Ride of the Week: 1980 Ford Fairmont Futura

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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Make and model: 1980 Ford Fairmont Futura

Owner(s): Derek Honaas

Owner's hometown: Cape Girardeau

Special features:

Maximum Motorsports A arms, Caster/camber plates, and rear lower control arms. Ford Racing rear upper control arms. Four wheel disc brakes. Front spindles from a 1987 GT(larger). Five lug conversion. Low ratio power steering.

My car's name: Audrey

How I fell in love with my ride:

I rode to Sunday school in this car. My Dad, older brother, and I figured out the car was a Fox body car with a slightly longer wheelbase. The new 302 V8 and T-5 and 8.8 inch rear end from a Thunderbird Turbo Coupe bolted up without modification.

Comments

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You CANNOT trick out a Fairmont no matter what you may think! You wasted so much money and could have bought a Mustang to fix up!

-- Posted by Bman69 on Wed, May 9, 2012, at 11:25 AM
Good God Bman69. He likes his Fairmont and I reckon he used HIS money to modify it. Have you ever heard of a sleeper? This guy is different and I respect him for it. I'm not a Ford guy but it's a nice looking ride and it's what he wanted.

I've seen a million Mustangs and I'm sick of 'em. This is still America and I love seeing things like this. Hats off to you Derek! Great Job!

-- Posted by thewonder on Wed, May 9, 2012, at 4:22 PM
Two thumbs up here.

A somewhat unique car, reflecting the styling efforts in response to the post-gas crisis prices with its squared-off lines as compared to the rounded shapes of the early 70s.

IIRC, not a highly-popular car during its day, like the Impala or LTD (before it became was rebranded as the Crown Vic) or Mustang/Capri or Camaro/Firebird - which lends more to its ability to stand out.

Nice, clean-looking ride - with a low property tax assessment ($5/year tops?), and simple enough to work on and maintain as needed. Even qualifies for historic plates based on its age. :-)

Good job!

-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, May 9, 2012, at 5:35 PM
Beautiful care! I love to see people restore unusual cars.

-- Posted by Make no mistake about it on Fri, May 11, 2012, at 6:37 PM