I’ll admit it: despite how cool this brochure made the 1980 Ford Fairmont seem, the truth is that it was a pretty boring car, at least from the perspective of someone who grew up surrounded by these boxy things. Though I’m likely being unfair, and hanging the car too much on its boxy styling. After all, this was the first Fox-platform car, which would later gain fame on the skid-mark-streaked shores of Mustanglia, as we all know. Anyway, as I was leafing through this brochure I realized something: of the two-door Fairmonts, there’s one that’s exciting and one that’s deeply dull, and I don’t understand what Ford was doing.
The Fairmont was one of those cars, which really don’t exist anymore, that was available in a staggering number of body styles. Just look up there at all the options: a four-door sedan, a two-door sedan, two wagons (one with wood paneling), and the sort of coupé version, the Fairmont Futura.
I know there are differences between a two-door sedan and a coupé, and they both have their place. I just don’t really get, in the Futura family, who the target market was for the two-door sedan? The two-door felt like a cream-colored, short-sleeved button-down shirt that a Safeway night manager might wear, while the Fairmont Futura feels like one of those black sleeveless shirts that’s partially mesh.
I mean, look – here’s the two-door:
Okay, with that subtle two-tone, I have to admit, that does look pretty great, in its crisp, rectilinear way. But those lines are extremely, even shockingly basic. Boring, possibly. A car, as pictured in a dictionary.
But the Fairmont Futura! Look at this:
That amazing B-pillar! The forward rake, acting as a sort of roll bar, defines the look of the car. The novel rear window is pretty exciting, too. It’s the same size as the regular two-door, it’s just dramatically more stylish. So why get the two-door?
Okay, there was a slightly vejazzled version of the two-door, the ES, which likely stood for something like Euro Sport, because this had a black grille, black side rear quarter vents, and a stiffer suspension setup, which is what “Euro” meant to American carmakers: black plastic and a firmer ride.
Even with all the ES-izing, it still wasn’t as exciting as the Futura:
I guess there were some people who just couldn’t hang with the excitement of that weird B-pillar and that novel glass, and had to seek comfort in the predictable, safe lines of the regular two-door?
I’m still amazed cars were once built like this, one basic model, with so many variants. Those were magical times.
The boxy styling of the Fairmont and its contemporaries may seem boring today, but at the time, coming off the styling excesses of the ’70s, they were clean, crisp designs.
It’s for the pre-gothlet, spandex, giant tee, wrist sweat band, glow in the dark joggers and teased and streaked bigly hair goth couple of course.
My dad bought a ’78 Fairmont 2-door sedan. The dealer had ordered it in base trim with no upgrades inside or out except for a vinyl roof, oddly enough.
Cheap.
Base Fairmont 2 door with a 2.3 4 banger was advertised around $4500.
Fairmont Futura 2 door, 2.3 was advertised around $5500.
Some people couldn’t/wouldn’t justify the extra $1000 for a fancier roofline.
As others said it was all about the $$$ as a base sedan was much cheaper. The target market were people looking for the lowest cost and probably felt more comfortable in a generic looking car instead of something so flamboyant. I’m pretty sure the sedan outsold the Futura.
I had a well-optioned ’81 Fairmont 2-door with the 2.3L and a five-speed manual in Bittersweet Glow. Very comfortable car. Futura was nice-looking, but more expensive. I traded a ’78 Plymouth Horizon for it. The car died when I took it to Germany while serving in the Army. Caught fire in my driveway one morning. Took the insurance check and bought a 1985 SAAB 900 Turbo Sedan.
The 5sp versions weren’t very common.
Very true. I venture I was the only guy in Lawton/Fort Sill, OK who owned one.
Almost lost your enthusiast card, till you redeemed yourself at the end.
Thanks! The Fairmont might have been better had it been turbocharged, but manufacturers were generally afraid to go that direction. That poor Lima 4-cylinder had trouble delivering the mail, so to speak.
“Bittersweet Glow”
Man if that isn’t the perfect Malaise Era color name I don’t know what is.
