1956 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan

" '56 FORD . . . the fine car at half the fine-car price."

The color-matching pedestrian nicely complements the two-tone colors of this 1956 Ford from Santa Clara in central Cuba. Being the entrance ticket to Ford's premium lineup for 1956, the Fairlane Club Sedan, stylistically, was merely a glossed-over base model and nowhere near as daring as its 2-door sibling Crown Victoria, higher up the pricing ladder.

Down to its fender skirts, the Ford looks quite original at first glance, but car buffs will notice that the “Sweep Spear” side trim is taken from a 1955 Ford, and less elaborate than the 1956 version. While the brightwork details changed yearly, the tooling for the sheet metal underneath remained identical, which makes it easy to interchange these trim pieces.

Exterior changes for 1956 were limited to a reworked front grille, slightly bigger taillight lenses and other trim detail alterations. The notable news that year, however, was a restyled interior. Ford offered a “Lifeguard Design” package: novel safety features such as seatbelts and a padded instrument panel were now available at extra cost, but remained a slow seller.