LA WOMAN — FROM SEEDY TO SUBLIME 74:
THIS FAIRLANE MAY HAVE BEEN CRUISING THE STREETS OF LA WHEN THE DOORS BROUGHT OUT THEIR ICONIC HIT SONG ABOUT THE SEEDY SIDE OF LIFE IN LOS ANGELES, BUT THERE’S NOTHING SEEDY ABOUT IT NOW!
As retirement age was approaching for Tony Silcock, the thought of getting back behind the wheel of a classic car was nagging at him. After all, it’d been a few years since he’d owned anything of interest, and he’d soon be having plenty of time up his sleeve to enjoy something a little special. But what to buy? This inevitable question was something that took plenty of research for Tony to find the answer to, although when he came across this particular 1963 Fairlane 500, he was hooked straight away. “I watched it for a couple of months — couldn’t figure out why it hadn’t sold,” he says. “So I rang the guy and talked about it with him over several calls and decided to progress it further.”
Of course, we know that nothing in the classic car world is easy, and there was no way you’d be reading this if Tony simply bought the car and drove off happily. “I got a so-called expert appraiser to have a look at it and he came back with an absolutely glowing report,” he explains. While the guys from McCullough Shipping made the delivery to our shores simple, as soon as the car was rolled out of the container, Tony could see that the ‘expert’s’ appraisal had been anything but expert: “Straight away I could see a couple of old poorly done accident repairs, not to mention the brakes being
non-existent and it having multiple oil leaks. Note to self — don’t trust American appraisers.” Sadly this would be the first jab in a David Tua– sized combo, the second being the diagnosis of cancer. The only plus side to it all was that Tony decided that if he had inspected the car himself, he would have still bought it, he just wouldn’t have paid quite as much for it. Although, for now at least, none of that mattered, as Tony had his health to worry about — the car could wait.
As with most cancer treatment, it was a roller coaster full of various ups and downs, and, during this time, Tony knew that he needed to make a decision; would he continue with the car, pay someone to do it for him, or cut his losses and walk away from it? Having paid the money to buy it, it’d be nice to get some enjoyment from it, and, thankfully, that’s the option he chose. A chat some months earlier with Malcolm Sankey of Matamata Panelworks stuck in his mind, and although he’d ideally liked to have been out in the shed doing it himself, at that stage, handing it over to the experts was going to be the only way to get it done. “One thing led to another, and, after telling him my story, he took the job on. Pretty sure I jumped the queue on a few other cars …” Tony mentions happily.
As always, the plan to get the car mobile soon snowballed, and while it was a much more comprehensive build than Tony had intended, it was also — on the Matamata Panelworks’ scale, at least — a very simple build. Over the next 15 months, the
car was stripped to a bare shell, acid dipped at Kiwi Metal Polishers, then loving restored top to bottom in-house by the Panelworks team. Originally specced with a 260ci engine, Ford-O-Matic two-speed automatic transmission, and factory bucket seats, some may claim the Fairlane 500 Sports Coupe to be Ford’s first muscle car, being on sale a year before the Mustang. That didn’t stop Tony from adding a whole lot more muscle to it, though. He’s quick to give Panelworks the credit too, but that’s downplaying the role that he played in the build, working on the floor as his health allowed. Being the junior on the build meant that he got all the fun tasks, such as cleaning up parts, polishing chrome and stainless, cleaning nuts and bolts, and despite it being a fair few years since he’d been a legitimate apprentice, he loved it. “You quickly become a mate and not a client when you are on the floor all day with the guys,” he says of the experience.
While his initial thought was to drop a small block crate motor in, the sight of a lonely 347ci Roush engine sitting in the corner at Panelworks soon saw the build step up a gear. Tony explains: “It was originally fitted into a Mustang they had built up; however, the owner changed his mind and decided to fit a big block into it, so Malcolm decided to hang onto the Roush, as he knew somebody would take it for a future build.” That someone was Tony, though it wasn’t just a bolt-in job as the Roush headers, for the Mustang refused to fit the Fairlane without major surgery.
A LONELY 347CI ROUSH ENGINE SITTING IN THE CORNER AT PANELWORKS SOON SAW THE BUILD STEP UP A GEAR
Instead, Hedman Headers had the solution to the problem. Of course, the engine couldn’t be put into a stock bay, full of holes and unsightly wiring, so the compartment was liberated of any unnecessary adornments, even the brake booster assembly — replaced by an RRS under-dash unit. While working their magic in there, the team stiffened up the inner guards, allowing the shock towers to go on a bit of a diet to help create space for the headers — more room for future spark-plug replacement was certainly an added bonus too! As you can guess, the old two-speed also got the biff, the simple explanation being that Tony’s intending on clocking up as many miles as he can, and a four-speed with electronic overdrive would make that easier. He does wonder now though, if the Ford AODE was the right choice, as the thought of rowing through the gears manually does hold some appeal. That said, there are certainly no complaints coming from him. This transmission was mated to a nine-inch diff with 3.5:1 ratio and RRS-supplied 31-spline axles. The mad scientists at RRS also supplied one of their three-link rear suspension set-ups, complete with adjustable coilovers and Watt’s linkage. As the diff needed to be narrowed during the build, the idea of mini tubbing the car was bounced around, but eventually decided against, as Tony felt he could still get a good-size tyre-and-wheel combo under the
TONY’S INTENDING ON CLOCKING UP AS MANY MILES AS HE CAN
stock fenders and achieve the desired appearance. And yep, he’s very happy with the outcome there too, as he’s always been a fan of the “’70s and ’80s big-and-bulging sidewall look”.
The front end was also brought closer to terra firma with the installation of RRS coilovers inside those narrowed strut towers. It’s a system that Tony first saw on a display stand back in 2018 and loved. He says that the RRS system, “immediately struck a note with me. The simple bolt-in fitment, disc brakes, and the ability to adjust the height and ride ticked all the boxes with what I wanted.” Tony ordered RRS front calipers and discs during the build, along with a matching set for the rear end. The interior follows the same attention to detail as the engine bay and undercarriage, with an interior trim kit sourced from Macs Auto Parts in the US and fitted locally by Ross Mischewski.
“We wanted to upgrade the gauges but try and retain the original look, so new ones were sourced from Dakota Digital, and although slightly larger than the originals, the dash was modified to accommodate them,” says Tony.
Of course, the workmanship is such that if you didn’t know, you would simply never pick it. Making the shifter work was a touch harder, however, as Tony explains: ”In line with keeping everything as original-appearing as possible, the gear-shifter posed a few issues. I wanted to get away from the steering-column gear position indicator and go to a console-mounted selector. I came up with a solution when I found a repro manual four-on-the-floor gear lever with rubber boot and chrome bezel on the internet. I bought it and took it to Malcolm and asked him if it was feasible as an auto selector. He looked at it and said, ‘If this is what you want, we will make it work!’ The end result is when people look at it they assume it is a manual four-on-the-floor.”
The completed build was certed, WOF’d, and registered just prior to Christmas, and is now taking pride of place in Tony’s garage. The ‘LAWOMN’ plate was the finishing touch — Tony came up with the name when it hit him that the car would have been cruising the streets of LA when The Doors brought out their iconic hit song of the same name about the seedy side of life in Los Angeles. Now, freshly rebuilt and hitting the rural roads of Waikato, resplendent in a fresh coat of Ford Corinthian White paint, she’s a well-travelled and well-oiled machine. Nothing seedy about it.