ford fairmont durango? never heard of one...

 

I give up, is it a factory job or a custom? Canadian import maybe? Kinda odd looking either way.

 

From what i read they were made by the National Coach Corporation of Los Angeles, California, between 1978 and 1982 to replace the ranchero.

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/cto/1675790801.html

 

Seen pictures, but didn't know any actually survived. Ford made a small amount, supposedly 211.

I would love to have one.

 

Hope it's got more 'nads than the Fairmont my grandfather had. Don't know what year it was, but it looked to be the same year as the picture. Anyway, it was such a dog (6 cyl inline and auto trans) that it wouldn't even spin the tires on loose gravel! Lord knows I tried...

 

very rare these days, and go for a lot of money when one does go up for sale.
the big drawback was the tail lights being in the tailgate. if you tried moving something over-sized, you had no visible rear lights.

 

Yes these were made by an independant company. I do not remember the numbers. But I believe Collectible Automobile Magazine did and article on them. There were not many made.
This company with ford's blessing made a few hundred or less of these in California.
So they are rare and were called the Durango. Dodge steals name later.

 

I've seen them and driven one, almost bought one. Haven't seen any recently.

These were made up from 1978/83 Fairmont Futura Sport Coupes (body style 36R).

The body maker removed the back glass and window frames, fabricated the rest. If you think this is rare, I've seen one Mercury Zephyr version. Prolly the only one made,

These were shopped to all the dealers in CA, NV, AZ by the company that made them...with little success.

The first time I saw one, I thought it was a good idea, but Ford never did.

Ford had nothing to do with these cars. The company that made then bought them from a local dealer's fleet sales department.

Possibly from "Go see Cal" Worthington Ford in Long Beach, who was the largest selling dealer at that time, or Galpin Motors in Van Nuys.

1978/80: The 200 I-6 and 302 were available. 1981/83: The 200 I-6 and 255 were available. None came with the awful 3.8L V6, cuz it wasn't available in Fairmont/Zephyrs.

The 2.3L I-4 was available in Fairmont/Zephyrs, but was not offered in Durango's. The engine with its C3 trans was so anemic, it couldn't pull a sick trollop off a porcelain device.

Dodge didn't steal anything. If the name isn't protected by the company, anyone can use it. This is exactly what happened to the Futura name.

The first use of the Futura name by FoMoCo was on a 1955 Lincoln Auto Show Dream Car.

Y'all have seen it, because George Barris later acquired it, then converted it to the Batmobile used in the 1960's TV Series.

The Futura name was used on 1962/70 Falcons, 1978/83 Fairmont/Zephyr's....then Ford stopped using it...and failed to protect it.

Ford wanted to use the Futura name on their new midsized car, but ended up calling it the Fusion instead, because Pep Boys was using the name for a line of tires and wouldn't sell the rights to Ford.

Ranger, Pacer, Corsair, and Citation were the models offered by the 1958 Edsel. Ford protected the Ranger name after the Edsel died.

The Pacer name was later used by AMC for their fishbowl on wheels. Chevy used the Citation name for a line of compacts. AFAIK, there hasn't been another Corsair.

Prior to Ford using Falcon and Corsair names, these were used on 1953/55 ****** passenger cars. The Mustang name was once used on a lawnmower, so was the name Lexus.

Toyota goofed...they were all set to introduce the Lexus, then found out the name was used on a lawnmower. It cost Toyota several million bucks to acquire the rights to the Lexus name.

 

Cal Worthington..... wasn't he the dealer with the brahma bull? (his dog spot) lol, I think he owned a dealership in Phoenix also

 

The dealer in Phoenix is Earnhardt Ford. His slogan is "No Bull." If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you!

Ralph Williams Ford was the largest dealer on the planet at one time, had dealerships in CA, WA, AK, TX. I worked for the Encino (CA) store...twice.

He had a pitchman named Chick Lambert who used a German Shepard named Storm (it was rented!) in the commercials.

Cal Worthington parodied Ralph's commercials with his "My dog Spot" commercials. Spot was never a dog, but could have been anything from an Aardvark to a Zebra.

Earnhardt has copied Cal commercials...to a degree. Cal has been a dealer since 1946 (Hudson originally). During WWII, he was a B-17 pilot and flew 36 bombing missions over Germany.

 

Yes I know what you mean by the names not being patented. Dodge had the 1960 Matador which in the 70's AMC took.
I think every cra make has had its share of name sakes being used by other automakers.

 

I haven't seen a Cal Worthington ad since the 80's

 

Maybe you oughtta move to LA, I saw one of his TV ads yesterday.

He looks old...real old, cuz he is old...pushing 90. He has more more wrinkles than an underfed Basset Hound.

Cal is located in Long Beach, in the same place since 1981, has another Ford dealership in Anchorage AK, a coupla more somewhere else.

He bought the CA & AK dealerships from "Hi folks, Ralph Williams here from Ralph Williams Ford'...'where you'll get more for your car purchasing dollar."

Uh huh...I saw 100's of sales contracts attached to new car get ready RO's, so I know that's a lotta Caca del Toro!

 

Besides the Durango's Why does Ford not introduce the Ford Falcon (Ranchero) from Australia. I have looked atthem online and they look so nice. I could see them selling here. If I was amillionaire I be bringing a few of them here to show off and sell.
How hard would it be to get them to meet our emission standards.

 

It takes two to three years for a foreign vehicle to be certified by the NHTSA in order to be sold in the US.

Emissions standards, crash/safety standards, are two things the vehicle must conform to.

Many foreign vehicles have anemic 4 cylinder engines, M/T's, no A/C, no creature comforts that US consumers demand.

Ford imported the Fiesta from Germany 1978/80. It didn't sell worth a hoot. All were anemic I-4's with a 4 speed M/T. No P/S at all, no A/C was available initially, later the only way A/C was available was dealer installed. There were next to no accessories available, it was a fiasco.

In 1988/89, Ford imported the Ford Sierra from Germany, calling it the Merkur Scorpio because the car was sold by L/M dealers and GM's truck was (is) called the Sierra.

This was a TOTAL fiasco. The car was imported with an aftermarket installed A/C. The A/C was so worthless, the blower motor, even on high...could not, as salesmen said, blow out a match!

The cars overheated at a moments notice, because even with A/C, they came with one row radiators.

The onboard computer programmed for the US didn't work properly. All had to be replaced...along with the heater blower motor, radiator, and a coupla other mechanical parts (I forgot which ones).

All this work was performed by some L/M dealers after the owners were notified by mail. Some work was never done, because some ppl never got the notices. The local dealers here in LA, where most of the cars were sold, were only ordering the parts for one customer at a time (except for the parts manager at the dealer in Santa Monica who ordered enough parts for 100 cars (guess who this was!).

It cost FoMoCo over 5 grand per vehicle to fix all the problems (the dealers cost was 4 grand, so we made a grand + off each car).

But...by this time, sales had dropped to nothing, because the car was panned by every car magazine. It was a FIASCO!

Why would Ford import this truck from Australia? It would compete with the Ranger, sales of which are anemic to say the least.

The Transit Connect Ford is importing from Europe isn't selling worth a hoot, neither is the Flex, which looks like a box on wheels.

Ford owes over 20 billion dollars to creditors, as they took out massive loans before the credit tightened up, in order to stave off bankruptcy.

Ford, even though sales have improved, will not take another chance on a vehicle that there will be little demand for.