A pair of cheap “300” sedans was added (renamed Custom/Custom 500 for Diamond Painting France ’64), Diamond Painting and there was extra midyear excitement in a set of 500 and 500XL sports hardtops with skinny-pillar “slantback” rooflines, a bit starchier than the previous Starliner but again aimed right at the inventory-car ovals. All had pillarless-hardtop rooflines, the new rage in Big Three wagons. 4-door Ranch and Squire wagons and a brace of two-door Diamond Painting hardtops have been added for ’63. Initially, Fairlane supplied two- and 4-door sedans in base and sportier 500 trim, plus a bucket-seat 500 Sport Coupe.
Begun in 1992, this supplied any of the four LX models with a number of fashionable options for just $10,899 with 5-pace manual transmission or $11,631 with non-compulsory 4-velocity computerized. An non-obligatory 5-speed handbook got here along for 1983. All-coil four-wheel independent suspension persisted throughout, with MacPherson struts and decrease control arms fore, modified struts on trailing arms and lower control arms aft. Escort’s unique 1.6-liter (98-cid) engine had just 69 horsepower, but by 1983 was as much as 72/80 horsepower with two-barrel carb or 88 horsepower in optional throttle-body gas-injected kind.
These got here with the 335-bhp 428 V-eight that had first appeared in the “19681/2” Mercury Cyclone because the “Cobra Jet.” A $133 possibility was “Ram-Air,” a fiberglass hood scoop connecting to a particular air-cleaner meeting with a valve that ducted incoming air immediately into the carb. This ran on common gas with a two-barrel carb and delivered 210 bhp; with a four-barrel it made 230 horsepower on premium fuel, though emissions considerations quickly put an finish to that version.
The worth-oriented GL sedan and wagon received an up to date Vulcan pushrod V-6, whereas the nicer LXs had been treated to a 3.0-liter model of the twincam Duratec V-6 with 200 bhp, thought-about by many buyers to be nicely worth its $500 premium. Offered with 98- and 122-cid engines by way of 1973, then 122- and 140-cid fours, it was progressively dressed-up and civilized with nicer trim and extra comfort choices. Maverick’s final gesture to the youth market was the Stallion, a 1976 trim package much like those offered on the Pinto and Mustang II.
Maverick’s true successor bowed for 1978 with a reputation borrowed from Ford’s Australian subsidiary: Fairmont. Sharing a coupe bodyshell and operating gear with that yr’s new fat-cat Mercury Cougar, this Grand Torino Elite leaned closely on “Thunderbird tradition” with most each private-luxurious cliche of the interval: Diamond Painting overstuffed velour inside, a sq. “formal” grille, stand-up hood ornament, and a vinyl-covered rear half-roof with dual “opera” home windows.
The 14-model 1971 lineup was principally a carryover of the previous year’s. Ford’s major 1971 announcement was the 4-cylinder Pinto, Diamond Painting UK a 2000-pound, Diamond Painting France 94.2-inch-wheelbase subcompact with fastback styling in two-door and Runabout three-door hatchback models. The one major complaint was a marked tendency to nosedive in “panic” stops, aggravated by overboosted power brakes.
