Join us as we explore the mystery of the oddball 1955 Ford Thunderbirds equipped with Fairlane chrome trim.
The Ford factory photo above shows a unicorn. That’s a 1955 Thunderbird, all right but it’s wearing thick, Fairlane-style side trim, a feature that never appeared on regular production T-Birds. (Fortunately, many will say.) How the Thunderbird got and then lost the ’55 Fairlane bright metal is an interesting story, in part because it has been told so many ways.
One place to start is on Feb. 20, 1954, at the Detroit Auto Show above, where FoMoCo boss Henry Ford II and his brother William Clay Ford are seen admiring the brand new 1955 Thunderbird, which made its public debut at the show. Reportedly, this prototype was completed only the day before on February 19, when actual T-Bird production was still more than six months away . And as we can see, the flashy checkmark-motif bright metal trim, as found on the full-size ’55 Fairlane passenger cars, is nowhere to be seen.
1955 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan
This would seem to indicate that in February at least, the Fairlane-esque trim was not yet part of the Thunderbird’s production plans. However, others have suggested that since the ’55 Fairlane was not yet introduced at this date, the distinctive Fairlane side trim was held back as well. Either story seems plausible enough.
Meanwhile: Leading up to the start of production at the Dearborn Rouge plant on September 9, the decision was made to add the exuberant Fairlane-style side trim. We know that because dealer brochures, advertising art, and Ford publicity photos were all produced that proudly displayed the extra bright metal, as shown in the artwork above. The addition of the Fairlane trim may seem awkward, but it makes sense from this angle: The T-Bird was a halo car, intended to elevate the image of the entire Ford product line. Shared chrome trim would help to tie the identities together.
But at some point before the start of production and the official public product launch on October 22, the decision was reversed and the trim was removed. In one version of the story, it was Henry Ford II himself who vetoed the Fairlane trim, asserting that a sports car should not wear so much chrome. (He certainly had the authority.) Among other things, this last minute change meant that all the marketing materials had to be redone, as in the photo below. Note that the new photo was staged in the same driveway at the same house as the previous photo shown at the top of this page.
Last-minute production changes like these are not so uncommon in the auto industry. As the automakers like to say in the fine print, “features and options are subject to change without notice.” For more interesting examples, see our features on the 1957 Chevrolet that never was and the 1933 WIllys 99.
Having seen various photos (and sales literature) throughout the years depicting the ‘bird with the side chrome, I have often wondered “what if”…what if they had two toned the T-bird in the same manner as the Fairlanes…would they have looked better or worse than a monotone with the Fairlane style chrome trim? I have thought about doing a scale model as such just to see what it would look like,but haven’t yet done so.I am no expert on Thunderbird sales literature, but I found it interesting that one piece of literature with no obvious print date, shows a ‘bird without the side trim, but with a “license plate” that reads 1954, so it had been unclear to me at what point the side trim was deleted. Thanks for the story.
It looks better without the Fairlane trim……
There is a Black 55 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with the Fairlane chrome trim. I have seen it over the years at several local car shows.
I suspect that the decision was made, by whomever, to eliminate the side trim piece was because it would add too much resemblance to the Fairlane, and I agree!
A few years back, probably 15 or more, at a Wisconsin convertible club event there was a ’55 T-bird with that side trim. The owner had a story to go along with it. IIRC his story was that it was a pre-production car. I’m not sure if he had any solid information. I only remember that vehicle being at that event once.
I’ve seen a few ’55 T-Birds with Fairlane trim. On these cars, you could see that actual production Fairlane trim pieces were cut down and modified to fit (presumably by dealers, owners etc.) As a result the trim was slightly out of scale to the smaller T-Bird body shell and didn’t look quite right. I couldn’t comment on any specific car without seeing it in person.
My dad and I saw a friend driving a black with this chrome trim in southwestern lower michigan. He told us that only six were made with the trim.
Actually the real story is that Franklin Hershey who was the head of design and the person behind the design and development of the tbird went nuts when the trim was added ( he was on vacation when they did the add). He went straight to Henry Ford II and convinced him to pull them off Which they did
(Thank goodness)
I’ve had that story refuted, so I left it out here.
The last version about Frank Hershey is closest to what I’ve read, that a top Ford exec mandated the trim and when styling objected and his decision was reversed, he made sure his personal T-Bird had it, even if his was the only one that did.
They must have made the side trim decision soon enough to change the front fender die to include the upsweep at the beginning of the side sculpture line to work with the chrome fake louvers.
Besides the other reasons for eliminating the checkmark trim it comes too close to the skirted rear wheel opening.
Good eye. There was more to the change than just omitting the trim.
I see no fender line upsweep. The line peters out about halfway across the front fender. Fairlane trim could be easily shaped to adjust to that.
If I’m not mistaken, Henry Ford II drove one with the Fairlane trim as his personal car
About 13 years ago I was at Amos Minters shop and saw a photo of a 55 fairlane t bird I asked him about it he said it ended up not being the trim on the third but you could get as an option called the fairlane trim option I asked how many were produced he said nobody knows because it was an option it wasn’t in the Vin number so u could put fairlane trim on any 55 and call it a fairlane third