Dacy Denton given 1963 Fairlane for her 16th birthday

Dacy Denton turned 16 on Nov. 5 and was given a 1963 Ford Fairlane 500 as a present.

Denton is helping to restore the car with her father, Scott Denton, who gave her the Fairlane. "I thought I would give me and her an opportunity to work together on it and spend a little quality time together," he said. "She's spent quite a few hours."

Scott Denton obtained the Fairlane from a friend in Fallbrook. "I went to go visit him and I saw it on his property," he said.

"It belonged to his cousin," Scott said. The cousin was willing to part with the Fairlane. "He lost interest in it," Scott said. "I jumped on it."

That gave Dacy a car built more than 40 years before she was born. "She was a little surprised at first, but once she saw it she started coming up with ideas of what we could do," her father said.

Dacy has an 18-year-old sister. Dara Denton was given a 2012 Hyundai Elantra GT for her 16th birthday, which meant that she could drive herself to school instead of having her parents drive her. "That allowed us to get to work on time," Scott said.

Scott and Debi Denton also no longer had to drive their younger daughter. "Dara was driving Dacy since they were both going to the same school," Scott said.

Dara is now a senior at Fallbrook High School. Dacy is currently a sophomore.

Dacy didn't feel slighted that her car isn't as modern as her sister's. "She understands that it's not a newer car," Scott said.

The work on the car is also a positive for Dacy. "I think she appreciates learning," Scott said.

The Fairlane has a three-speed manual transmission. "I needed to teach her how to drive a column shift," Scott said. "She's into it now."

Dacy will thus learn how to drive using a stick shift. "That will be her newest adventure," Scott said.

The Fairlane does not have power steering or power brakes. "That all could be added at some point," Scott said.

Dacy's car also has no formal air conditioning. The Fairlane has vent windows, and Scott and Dacy opened the vent windows while driving the vehicle. "She was kind of amazed by that, how much air went into the car," Scott said.

Other amenities which weren't included with the car can be installed. Scott and Dacy plan to install a stereo. "It never even had a radio. It's got a plate where it would have been," Scott said.

An AM-only radio is also a possibility. "We may be able to find an original radio," Scott said.

The stereo would likely be joined by a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port. "We're planning on building a center console," Scott said.

One lacking original amenity has already been completed. "The car didn't have seat belts, so we added all new seat belts," Scott said.

Scott purchased the car in late October and brought it home the final week of November. "We've been working on it at my friend's house," he said.

The work started after Dacy's 16th birthday, although prior to her birthday she and her father were involved in planning and in looking at upholstery. "I wanted something that she would like," Scott said.

Scott found an upholsterer in San Marcos, and the father and daughter have been installing the new upholstery. Scott made an insulator panel for the trunk. "It didn't have one," he said.

"We rebuilt the whole heater system, made our own gaskets and put a new heater core on it, got all new door panels for it," Scott said. "It runs. I just had to rebuild the heater core."

The odometer recorded 74,000 miles. "I think that's the original miles," Scott said.

(At one time all car odometers were analog. Some odometers fail and are replaced. Odometers in 1960s Fords had six digits including one for tenths of a mile, so an odometer "turned over" after reaching 100,000 miles.)

"The guy didn't drive it very much," Scott said. "It's a really straight car. It doesn't have a whole lot of miles on it."

The Fairlane has a light tan exterior color. "The paint's okay," Scott said. "I think we can buff it up, make it look good."

Scott also ordered new suspension parts, and he and Dacy will install those.

"The engine's good," Scott said. "We gave it a test drive. I let her drive it."

Scott expects the restoration to be complete in the near future. "I've probably got another month on it," he said.

"The main thing is to finish up the interior and get us some behind the wheel time," Scott said. "I'm just looking forward to more time spent with my daughter working on the car, quality time, and teaching."