It was a pretty color when the sun hit it just right. Yes, that name…
The Futuras, and the 2-door Grenadas that preceded them, were designed to be baby Thunderbirds. Same look for thousands less, but still profitable because most were fairly loaded.
The 2-door sedan Fairmont was the value leader.
My parents… they bought a brand new 1980 2-door… blue on blue vinyl bench seats, no passenger side mirror, 1-speaker AM/FM radio… what a spec! Ended up being my first car when I turned 16, which was perfect for a crazy teen driver, got to learn how to drive in the snow with RWD, got to bump into friends cars with its giant rubber bumperettes and learned how to install car audio stuff, ah the memories, thanks Torch!
One of my grandfathers took that same bottom-feeder approach – he always bought CB-spec Fords. (And none of that fancy FM business, AM was all the radio he needed!)
And in addition to these variants, there was the Mercury Zephyr and Cougar, and the 2nd Gen Granada. It’s like a buffet but everything is mashed potatoes. Another weird thing about Fairmont was you had the fuddy-duddy base sedan or the quad-headlight fancy-dancy Futura. The Granada wasn’t much different, but you got a more formal grill treatment in front. Dad had a hankering for the Granada wagon, which was admittedly pretty, spacious, and practical. But we never had a Ford car until Mom ordered a, dun-dun-daah….. 5-speed baby blue 84 Tempo. Ugh.
“The Granada wasn’t much different…”
You had an entirely different roofline as well – but using the same doors as the Fairmont.
Update I recently learned that in Mexico there was the Elite II, which was the Fairmount 6-window roofline but with the formal upright grill and front from the Granada, and a 302. Mind blown.
I had a friend who owned the yellow one. It was cheap and that’s why they bought it.
Fox body front end on these, if I remember right. I had a 4 door my Grandma gave me some 30 years ago. Total piece of crap. The 2 door Futura would be my pick.
Haha, I should read the 1st paragraph.
But angular lines can be sexy if done well. Even Ford managed to do it on the 2nd. gen Granada. The 2-door Granada sedan is elegant, cool and sleek.
Dumb me. Edit: I meant the European Granada, of course.
I maintain that the Fairmont/Zephyr’s styling has aged exceedingly well, better than its contemporary competition. It’s clean, crisp, and well-proportioned. I kinda want a two-door sedan in two-tone.
Agreed.
The Fairmount has aged a whole lot better than the Tempo did… I judge the Fairmont on what it replaced and it was a much better than what came before it.
I drove a silver four-door Fairmont sedan with a red interior to my prom because my 1966 Mustang blew up its engine in route to the prom. My next car was a orange ’81 mustang 6 cylinder. It had 90 horsepower from the same engine that in my earlier 1966 mustang made 120 horsepower.
Alas, the Futura was not bright for the Fairmont.
The Futura’s so bright you gotta throw shade…
There was also the 1980 Thunderbird, which was a 2-door based on the same platform.
https://en.wheelz.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/1980-Ford-Thunderbird-1.webp
Milk it, baby! That’s a lot of very similar cars from one company.
More ‘tastefully done’ than the K-car mob.
Some observations: The Exterior Decor Group on the 4-door appears to remove the gas flap, so it must be an Eairmont. Also the photo of the 2-door ES in the snow…the standard Fox platform would spin tires at the suggestion of snow. My stepmother had a sweet Mustang convertible (navy blue with white leather and a white top) and you could keep it in drive and get out on a small incline…the car would spin (even in snow tires) and not move.
“I’m still amazed cars were once built like this, one basic model, with so many variants.”
Head over to the VAG group, where you can choose from an endless selection of
carsSUVs based on the same basic platform.It’s like GM from the 80’s.
Which version of the VW Touareg did you want? The basic VW, or the Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini, or the Bentley?
2 doors were cheaper and your kids couldn’t effect their own escape. Reasons my mother owned one, then when she started making more money it was T-Birds. 2 doors for life that lady.
I don’t know if it’s typical, but my boomer dad once lost his sister on a left turn. She was fine, but did fall out due to a poorly-functioning door latch.
I’m not sure if that’s the exact reason, but most of my friends’ parents drove 2-door vehicles, as did mine. We spent a lot of time crawling into and out of rear seats.
