3 pedal Fairmont

https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/cto/d/west-mifflin-1981-ford-fairmont/7520631845.html
 

I don't know much about these but what a clean car, and I love a blue interior, 2.3 turbo swap ?

Sedan manual.  I did not expect that!  

The text says no AC.  Zooming in on the picture I think this means it was built without AC.  Super stripper (but wire hubcaps.)  I'm gonna guess at the time, plaid cloth and passenger mirror were not stock to stripper model which was likely sweaty vinyl eveywhere.  

All those pics and nothing underhood.

I'd bet a T5 would be a simple bolt-in as well.

Seller:  "4 speed 4 cylinder"?  I thought a six was basic and high end was an eight.  No matter, the plaid says sleeper, right up until you uncork the headers.  :~ )

I had one of those.  I called it a 444.  Four door, four cylinder, four speed.  It was a terrible car.  I collected parts to put a 5.0 in it but my kid brother needed wheels before I got around to it so I gave it to him

Oh the things I would do to ruin that car. Let me count the ways....

My dad owned two of these both with the straight six but one was auto the other manual. Some dufus tried to back across oncoming traffic right into my door as I sat at the light.  If Ford had put the horn in the center of the wheel instead of on the turn signal stalk it may have ended differently.

914Driver said:

Seller:  "4 speed 4 cylinder"?  I thought a six was basic and high end was an eight.  No matter, the plaid says sleeper, right up until you uncork the headers.  :~ )

The 4 cyl. was not uncommon in them. Imagine a 4, at, and ac!!!

I think at some points it got the 200 I 6, and a V6 was available, and 2 different V8s. The prolly 150 hp 302 was the "fast" one!!!

In reply to APEowner :

The 4dr cars had 460 ac... roll all for windows down, and hit 60 mph!

I drove one, I've literally ridden faster bicycle's.

Seriously, I had doubts it would do freeway speeds. Getting up to 25 on residential streets required WOT.

In reply to Antihero :

I've driven 'em at the time. Slow even at the time, compareatvly , but not that bad, unless broken. 
was just chatting about the magnum wagon I had with the 2.7 V6. Fast, no. But the web is FULL of stories abou how dangerously slow they are... those folks never drove a slow car, if they think that!

03Panther said:

In reply to Antihero :

I've driven 'em at the time. Slow even at the time, compareatvly , but not that bad, unless broken. 
was just chatting about the magnum wagon I had with the 2.7 V6. Fast, no. But the web is FULL of stories abou how dangerously slow they are... those folks never drove a slow car, if they think that!

I can't say this was perfect, I walked away from it because it smelled absolutely terrible from sitting in a barn for a decade with mice living in it

That's a nice gauge package. That had to be an option. 

I know they were terrible cars, but wow that is a time capsule example. 

I still have a Chilton manual for one of these. My father had a Fairmont years ago and I occasionally had to do work on it. 

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

At the time, considering the contemporary options, they were slightly above average. Modern younger car guys tend to forget how good they've got it!

The Fox body mustang changed set a new standard for inexpensive hot rodding. And that's basically a 4 door fox body mustang. Ford, at the time, was savy enough to not use that name, unlike today! 

In reply to 03Panther :

Slightly above average terrible is still terrible. 

I drove mine from the Lake George, NY area to Long Island and back many times and while it certainly wasn't a performance car I wouldn't call it dangerously slow.  It would run 70 MPH comfortably and would, if you wrung it's neck, handle entrance ramps OK.  According to this site Link to the first website that came up in my google search they were cable of sub 20 second quarter mile times.  Again, not a performance car but not dangerously slow.

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to 03Panther :

Slightly above average terrible is still terrible. 

Oh, yea! The early 70s to mid 80s put out some of the worst cars ever made. When the fox body was one of the better platforms...

If I had more space and a bigger budget......

In reply to 03Panther :

As bad as the Fairmont was,  it was replaced by the Tempo/Topaz.  It's hard to think of the Tempo/Topaz as the improvement of anything! 

6.2 aluminum LSX and T56 would be amazing in that car. And maybe something a little nicer than the wire hubcaps.

Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) said:

That's a nice gauge package. That had to be an option. 

I was going to say, honestly pretty shocked that it has a tachometer, let alone oil and voltage gauges.

In reply to John Welsh :

Soooo true!

Very simular to the Mustang Gt. Except for the extra vent I would bet the gauges and bezel are the same.

That thing is giving me unpleasant flashbacks to DW's '81 Fairmont Futura.  Even with the 6 cylinder it was a dog.  The interior was the same shade of blue, but fortunately avoided the plaid.