Ford Fairlane (Australia)

Ford Fairlane (Australia)

The Ford Fairlane and LTD are full-size luxury vehicles that were produced in a series of models by Ford Australia between 1959 (with the LTD commencing production in 1973) and 2007.

From 1959 to 1964, the Fairlane was a locally assembled version of the American Ford Fairlane which had taken its name from Henry Ford's estate, Fair Lane, near Dearborn, Michigan. This was Ford Australia’s top of the range model until replaced by an Australian-assembled version of the full-size American Ford Galaxie. In 1967 Ford Australia reintroduced the Fairlane, this time as an Australian-developed, luxury, long-wheelbase version of its mainstream Falcon, positioned between the Falcon and the Galaxie. The locally assembled Galaxie evolved into the LTD which was itself replaced in 1973 by an Australian developed, Fairlane-based model, also known as the Ford LTD. In North America, unlike its designation in Australia, it was not considered a luxury vehicle. In Australia, "LTD" originally stood for "Lincoln Type Design", although Ford Australia later promoted a connection with the meaning "Limited".

The Fairlane and LTD competed in the marketplace with the Holden Brougham (1968–1971), the Statesman (1971–1984) and later with the Holden Statesman and Caprice (1990–2007).