Australian Muscle Car 2020-02

years on no one is quite sure exactly how the
fridge’s electricals work, Reed has chosen not
to tempt fate and connect it up to the fuel tank…
The fridge remains in place, but for display
purposes only.
The Fairlane’s spell as a company director’s
car lasted less than two years. Even after the
Ford exec had moved onto something new (one
of the shiny new XK model Falcons which Ford
began manufacturing at the Broadmeadows
plant in 1960, we wonder?), GZT-501 remained
the property of Ford – and as a pre-production
prototype vehicle may well have been earmarked
for the crusher.
But Ford employee Alf Doherty knew about
the car and had his eye on it. After some
negotiation, Doherty was able to do a deal with
his employers to secure the car as part of his
remuneration package. Because of the company
protocol which required any Ford that left the
factory to first pass through the dealership
network the Fairlane was delivered to Ford
dealer Provincial Motors which then ‘on-sold’ it to
Doherty in November of 1961.
Alf used the car only sparingly – even 60
years on it has yet to clock up 60,000 miles
(100,000km) and for an extended period was
kept stored under cover in a garage.
Cliff, Alf’s son, remembers as children growing
up the blunt warning from their father about
the big Ford sitting in the garage and covered
by blankets: ‘touch the car and I’ll chop your
bloody fingers off!’ Alf died in 2007. The Fairlane
remained the property of his wife, Dorothy, until
she passed away in 2014. Steve Reed purchased
it from the Doherty family in 2017.
Today the car remains more or less as Alf had it.
“It’s got some non genuine gauges which I
think Alf put in the car,” Reed says. “Otherwise it’s
standard.
“I have done a couple of mechanical things
to it. The diff had a bit of a whine in it, so I fixed
that, and I’ve had both lower control arm ball
Above: Auxiliary under-dash gauges aren’t standard,
but otherwise the interior is as it left the Ford factory.
Right: As it was a Ford executive company car, the
Fairlane had a few added niceties, like additional fuel
tank and even a fridge - which ran on petrol!
joints replaced because there was a little bit of
movement there – and I want to drive the car.
I want it to be right, and there’s no way to fix a
control arm ball joint other than to replace it.”
Reed was surprised to note that the engine
was still running with its original fan belt! It has
since been changed, but the original belt remains
serviceable, and Reed has kept it as a souvenir.
Reed might be a panel beater by trade, but he
has resisted the temptation to undertake a full
or even part restoration of the Fairlane. It simply
isn’t needed.
“It’s just been buffing and polishing to get it
where it is now,” he says. “We did have trouble
getting the bootlid finish up because it was
parked under a skylight. Although the car
w s covered in blankets and tarps, it was
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