SIGNIFICANTLY improved over the clunky old XD Falcon-based ZL model, the NA Fairlane - the long-wheelbase version of the 1988 EA Falcon - was virtually all-new - too all-new as it turned out. There was a host of quality and reliability problems plagueing both cars, hitting Ford hard, especially with the press and public tuning into the traumas on an almost daily basis. Ask any taxi driver and they'll tell you the old Borg Warner three-speed auto is the transmission to stick to as far as dependability is concerned, because the woes didn't end when the new electronic four-speed version came on line in late 1989. Still, it improved driveability significantly. US-made V8 engines came back on stream in late 1991, after an eight year break, as part of the much-improved NC facelift. By then Ford had worked hard to nix all the niggles, finally making the Fairlane the car it should have been back in 1988...