A sketch of a new rear-wheel drive Ford Fairlane Victoria Coupe sport sedan. Ford's answer to the Mercedes CLS's low-slung four-door 'coupe' is its new Victoria Coupe models. This time around, the Fairlane's trademark 'checkmark' trim is stamped into the sheetmetal rather than affixed as separate trim pieces. Perhaps this could be built on the Mustang's platform, to more fully utilize that RWD chassis.
Hi Casey,
ReplyDeleteI like this Fairlane very much. It brings back something that a lot of use think of as a Ford trademark although it was used only for a few years. I must say I'm amused (or would that be bemused? or chagrined?) when I read about how the Mercedes-Benz CLS invented the four-door coupe. Of course Rover started it with the P5 in the 60s. It looked rather crude but it was exactly the same concept as all of these current ones. I guess there is no institutional memory among the members of the motoring press thse days. Some of the things I see written in C/D. R/T, M/T, Automobile make me think they are being written by 12-year-olds.
I think your Fairlane Victoria is one of the best of this genre, although I must say the new Audi A7 is pretty spectacular!
Paul, New York City
wow...was surprised when I read what this is! I thought it was a SUPER HIGH END car...I personally like the more rounded top, but overall is a very handsome car.
ReplyDeleteVERY GOOD IDEA.
ReplyDeleteGRANNY
Paul: I thought I was the only one that knew about the Rover P5B, lol. I agree about the enthusiast magazines these days. I thumb through them, but no longer read CD, MT, R&T regularly. There was a time I couldn't live without each magazine every month. But as my knowledge grew, and their writers seemed to shrink, I lost my taste for them.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the check of course, it was used in '55 and '56, and then sort of used in '57, but that was about it. It definitely became synonymous with the Fairlane brand all out of proportion with its actual usage!
Thanks Granny! I'd love to see some vintage cues come into totally modern cars.
Casey,
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of Rovers -- particularly love the Auntie Rover -- the P4 -- that was inspired by the post-war Studebaker and was produced for 14 years. I never saw very many of them on the street but remember them well from the New York Auto Show (I've attended every one since 1958). The P5 were a bit more preent on the street and of course the P6 (2000, 2000TC, 3500S)was, for a Rover, quite common. I guess my first Rover memory is my Rover P4 Cyclops Dinky Toy. In fact, much of my interest in and knowledge of English cars of the 50s comes from my Dinky Toys!
The check mark was kind of carried over into 1958 and 1959 but that was about it. I've always been glad that the Thunderbird did not use the check mark although I beliee that was the original plan -- I'm sure you've seen publicity pics of hte 55 with the check mark.
I rarely buy the regular American monthlies any more -- I peruse them at Barnes and Noble but don't buy unless there's really something that catches my interest. But I'm a fan of Collectible Automobile and less so of Hemmings Classic Cars or whatever they are caling it now -- I remember when it was Special Interest Autos!
Paul, New York City
my father got me a subscription to SIA in 1973 and I have every issue until they stopped! At first I didn't like Hemmings Classic Car, they had a steep learning curve. I guess they didn't carry many people over to the new magazine. I think they've gotten much better in the last year. Collectible Automobile is still my favorite old-car magazine. As soon as I see a new one on the magazine stand, my day skyrockets, lol. I know I'm going to have a great week reading every article 5 times. I have all but about 3 issues of CA's 26 years and re-read them frequently.
ReplyDeleteCasey,
ReplyDeleteI started with SIA in 1972 and then ordered the back issues from 1971. I still have all the early ones -- I was not so thrilled when Taylor/Constantine took over in the mid-70s. I subscribed sporadically but when Collectible Automobile came out in 1984, I was hooked! I think I bought the 4th issue and then ordered the back issues. I have them all and they are a prized possession!
Hemmings frequently has misinformation or reaches odd conclusions about things the motivations of marketers and designers. It's that youth thing again -- even on the old car magazines there seems to be a paucity of the sense of history. One of my favorite things about what you do is that you know whereof you speak and you understand the history. It's refreshing and getting rarer by the day!
Paul, New York City
You know, the more I look at this chop, the more BMW 7 series it looks to me ! What did you base it on ?
ReplyDeletePaul: i think the best people I've ever worked with, including artist, editors, writers, clothing store workers, printers, musicians, all have one thing is common and that is a total love for what they do. you can be great at a job, but if it's not really your passion, you'll never be the best. not that i'm the best at anything, but my love of cars and their history is what drives me to do what I do. i'm surprised at the number of people with great jobs, don't seem to have the passion. even many car designers seem to not understand what their companies were doing even 20 years ago, let alone 100 years ago. I can't understand that. I can't understand becoming a professional designer with no historical context in the back of your brain so you can shape the future more effectively.
ReplyDeleteThe same problem with HCC. I've caught so many mis-identified cars in photos, misinformation in articles ranging from tired old wives tales presented as fact to plain old facts-wrong, or wrong conclusions. As I said above though, I think they've gotten much better recently. I've emailed the publisher a few times, and I know that their deadlines are brutal. Their production/editorial dept turns out 4 magazines a month, so each title only gets a week of production time. That's not much time to finesse the details, but doesn't excuse the factual errors in stories themselves. I missed the last Collectible Automobile, (August I think) because i have to go three towns over to buy it, and I lost track of time. I'll have to order it from them, i can't bear to know I missed an entire issues of stories! I know i missed the article about '68-'69 Torinos, which I want to read the most.
PX: Very Discerning Eye, once again! I based the Fairlane on a BMW, but believe it or not I used the new Z4 roadster. I enlarged it all a bit, lol.
ReplyDelete