New Ford Engines | New Motorcraft Engines | Rebuilt Ford | Rebuilt Motorcraft

One truly useful accessory to have in any classic Ford is a great stereo. But let’s face it: if you’ve got a ‘67 Fairlane like we do, it’s a sure thing that it didn’t come from the factory. Our car has the OE AM radio. It still plays music through its one tiny dash top speaker, and it’s OK for listening to the ball game-barely. And despite the limited usefulness of our stock radio, we’d like to keep it in place to preserve the original appearance of our Fairlane’s interior. We’d love to have a good stereo in our car but we don’t want to modify the face of our dashboard in any substantial way. The first people we think of when this is a major requirement are the folks at Custom Autosound. They have been specializing in modern car stereos that fit into the original dash openings on classic cars for more than 30 years.

Photo Gallery: 1967 Ford Fairlane Custom AutoSound SecretAudio System Installation – Modified Mustangs & Fords

Photo Gallery: 1967 Ford Fairlane Custom AutoSound SecretAudio System Installation – Modified Mustangs & Fords

Tech | Transmission Upgrade
Just out of the shop with a fresh coat of Clearwater Aqua paint on our ‘67 Fairlane 500 hardtop, we’re now reassembling the car. The 289 engine in the Fairlane was rebuilt recently, as was the rear axle that’s equipped with 3.50 gears. Between the two lives a C4 three-speed automatic transmission. The C4 was working fine when we last drove the car, but we’re looking to improve its shift feel and we really don’t know the condition of the C4’s fluid either. As part of our Fairlane project we have decided to convert the car from a bench seat and column shift configuration to a bucket seat and floor-shifted arrangement, which is more commonly found in the GT. Last time we looked at our Fairlane we replaced the stock steering column with a great tilt steering column and steering wheel from Flaming River, so now we’re addressing the question of transmission shifting. Trying to cobble together a factory console would be complicated and expensive and what we really wanted was a simple and cleanly designed shifter mechanism that had a stock flavor to it, making it blend well with our new factory-style interior. We found the solution in the form of the B&M Racing Unimatic Shifter. We felt that is was a perfect column shift replacement because it installs mostly below the floorpan and incorporates a factory looking rubber boot over the carpeting instead of the console assembly found on other B&M floor shifters such as the Quicksilver or Star Shifter models. The Unimatic includes a neutral safety switch, black T-handle, five foot cable and all required hardware.

Photo Gallery: 1967 Ford Fairlane 500 Hardtop Shifter And Transmission Upgrade – Modified Mustangs & Fords