I think a lot of parents had the idea in their heads that the kids didn’t need to be buckled in if they were in the backseat of a 2-door
The only restraints back there were lap belts anyway – if they weren’t permanently lost between the seat back and bottom cushions.
Oh, now you’ve brought up the memories of repeatedly digging for seatbelt latches between the rear seat cushions….
…it was such a revelation when my folks bought their first Volvo in 1983 that the rear seatbelt latches were engineered to stay easily accessible, as intended.
When we were reassigned to Upper Michigan from Sacramento in fall of ’71, the first winter in the ’69 Galaxie 500 2 door hardtop, the door latches froze (water would get into the door cavities via the sun-rotted window seals, then freeze) and the doors would randomly open in turns. The rest of that winter, Mother would make sure we were wearing our seatbelts (When seated up front) and holding on to the door handles so they wouldn’t randomly open and us fall out.
That spring, she marched my Father into the local Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealer to order up a new ’72 Mercury Monterey Custom 4 door.
Those loud seatbelt buzzers made sure we kept our seatbelts on too.
I heard the story of my aunt falling out of the back of the car around a slow speed turn when she was young. Not sure the car, but it was pre seat belts.
The early eighties were Peak for two things. Utter crap pushed out by domestic manufacturers, and awesome buying opportunities for late sixties to 73 muscle and sports cars.
I’m guessing the 2 door sedan version was made because Ford thought there would be a robust market for people who wanted the impracticality of only 2 doors with the conformist style of the sedan. They thought the Futura looked too aggressive. Obviously, these are the kind of people who never got over Tom Hanks playing a bad guy that one time and who think ketchup is spicy.
When did Hanks play a bad guy?
In the TV show where he cross dressed to steal housing opportunities from women? (Bosom Buddies)
When he played that annoying cop with a bad accent who relentlessly hunted a document artist just trying to make a living through his art.
When he was Michael J Fox’s drunk uncle on the run from the FBI.
Road to Perdition, excellent movie, more of good-baddy.
Correct, a murdering gangster with a heart of gold.
Am I the only one who saw The Ladykillers?
Uh, yeah, probably.
Bonfire of the Vanities.
Forrest Gump. Guy was pure evil. Everyone who got close to him died or was mutilated.
Alright, this answer I believe!
The better question is why would anyone have purchased a Fairmont at all? My mother had one when I was a kid (dark brown with dark brown vinyl interior and no AC. I still have burn scars on the backs of my thighs). To this day she still rolls her eyes whenever it comes up and refers to it as the worst purchase she ever made in her life.
they were crap and made the Granada seem like a benz. not as much as Ford would have liked you to think, but the Fairmont was anything but Fair.
The rebellious buyers of the 80’s weren’t having any of those interesting details and designs on their cars. Those delightfully sculpted and adorned cars of the 60s were their parents’ cars and they were different. Out was everything of visual interest and in was boxy and bland.
The 2-door sedan was cheaper, for one thing, and it also provided a better rear-seat experience, if you were the sort of buyer who cared about your passengers in the back.
Came here to say the same thing, the regular was cheaper.
If you cared about your passengers, you’d get the 4-door.
Not if your kids were still pretty young. More than flexible enough to scramble back that and as they rolled around wrestling there was no chance they could accidentally open the door and fall out.
Or if you were just looking for the cheapest option for a family car, the 2-door sedan was the modern equivalent of $2,000 less than the 4-door, inflation adjusted, and had the same rear seat passenger room. And I’ll bet you could get some deals, 2-door sedans weren’t exactly flying off dealer lots anymore by the late 70s/early 80s, it was a nearly obsolete body style by then
The Fairmount Futura is my answer to yesterday’s question on what car should be a truck.
Look at that rear B-pillar line, it’s just BEGGING to be a Ute.
Please Google the Ford Durango pickup.
Sold. I’ll take it!
I put my finger over the the glass behind the B pillar and made it into a ute. Yes, it looks perfect like that.
I’d buy the Futura for no other reason then because the ad has a spinning turbo moon in the sky.