midsize

While the niche was mostly kickstarted by American Motors Corporation (AMC) with the Rambler in 1956, midsize cars didn’t become a thing until the Big Three automakers jumped on the bandwagon in the early-to-mid-1960s. Ford was first to the intermediate party with the Fairlane in 1962, while Chevrolet joined in with the Chevelle in 1963. Plymouth had also downsized the Belvedere in 1962.

By 1965, Oldsmobile had the Cutlass, Buick released the Special, and Dodge introduced the Coronet. To catch up with its rivals, Pontiac enlarged the LeMans and the Tempest for the 1964 model year. But the GM division took it up a notch by introducing the GTO package for the two-door versions of the Le Mans.

The bundle included a larger V8 engine, a stiffer suspension, and a long list of other performance-enhancing parts and turned the GTO into the hottest midsize available at the time. Transformed into a stand-alone model in 1966, the Pontiac GTO kickstarted the muscle car wars that followed.

The arrival of the beefed-up Poncho prompted both Mopar and Ford to come up with their own high-performance intermediates. Powered by a 289-cubic-inch (4.7-liter) V8 in range-topping trim, the fourth-generation Fairlane was no match for the GTO, but that changed when Ford redesigned the midsize for the 1966 model year.

Once a top-of-the-line mill, the 289 was relegated to entry-level V8 status as the Fairlane got the 390-cubic-inch (6.4-liter) Thunderbird V8 on the…