Did all fairlanes come with....

[RICH MUISE]

Hey guys, settle a disagreement between me and my brother. He was showing me a picture of a 57 fairlane 4dr crown victoria he had years ago back in California (factory air and continental kit). He told me it was all original except it originally came from the factory all black so the red color and the "side strip" weren't original. I looked at the car and said what strip are you talking about. He replied "the gold inserts, only 2 tone fairlanes had the gold stips". I said I think all fairlanes came from the factory with the gold inserts. who's right?

[Hoosier Hurricane]

Rich:

Fairlane 500s all had the gold inserts.  Fairlanes had no gold, also did not have fender and door stainless, only 1/4 panel trim.  Also, crown victoria was not built after '56.  Maybe this car was built as a Fairlane and later the 500 trim was added.

[RICH MUISE]

my typo, I meant Town Victoria 500

[Hoosier Hurricane]

I made a bad statement too.  Crown Vic was made after '56.  The name came back when, in the '80s?  But we're on the same page now.

John

[Bubba]

All:
The Fairlane 500 series and the Custom  300 series both had the gold side trim between the chrome strips. The Fairlane and the Custom series had different trim and did not have the gold trim.
you can verify this by checking the 57 Ford URL at:
http://1957ford.com/asp/modellist.aspx?catmstrid=1
BuBBa

[deereford]

Hi, I just checked the 49 thru 59 Ford parts book, in the trim section. It does show some Fairlane 500, and Custom 300 models that do not have the gold insert or the upper trim strip. I do think these are not very common, and seem to be on solid color cars. The gold insert and upper trim is called out for two-tone cars which are the most common. I seem to remember back in the day seeing only a couple without the insert and upper trim. Brad.

[RICH MUISE]

I'm winning, I'm winning, I'm winning. Oops...I lost! Thanks for the input guys, that was interesting.

[Lou]

The trim section of 49/59 master parts book was put together from other Ford Parts books. The 57 section from the 55/57 Ford Parts Body parts book. This book was compiled in July and August 1956 for the September printing. At that time the gold trim on Fairlane 500 and Custom 300s was going to be a option but as the 57s went into production Ford decided to make it standard on those 2 models. If a any 57 500 or 300 were built with out the gold strip they would have a very low serial number and a very early build date.