RIDE OF THE WEEK: 1955 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria

by Michael Golubiewski
Production Editor

Jim Ide of Exeter is the proud owner of this 1955 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria. Nicknamed the “Crown Vic,” the Crown Victoria is a rear-wheel driver full-size car first produced by the Ford Motor Company as part of the line of Fairlane models in 1955 and 1956. After a hiatus, it returned in 1992 and remains in production today as the only full-frame rear-wheel drive passenger car still built in North America. Since 2008, though, it has only been available in fleet sales, such as to taxi companies and police departments.

Ide’s 1955 Crown Victoria is from the first year it was available. It is a two-door, six-seat coupe that was part of a wide range of Fairlane models Ford offered that year. The Crown Victoria differed from a sister model, the Victoria (named after a type of carriage), by having a stainless-steel band that “crowned” the car’s roofline, passing right over the car, as an extension of its B-pillar line. Done in bright two-tone colors — the most famous were a teal and white, and, like Ide’s, pink and white — with chrome all around, the Crown Victoria was one of the most imaginatively designed cars in an imaginative decade. Ford had high hopes for the car with its stylized design, and it got good reviews. Mechanix magazine praised the car, saying it had “more saleable angles than a shipload of Marilyn Monroes.”

Unfortunately, however, the Crown Victoria never took off in sales. There was also a second version of the Crown Victoria, called the “Skyliner” which featured a roof partly made of glass. Because of the heat generated by the sun, however, that option was not very popular either.

There were several engine options on the Crown Victoria in 1955. Ide’s features the 272 cubic inch, 8-cylinder engine. It has a 3.62 bore and 3.30 stroke and is capable of producing a horsepower near 190. Its compression ratio is 8.5:1 and has a four-valve carburetor. Ide’s Crown Vic features an automatic transmission — it was also available in a three-speed manual. Be sure to check out Ide’s Crown Vic at car shows and cruises around the area this summer.

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