While the names of many car models are often pulled out of thin air by the Motor City’s automakers, the Fairlane name is rooted in Ford family lore.

How the automakers come up with all their model names might be anybody’s guess. Dictionaries and thesauri are consulted, while the inspirations can include cities, race tracks, planets, birds, animals, and insects. Or the name might be an arbitrary word like Accord or Accent, or simply a brand-new word made up for the occasion. For the 1955 Fairlane, the Ford Motor Company product planners took a different approach. They reached into Ford family history and named the car after the Dearborn home of the founder, Henry Ford.

Fair Lane, named by Henry and Clara Ford after a place in County Cork, Ireland, Henry’s ancestral home, was located on 1,300 acres along the River Rouge in Dearborn, around three miles upstream from his enormous 2,000-acre Rouge factory. As his fortune grew, Ford had bought up much of the land in Wayne County.

A succession of architects designed the 56-room tudor mansion, and while it was grand by most standards, it was regarded as modest for a man of Ford’s extreme wealth. Upon its completion in 1915, the Fords lived at Fair Lane for the remainder of their lives, with Henry passing in 1947, Clara in 1950. Grandson Henry Ford II, born in 1917, spent many childhood days here. In 1957, the estate was donated to the University of Michigan to create the University of Michigan–Dearborn.

The Fords also named their 88-ft private Pullman rail car Fair Lane, which they sold in 1942, and it eventually found its way into the collection of The Henry Ford in Dearborn. The Fair Lane estate is now owned by a non-profit group and the mansion is currently closed for restoration. However, the garden and grounds are open to visitors, and you can learn more about that here.

For 1955, the Fairlane—shortened from two words to one—became the top model in the Ford passenger car lineup. It’s easy to distinguish from the two trim levels that ranked below it in ’55, the Customline and Mainline, by its distinctive checkmark-motif bright metal side trim, which would be used in various forms through 1958. Five body styles were offered in ’55, including the four-door Town Sedan, two-door Club Sedan, the Victoria hardtop coupe, the tiara-roof Crown Victoria, and the convertible Sunliner.

In 1957 the Fairlane was upstaged by the Fairlane 500, and both models remained in the full-sized lineup through 1961. For 1962, the Fairlane name was moved over to Ford’s new mid-sized platform (see our feature here) where it remained through 1970, when it was replaced in 1971 by the Torino. However, at Ford Motor Company of Australia, 10,000 miles from Dearborn, the Fairlane badge carried on all the way through 2007.