2. Ford Fairlane 500 R Code
Contrary to popular belief, Ford wasn’t at the forefront of the muscle car game back in the 60s. Although, it was present with many legendary models like the Mustang, Fairlane and Galaxy, it wasn’t the fastest or the most powerful car on the street. The reason was that Ford didn’t have a proper street engine. The 289 V8 was small; the 390 V8 was too slow and the 427 was too expensive to put in an ordinary car, but what about the 427 R Code?
The R Code was a 7.0-liter racing engine that wasn’t supposed to be installed into street cars. Not only it was too powerful with almost 500 hp, but it was too loud and hard to maintain. Ford did exactly that and shoehorned this mighty V8 into a mid-size Fairlane, creating one ferocious street warrior. From the outside, the only thing that insinuated that you are looking at the special car was the plastic hood with a big scoop, which was necessary for providing air to the massive engine.
Otherwise, the R-Code looked just like any other 1966 Fairlane on the market. As you might expect, the car was blisteringly fast in a straight line and won many drag races. However, due to the limited availability, high price and special engine, it wasn’t such a big hit on the streets. Ford only produced 57 of them, falling short of predictions that it would build at least 70 cars.
Today, those surviving Fairlane R Codes are highly collectible and expensive, serving as an interesting and obscure piece of muscle car history.