actual Ford production record, it does mean the number is no longer resting on one uncorroborated source, and the record treats that cross-checked total as a firmer figure than the plain Fairlane count, which so far has only the single OldRide.com lineage behind it.^1,2

Within the plain Fairlane series, the 4-door sedan (body 32) accounted for 45,342 units and the 2-door sedan (body 31) for 34,264, summing to the reported 79,606. The Fairlane 500 series broke down as 129,258 4-door sedans (body 42), 68,624 2-door sedans (body 41), and 19,628 bucket-seat Sport Coupes (body 47), summing to 217,510. Every body-style count mixes six-cylinder and V8 cars together rather than splitting production out by engine, and the record's own production notes state plainly that an empty table elsewhere in this record means the fact was not researched successfully, not that nothing was built.¹

Factory prices moved oddly between six and V8 versions of the Fairlane 500 sedans: the 4-door sedan is compiled at $2,507 for the six against $2,407 for the V8, the six-cylinder car actually priced higher than the V8 as printed by the source, while the 2-door sedan followed the more expected pattern at $2,304 for the six and $2,345 for the V8; the record carries the 4-door figures exactly as the source printed them rather than correcting the apparent inversion, since no factory price list was available to check which value was the transcription error. The plain Fairlane priced more conventionally too, at $2,216 (six) and $2,319 (V8) for the 4-door sedan and $2,154 (six) and $2,257 (V8) for the 2-door, and the Sport Coupe ran $2,504 (six) and $2,607 (V8).¹

On a 115.5-inch wheelbase, the Fairlane measured 197.6 inches long overall, and the V8 Sport Coupe rode on 7.00 x 13 or 7.00 x 14 tires depending on configuration. Shipping weight for the Sport Coupe ran 3,002 lb with a V8 and 2,870 lb with the six. No engine ratings, transmission data, factory options, paint or interior offerings, performance figures, or identification codes survive in the source material consulted for this first Fairlane model year, leaving production counts, prices, and a handful of chassis dimensions as the only substance this record can document for 1962. The production figures themselves trace to OldRide.com's body-style table, itself following a Standard Catalog of American Cars lineage without naming the specific edition; the record's own notes point to that catalog directly, or to a Ford production summary, as the sources that would let these counts be checked against a factory record rather than a compiled reference site.¹