Well into the early fall, Ford advertisements for the new Thunderbird continues to show the Fairlane Stripe, but it now appears that perhaps as few as two were actually built that way, these being pre-production prototypes. From all accounts, those who favored the clean, unembellished, straight lines of the "bird" won out and the dies were scrapped after having formed only a very few sets of Thunderbird-Fairlane stripes. No production Thunderbirds appear ever to have been so adorned.

Guisleman lucked out as the car had already undergone a full frame-off restoration but he wasn't taking any chances. He had two complete examinations done to be certain the car had not been altered in any way. Vintage Vehicles, in Wautoma, WI, went over each nut and bolt and declared that the restoration was a fine job. A certified appraiser also took a look and Guisleman was able to secure an original owners manual to check the car against.

The Owners Manual is a collectors piece all on it's own. Even the pencil drawings show the Fairlane Stripe and since there were only a couple of these cars produced, it stands to reason that the manual is just as rare.

The Fairlane trim was opted for in the pre-production models over the fender louvers that became synonymous with production T-birds in 1955. This car also sports a prototype Continental Kit which is slightly longer than production model kits. A pair of exhaust pipes protrude out through decorative chromed donuts and extend past the tail lights and Continental Kit. They are unique in that as the molecules heat up from the headers back, the tail pipes lengthen about an inch. They retract again once the system cools.

The engine is an Overhead Valve V-8, 292 cubic inches with a bore of 3.75 and a stroke of 3.30. The wheelbase is 102 inches. The manual cautions that at a road clearance of 5.5 inches, one should "keep that in mind when driving on rugged, country terrain."

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