Has anyone seen any or read any documentation about any that were produced?
I have recently had someone contact me claiming to own one and he would like me to examine it.
Also another individual on a forum is claiming that FoMoCo built a run of 50 units with C-4 automatic transmissions late in the year.
None of the documents I have show any referance to automatic K code Fairlanes prior to 1965.
Thanks
Alex, I almost bought an original 64 Fairlane with a Hipo and original C4 with a radio delete so I have seen at least one. The part number for the Hipo flex plate is a C4OZ 6375 E which gives some credence to the 64 Fairlane Hipo C4. The reason that I did not buy the car is that I already had a 65 Fairlane with a Hipo C4 and I did not want another automatic as I am a 4 speed kind of guy.
-Fred-
I agree with Fred as I've had several 64 Hipo Fairlanes that came with C-4.Was really the first year for trans but I wonder if they were different then the Mustang Hipo C-4's since they came out in 66?
Thanks guys.
That flexplate number could have been for the 65 car as it was already in the 65 Fairlane brochures as of 8-64. (I have one)
I know for a fact that you could get a automatic 289 Hipo Mustang in late 65 as I have seen at least 2 of those at MCA shows.
I guess I can see 1-5 64 Fairlanes being made as "build deviations", but a run of 50 I have trouble getting my head around????
You would think that we of all people (the K code community) would know about them.
Actually, we do. I talked to John Onken, Fairlane Planner at Ford, back in the 1980s about these cars. Her is the story. Around the Dearborn area, a local racer had stuck a C4 behind
a 289 HiPo and was doing quite well at the races. Word got out,
so when Fairlane Planning Manager John Onken and Executive
Engineer Howard Freers got together for their weekly meeting to
discuss joint planning/engineering issues related to the Fairlane,
they casually discussed the possibility of a high performance
Fairlane with an automatic. Howard mused that maybe the C4
transmission had enough torque capacity that Transmission Division
would let them put it behind the high performance engine.
Howard checked into it and found that the C4 torque capability
was just two or three foot-pounds over the 312 maximum
torque output of the high performance 289 engine. He also found
out that the engineers in Transmission Division were willing to
accept the combination as long as engine torque was within the
C4’s torque limitations. Howard quietly neglected to tell them
how much horsepower the engine was going to put out!
Howard’s next question was to John Onken. “How do we
make this happen?” John said that if Howard would get the car
built, he would get Don Frey, then Assistant General Manager of
Ford Division, to drive it. A few weeks later Howard called John
saying he had the car built, and now the ball was in John’s court
for getting Don to drive it.
John Onken took the car over to Ford Division, talked to the
superintendent of the garage and said he had a car, he thought
Mr. Frey would like to drive. John left the car in Don Frey’s stall
and dropped off a note to Don’s secretary that there was a car in
his stall that John Onken thought Don might like to drive that
night.
About 20 minutes after John Onken got to his office the next
day, he got a call from Don Frey, “That’s a great car! What do
we need to do to make it happen?” John explained that the
Transmission Division signed off on the torque issue, so all that
was needed was to tell the engineers to release it. Don Frey said,
“Let’s do it!”
Well, it turned out the engineers needed to do a little more
than bolt it up, now that they were roped into the deal by Don
Frey’s approval. The result was the release of Ford Technical
Service Bulletin (TSB) 7053, Article 26, dated May 11, 1964, which
covered the revised service procedures for the new C4 automatic
with the high performance 289.
So, there is your documentation to the fact. In my Fairlane K-code Registry I have three such cars. One I have actually driven. Two are hardtops and the third is a hardtop Sports Coupe. Few of these cars were made because it was late in the production year and not nationally advertised until 1965. I have one of the 1965s. I believe that I posted the PDF covering this option if someone can find it within these forums.
The HiPo C4 for 1965 and 1966 was the same. The 1967 was different because of the 1-2-D selction pattern. The flex-plate stamped number is C4OE-6375-C.
Thanks Bob,
That's just what I wanted to hear (read).
I guess there is a possibility that there actually were 50 of them made all in all?
Great information and story. Very interesting and similar to the Pisano K code 64 Comet saga. Mercury K code that is, 210 HP version.
Detailed records have not been uncovered, so getting to numbers is iffy at best. However, the HiPo block sequence numbers helps. Based on these and production numbers we do known, I estimate that 3,000±100 1964 Fairlane HiPos were made. I have 160 recorded VINs or sightings with three being automatics. Statistically, it suggests a number between 50 and 60. But, the real number remains unknown.
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