Fairmont & Zephyr ES Little Known Facts & Myths

[ZephyrEFI]

The Fairmont and Zephyr ES model (excuse me, “option”) is something of a mystery for those of us who were either too young at the time (I was 2 years old in 197, or not born yet. Barely alluded to in the dealer brochures, and with VERY few surviving examples (I know of 11, including mine) we just don't know much about them here in 2015. Here is what the 1978 Fairmont brochure tells us were the distinguishing features:



I've been poring over my stash of F/Z information, as well as what's available online about the ES, and I thought I would share some of my findings as wells as debunk a few of the myths I've heard here and there. First of all let's see what some of these features in the above pic look like.



In this pic of a Fairmont ES, we see several of the features, blackout window frames, black sideview mirrors, rear quarter window louvers, turbine wheel covers, the “bumper protection group”, blackout grille, and blackout lower bodyside.



Here we see the “blackout lower rear panel” between the taillights, along with several of the features shown on the car above.



Here is the “engine turned dash trim”, sport steering wheel, and bucket seats.



Here is the Chamois and Black interior combination. Notice the black painted metal upper portion of the door panels. That was there, no matter the exterior color. I've seen them with accents like black armrests, as well as without.



This is the “deluxe” interior with full door panels and engine turned trim carried through.


Now to some of the questions. How hard and fast were the ES specific features, and were they exclusive? The answers are “not very” and “absolutely not”.

Take a look at this options table from the 1979 Zephyr brochure.



Interesting, huh? We can learn a lot from this table. For example, the tuned suspension was NOT exclusive to the ES. A bench seat was available in the ES, so bucket seats and floor shift is not the only way they came.



This pic shows a column shifter. A good number of the cars I know of are column shift, bench OR bucket.



So, a bench was STANDARD with the 6 or the V8? Maybe.... I'm just not sure!



Notable here is a little bit more detail on what exactly a “tuned suspension” means, as well as how it states they intended to offer the V8 with a 4-speed. I've heard it said here on FEP they never did though.

Here, from the 1980 Fairmont brochure, we get even more detail about the suspension.



I had been under the impression the ES was done after '79, since it's not shown in the '80 Zephyr brochure I have. But there it is. Apparently Ford offered it for one more year where Mercury didn't.



Not only that, they offered it with the Turbo! Now THERE'S a rare bird! Sorry about the pic, the brochure is cut off there.

The table show that rear window louvers were available on ANY F/Z sedan. Quarter window louvers does not necessarily equal ES. That's a myth I've heard more than once. Here's a lovely example in Dark Pine of non-ES Fairmont louvers.



Notice the design of the Fairmont louvers. Did you know they were different from Zephyr louvers? They closely matched the design of the Mustang and Capri louvers. Here's a Zephyr.



Now, we know the ES was available in in a 2-door or a 4-door. But do we even know what a 4-door looks like? Yes, yes we do. Here's a couple.




We know the ES could be equipped with the 6-gauge package more commonly seen in the Mustang/Capri. Here's a pic from the '79 Zephyr brochure.



This pic is notable though because in the real world, I don't believe the 6-gauge “Performance Instrumentation” package ever materialized with engine turned trim. Every car I know of that has these gauges, including mine, came with woodtone trim. Perhaps they corrected their error for the '80 Fairmont brochure.



We do know that “Performance Instrumentation” was not exclusive to the ES by our '79 Zephyr table, so maybe that's just how things developed.

We see in the top pic that ES interiors could only be had in black or black/chamois. Was this always true? No. See this excerpt from the '79 Zephyr brochure.

[ZephyrEFI]

What started me on this trip was seeing a silver Zephyr ES with an all-chamois interior. I didn't know such a thing existed, but there it is. The first proof we found was this.



Turns out though, that's the same excerpt from the '79 Zephyr brochure, only from Canada! So, there were differences between Canadian and US cars too. Here's another oddity from that same brochure.



It's the same 4-door pic I have above, only this car is missing the black lower bodyside! I kind of like it better. Why the difference? Who knows.

Real quick, I have one more myth for you. I've heard it said the ES only came with turbine wheel covers. No so. You could also upgrade to the truck wheels, like any other F/Z.



The original wheels were long gone from my car when I got it, but if it had had these, I would definitely have kept them!

I hope you enjoyed this little journey. Feel free to contribute your own thoughts!

[Monty78]

Great stuff thanks for sharing.

[ZephyrEFI]

Sure! There's such a lack of information out there about them, I like to add to it as much as I can! The information, not the lack... Not that this wasn't available, but it wasn't combined and distilled for convenience.

Big thanks to Stuart's Fairmont Page, as well as Old Car Brochures

[4-barrel Mike]

Good stuff.

Mike

[80CougarXR7]

Nice job, Brad - EXCELLENT summary!

[ZephyrEFI]

Thanks!

I just remembered something else. On the '79 Zephyr table, it says a vinyl roof was not available. I know of a couple of ESs though that have one. They are both Fairmonts though. Maybe that was a Ford/Mercury difference, or maybe the table is just wrong, I just don't know!