Today’s car is a 1955 Ford Fairlane Convertible owned by Chuck Short who bought the car when he was 23 and has had it for 52 years, I photographed this car at the Net Cruze Cars and Coffee event that is held at The Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. The car is finished in Raven Black and Goldenrod with a colourful two-tone Vinahyde matching interior. It is powered by a 162 hp 272 cu in, OHV V8 engine, with a Twin-Jet (2-bbl) Holley carburetor mated to a manual 3-speed w/auto planetary 4th-speed overdrive and 3.89 rear axle. Perfect set-up for snappy acceleration, yet quiet highway operation and better fuel economy. Slowing this beauty down are 11″ drum brakes in all 4-corners. The front independent suspension has angle-poised ball-joint system; rubber-bushed tilted, coil springs; tubular shock absorbers; rubber-bushed, and a 3-piece ride stabilizer. The rear suspension is a solid axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs with diagonally mounted tubular hydraulic shock absorbers.
The total number of 1955 fords produced was 1,451,157, of those 626,250 of them were Fairlanes and of those 49,966 were Sunliners . The MSRP was $2,230.00 The published top speed of 101 MPH with a 0-60 mph time of 11.6 seconds.
This is a beautiful convertible that is a great car to take to Fomoco car shows, Cars & Coffee events, or cruising to the beach top down of course . Thank you for riding along. Frank
