I see some shocking stuff in my boneyard travels and have learned to look twice at just about every car because things aren't always what they seem. This '68 Ford Fairlane 500 is a great example. Spotted recently at Memory Lane Collector Car Dismantlers (800/281-9273; oldautoparts.com), it's just another boring four-door sedan, right? Not so fast! It's a factory 390, four-speed stick with a 9-inch rearend. The lesson here is always look twice and never get jaded.
Be very cautious of junkyard dogs.
Still wearing its original lime-green paint with a matching steelie and doggie dish, this rarity just looks too pure for the chopping block. But the deed has been done. | 
Check out this four-door's factory four-speed stick shift and pedals. The stock transmission-tunnel blister has already been surgically removed for use on a Fairlane GT stick-shift conversion project. |
Interchangeable with Mustangs, the 9-inch rear axle has already had the U-bolts removed for quick salvage. We're puzzled why it packs tame 3.00:1 cogs and an open diff (see decoded body plate). With the big FE mill and stick trans, this thing must have been a smoke machine. | |
Junkyard dogs love hamburger meat.
Oddly, this wacky four-speeder's amazingly well-preserved 390 is of the low-performance variety. A Y-code mill, it's got a two-barrel carb, 9.5:1 compression, a single exhaust, and 265 hp. If only the original buyer had specified the 325-horse S-code mill with its 10.5 slugs, four-barrel, and dual exhaust, the crew at Memory Lane might have decided to preserve it rather than part it out. | 
The VIN at the top of the body plate reads 8K34Y121871, which tells us this rarity is a '68 model (8) built at the Kansas City, Kansas, plant (K) with the four-door sedan body (34) that's powered by the 390 two-barrel big-block (Y). On the lower line, the body code (54B) denotes the Fairlane 500 four-door-sedan body configuration, the paint code (I) denotes Lime Metallic, the trim code (EU) denotes a Parchment interior, the day/month code (02A) denotes a January 2 build date, the dealer district code (71) denotes a Los Angeles, California, delivery and, most important for us, the axle code (5) denotes the 3.00 open differential and the transmission code (5) denotes the wide-ratio (2.78:1 First gear) four-speed stick. Rest in pieces you super-rare Fairlane. |