Fairmonts & Zephyrs

Hi, I thought I would be a little nosey today. As much as I love Stationwagons, there is something I love better. The Website that I maintain is dedicated to them, and some of you might have even visited my site. It is a site dedicated in whole to Ford Fairmonts and Mercury Zephyrs.

I was just wondering how many Ford Fairmonts or Mercury Zephyr wagons we have in this gathering?

In case you were wondering my sites address is http://stuartscustoms.freeyellow.com/Fairmont.html

I would also love to see pictures of your cars. Thanks to all that reply.

 

here's my '83 futura

 

And mine:

 

And mine too! Yeah, I've been to your site. Nice stuff!

 

All good looking wagons.Being partial to Mercurys myself,I think I'd end up with at least one Zephyr.Preferably a woodie.And two of those Cougar woodie wagons.One from the 70's,one from the 80's.The 80's one being not too different than these...23 and 33 mpg's?!?!?! Is that with a four or a six?..

 

I think the I4 got around the high 20's. There's lots of stuff you can do to the I6 to get up there too. Mr. Gasket and MSD make an Advanced Timing Curve Kit that involves a Saturday afternoon and two distributor springs. Puts the power range in the right RPMs for City and HWY. The sixes need more HP for mountain terrain (Rocky Mountain highways), but they hold their own in the city.

My I6 (200 CID) gets about 25 MPG HWY without the Curve kit. Haven't driven it much this winter.

The 302 was worn, but I'd get 17 City, 22 Hwy. The neat thing about these wagons is that they're around 2,650 lbs (Fairmonts and Zephyrs), where the 1982 Cougars are up to 3,300 lbs. That means the Marquis and Zephyr Villager (post 1981) is as well.

 

My brother-in-law has been pointing something out for a while now.Cars have gotten too heavy.Yes it's all in the name of safety,but no road car keeps you as safe as a Formula 1 or Indy car,and they're lightweight,compared to the average road car.My 68 Colony Park weighed around 3800 lbs.My 77 Aspen weighed around 3900 lbs.My 91 and 95 Tauruses weigh in at just under 4000 lbs.My 86 Colony Park is 4400 lbs. and it's way bigger than the Taurus.Brand new VW's are starting to weigh in at almost two tons...Our mpg's would be way better,if all our cars didn't weigh quite so much...My brother-in-law has been putting much newer VW engines in much older(and way lighter)VW's and getting even better mpgs than the new cars.He's gussing his late 60's VW Fastback is getting mpg's in the 70 to 80 range with a brand new turbo-diesel engine in it...So,yeah,finding a good high mpg drivetrain to put in a much lighter old wagon would probably work wonders.

 

My first thought was "how do ya know that?... ya haven't driven it 25miles!"

 

I hauled about 3,300 lbs of furniture and household stuff in my utility trailer, the wagon was full, and the roofrack too, from Guadalajara, MX to up here in 6 days during mid-August heat, running up from Laredo, TX right up the mid-US. 2,600 miles. I drove about 60-65 MPH. That was in 1999. Then I drove it up here, back and forth to work until 2006 when I dropped a bolt into the carb and blew the heads.

I love this little wagon. Since I finished her up in early August, last summer, I've hauled about 10 cubic yards of gravel. She's light on the front end with 2,500 lbs of dirt in the trailer. I found out, when I did the resto, that she had a broken coil on each of the front springs, from Mexico. I could never find the rattle in the front. Now, with the knew springs, she tracks like a Sherman tank, and steers where you're lookin'.

 

Have too! 4 tankfuls since August.

 

Ive been on your site many times, heres a pic of mine

 

Here is an interesting thread on the city-data site on the automotive forums (non-biased) on the Fairmont/Zephyr.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/automotive/600667-how-good-were-1978-83-ford.html

 

Just goes to show that all the bad Fairmonts have been eliminated!

I've never noticed any of the symptoms those guys mentioned in either of mine or Andy's.

When I lived in a GM town, the GM workers used to tell us not to buy a car that came at the end of the production year (August/ September), because they were so bored by then, that they'd through popcans and gum wrappers in the doors to give them the 'worn-in rattle' option.

I never saw any of those either.