FORTY years is a long stretch for any car badge but the times have finally caught up with the long-wheelbase Ford Fairlane.

With sales falling over the past few years, the company said local production of its long wheelbase vehicle was no longer viable.

The decision also kills off the upmarket LTD, although buyers had just about done that themselves this year with just nine retailed in the four months to the end of April.

It also indicates the continued pressure from imports and high petrol prices on the local car manufacturing industry which builds mostly large six and eight cylinder models.

Ford Australia president Tom Gorman said it was a tough decision to axe a car that had been part of the local motoring scene since 1967.

The first locally-built Fairlane was introduced that year while the LTD was launched in 1973.

"A significant decline in sales of vehicles in the upper large segment over the past few years has meant that local production of long wheelbase variants, primarily for domestic sale only, is currently no longer sustainable," Mr Gorman said.

"The emotion of this decision has been very difficult. Sometimes the hard decision and the right decision are the same one.

"The Fairlane nameplate has been a mainstay of the Ford line-up since 1967 when Ford introduced the first locally produced luxury car with the ZA Fairlane, creating a whole new market segment in the process."

Ford expects the last Fairlane and LTD cars to be built in early 2008, ahead of next year's introduction of an all new Falcon.

The Fairlane name was debuted by Ford in America in 1955, apparently inspired by Henry Ford's Fair Lane house and grounds near Ford's head office in Michigan.

The first car to carry the name in Australia arrived as an import in 1959 as a replacement for the Customline.

The cars were shipped from the US but partially assembled in Australia, with the last US-produced Fairlane launched in 1964.

In 1967 the car became Australian made with a design that essentially stretched the Falcon platform.

For many years the Fairlane and LTD went head-to-head with Holden's Statesman and Caprice models in the local market.

However, Holden has enjoyed the upper hand in recent times, particularly with the Caprice, which has retailed 780 vehicles so far this year.

Holden also enjoys the economy of scale advantages by exporting versions of its long wheelbase cars to markets like the Middle East and Korea.

Sad to see but if it aint making money then not much you can do. Ford neglected this car for so long, it was goping to take too much miney to fix

Does this mean runout prices on old stock?

i was hoping they would never come to this so enjoy the BF Fairlane while you still can

Thank god I have an FBT in mint condition......

since when did god sell you a FBT fairlane? hope thay use future fairlane money to good use....

yha sad to see them go, my grandad braught one of the last ones, and has done the extractoes, 2 hiflow cats and red back cats back plus chiped and k&n filter and is now thinkin of supercharging it......

http://www.fordmods.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=49135

Sad indeed, but let's face it today's Fairlanes/LTD's are nothing more than a Fairmont Ghia with a long wheel base. (same lights, panels, grill, dash etc) I find it hard to tell the difference between a Fairlane and a standard BA/BF Falcon. The similarity was becoming more apparent in each model since the NA/NC series in 1994...(In my opinion the NC was the last of the real Failrlane/LTD's...it had a totally different look than the equivalent EB/ED Falc (although similar dash) . It's a real shame because Fairlanes/LTD's had a place in the market for so long, but as someone else said before me it was neglected by Ford for so long. My prediction is that it won't be long before the Statesman/Caprice suffers the same fate. That segment of the market is in a state of decline and has been for years. It's ironic that Chrysler has recently entered this market IMO and is doing quite well so i hear.

My favourite LTD/Fairlane?. The 1980 LTD Cartier with the 351 V8

Cheers
Pete

But Holden sell 9 out of the 10 Stateys and Caprices they build to the Arabs. Thats the only thing keeping it going.

If they had to rely on Aust/NZ sales only, it would be as dead as the fairlane.

Unfortunately Ford did not get their thumb out when it came to export opportunities, where GM took advantage of their globalisation to fill needs with product they had to hand.

RIP fairlane.
Wouldn't mind getting one of the last ones. They are sure to have a speial edition of some kind.

Nothing wrong with this, just shows how the mistakes of the people up high in Ford have caused.

indeed

Time to start looking for both a DC LTD and AUII LTD to hang on to for dear life. They were the last true LWBs of the modern era. Gangster grilles and all.