Author Topic: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser  (Read 3254 times)

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AlanCasida

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My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« on: April 23, 2020, 07:26:03 PM »
Here are a few pictures of my good friend's '57 Fairlane. He has owned since 1978 and it has been a race car since 1964. At one point it sported a stack injected 427FE. He added the straight axle to give the gasser look plus that's what he has wanted to do ever since he first got it. It now sports a 512 BBF(460) and a TKO600 5 speed. HE is just about finished with the restoration and it is absolutely stunning, just a really beautiful car.   

shady

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2020, 08:12:33 AM »
Nice. I loved '57s all of my life.
What goes fast doesn't go fast long'
What goes fast takes your money with it.
So I'm slow & broke, what went wrong?
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57 lima bean

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2020, 08:42:47 AM »
         Nice ride Alan.Sad that people install 385 series engines in these. ::)

Dumpling

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2020, 09:02:21 AM »
Is there a reason for the crossover tube from engine to radiator?

AlanCasida

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2020, 09:09:38 AM »
Is there a reason for the crossover tube from engine to radiator?
He is running a double pass radiator so the inlet and outlet are on the same side.

jayb

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2020, 09:24:34 AM »
         Nice ride Alan.Sad that people install 385 series engines in these. ::)

That's a fact.  You should be ashamed of yourself, Drunk Monkey  ;D
Jay Brown
- 1969 Mach 1, Drag Week 2005 Winner NA/BB, 511" FE (10.60s @ 129); Drag Week 2007 Runner-Up PA/BB, 490" Supercharged FE (9.35 @ 151)
- 1964 Ford Galaxie, Drag Week 2009 Winner Modified NA (9.50s @ 143), 585" SOHC
- 1969 Shelby Clone, Drag Week 2015 Winner Modified NA (Average 8.98 @ 149), 585" SOHC

   

shady

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2020, 09:35:40 AM »
I get the whole 385 thing, but stacks and pie crusts would do it for me.
What goes fast doesn't go fast long'
What goes fast takes your money with it.
So I'm slow & broke, what went wrong?
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AlanCasida

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2020, 10:15:59 AM »
I get the whole 385 thing, but stacks and pie crusts would do it for me.
The motor in it now is just to get the car going and the bugs worked out. He has a supercharged 557 that will be going in to it. Unfortunately, the injected 427 was ran back in the 60s and was long gone before he got the car. He looked into the pie crust slicks but the only ones out there are recaps and he didn't really want to run those.

cjshaker

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2020, 10:37:16 AM »
« Last Edit: April 24, 2020, 10:39:16 AM by cjshaker »
Doug Smith


'69 R-code Mach 1, 427 MR, 2x4, Jerico, 4.30 Locker
'70 F-350 390
'55 Ford Customline 2dr
'37 Ford Coupe

Rory428

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2020, 11:22:42 AM »
Nice looking car, although I do cringe everytime I see the cutout rear wheel wells on these old cars.  I understand thats how it was "done in the day", but the thought of sawing away at hard to find virgin sheetmetal ........, hope it was rusty to start with. I do like the "Gasser" look, but IMHO, nobody was using 385 series engines in Gassers back then, kinda like putting a Chevy LS in a 55-57 Chevy or Chevy 11 gasser, may well run great and be fast, but just "doesn`t fit" the style of car. Again, my opinion.
1978 Fairmont,FE 427 with 428 crank, 4 speed Jerico best of 9.972@132.54MPH 1.29 60 foot
1985 Mustang HB 331 SB Ford, 4 speed Jerico, best of 10.29@128 MPH 1.40 60 foot.
1974 F350 race car hauler 390 NP435 4 speed
1959 Ford Meteor 2 dr sedan. 428 Cobra Jet, 4 speed Toploader. 12.54@ 108 MPH

Val406

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #10 on: April 24, 2020, 11:25:54 AM »
That's a beautiful car Alan. No shame in running a 385 series either... going to Monster Truck shows made a believer out of me. Back then they had a minimum weight of 10,000 lbs. They jumped 15ft. in the air with ease and did it all night too. Very nice car.

cjshaker

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #11 on: April 24, 2020, 12:23:45 PM »
Nice looking car, although I do cringe everytime I see the cutout rear wheel wells on these old cars.  I understand thats how it was "done in the day", but the thought of sawing away at hard to find virgin sheetmetal ........, hope it was rusty to start with. I do like the "Gasser" look, but IMHO, nobody was using 385 series engines in Gassers back then, kinda like putting a Chevy LS in a 55-57 Chevy or Chevy 11 gasser, may well run great and be fast, but just "doesn`t fit" the style of car. Again, my opinion.

If you want to cringe, watch old demolition derbys. Those will make you cry. Or watching all the '30s Fords being cut up for roundy round racing back in the day. They were just unwanted old cars back then, but it's still painful to watch.
Doug Smith


'69 R-code Mach 1, 427 MR, 2x4, Jerico, 4.30 Locker
'70 F-350 390
'55 Ford Customline 2dr
'37 Ford Coupe

frnkeore

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #12 on: April 24, 2020, 12:26:07 PM »
'57's are one of my favorite Ford's, too! But, (there are always "but's" online ;) ) on '57's, the front bumper enhances there look so much. I think it would look much better with a fiberglass bumper. I could live with the lack of a bumper on the rear.

I like the radius wheel well, it was common in my day and MUCH easier to get the big tires on and off. The 385, not so much but, a Cammer, hell yes!!

In my day, there were lots of A/G and A/GS type cars, driven or towed on the street (SoCal) and weekly street racing. It was the class that everyone watched the results in. One of the most fun classes to watch at the drags, was AA/A and AA/FA (in those days, AA stud for AWFUL AWFUL :) )

This is my best friends '32 that we later put my LR in. We street raced it often.
Frank

RJP

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #13 on: April 24, 2020, 01:52:37 PM »
         Nice ride Alan.Sad that people install 385 series engines in these. ::)
Would you prefer it had an LS engine in it? May not be a FE but least it has a Ford in it.

AlanCasida

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Re: My friend's 1957 Fairlane gasser
« Reply #14 on: April 24, 2020, 05:21:22 PM »
Nice looking car, although I do cringe everytime I see the cutout rear wheel wells on these old cars.  I understand thats how it was "done in the day", but the thought of sawing away at hard to find virgin sheetmetal ........, hope it was rusty to start with. I do like the "Gasser" look,
Well the wheel wells were radiused back in the 60s. The car does have some cool period pieces including fiberglass fenders, hood(not on car when pics were taken)  and trunk lid and the original custom steering wheel from the 60s . As far as the 385 series motor, it is what it is. Over it's lifetime  the car has had about every type of Ford motor known in it from a 292 Y block to what it has now. It also has a lot of local history which is cool.  Here are a couple of pictures of from back in the day. Probably at Salina or Wichita, KS.