(first posted 7/29/2014) We tend to talk about Ford’s brilliant segment-defining new cars of the 60s, like the Falcon, Fairlane and Mustang. But in the excitement of all of those new cars, it’s easy to overlook a painful reality: Ford’s big cars really languished during the very years those new smaller Fords were introduced. It started in 1960, the year of the Falcon and the controversially-styled new full-sized cars. The worst year was in 1962, when full-sized Chevys outsold the big Fords two-to-one. But Ford was determined to fight back for 1965.
ouch!
Ford completely redid the big cars for 1965, in an effort to fight back. The styling was done with nothing but straight edges, and was of course heavily influenced by the highly influential 1963 Pontiacs. Bad timing, as Chevy threw Ford a curve ball: the new ’65 Chevy was busting out with hips and breasts and whatever one called all of its bulging protrusions. Ford did narrow the gap some; presumably some folks weren’t quite ready for GM’s new augmentation plastic surgery. The big Chevy outsold the Fords by a mere 70%. But the direction was positive, and the trend was in the right direction. The worst years for the big Fords were over, and soon it would be back to battling its long-time nemesis on more equal footing.
It may be rectilinear, but it’s also got plenty of rectitude. Who can resist the charms of a big convertible? Frankly, the Galaxie 500 with the bench seat is a better choice than the XL with the buckets, as sidling up while leisurely watching the world go by overhead is the best way to enjoy a big rag top. Why be constrained, when there’s so much room?
With the top down, the burbling of the 390’s dual exhausts provide just the perfect musical score to accompany the splendid scenery that the owners of this pleasure boat were afforded on the day we shot it in Oakridge, well up in the heart of the Cascades.
Presumably they spent the afternoon on Aufderheide Scenic Drive, which really lives up to its name, as it follows both the South Fork of the McKenzie River and the North Fork of the Willamette River, near the sources of both of them. It’s a premier driving road, and although I enjoy taking the endless twists and turns with some zest, in a ’65 Galaxie 500 convertible, a more relaxed style is called for; drift-boating instead of kayaking.
We caught up with the white Ford at our favorite post-hiking spot, Brewer’s Union 180 Pub in Oakridge. We had that first outdoor table there, and got plenty of time to ponder its straight lines from its prow to its stern, only broken by the damage at the tip of the left front fender, and wonder what the poor Ford was run into. Not a ’65 Chevy, one hopes. Stephanie overheard the owner moaning about that little unfortunate incident. But except for that one little wrinkle, it’s just about perfect; perfectly straight, that is.
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Beautiful scenery and a sexy Ford convertible. Doesn’t get much better than that.
Other than the Mustang, these were the first Fords I liked in the 1960s. Later, chasing an elusive white w/red interior & black vinyl top 1965 Galaxie 500 hardtop coupe around Yuba City driven by a quite attractive blonde young lady during my early 1970s air force years heavily influenced me.
That experience was later eerily copied in “American Graffiti” by Kurt chasing the blonde in the white T-Bird!
Wonderful, if somewhat frustrating memories!
I thought these cars, along with the 1966 model year were beautiful in their own right, for you couldn’t confuse them with any GM car from the same period. Of course, I’m talking strictly pillarless hardtops and convertibles, no sedans, ever!
BTW, that river view reminds me of driving in my avatar driving south on California 89 off I-80 towards Lake Tahoe, or along US 50 around Placerville.
Yes, nothing like cruising in a big, beautiful convertible on a big, beautiful day!
(SIGH) Now, the best I can do is roll down the windows and open the moon roof on my 2012 Impala and imagine myself so many years ago. It’s just not the same. However, I do now have an attractive blonde lady next to me – my wife, so that makes it better in many ways! Hmm… That’s not so bad, after all, is it?
Stylistically, these cars were a big improvement over the ’64 Ford, which I found confused looking. The ’65 was a clean, straightedged, resolved design. It echoed some earlier GM design themes, but was none the worse for it. Of the Big Three designs during the 1965-67 period, I thought Fords the best.
I must be the voice of dissent here–I preferred the ’64 model. While it was the prevailing style of the day, I didn’t like the vertically stacked lamps of the ’65 or ’66 – made the cars look too tall in my opinion. The ’64 got the long-low-wide look just right, with the last hurrah of the “afterburner” taillights. In semi-fastback 2-door hardtop format, just aggressive enough without being menacing.
The ’65 isn’t bad at all. But in my ’60’s Ford full-size hierarchy it would probably tie with the ’67 for fifth place, behind the ’64, ’63, hidden-headlamp ’68, and ’60 Starliner.
The 65 is nice but count me as a 64 Ford fan too
Yeah, I prefer the 64, 63, 66, and 67 (in that order) over the 65. I am perhaps prejudiced by my dad’s gold/tan 63 fastback. Also a friend of my older brother had a 64 convertible in deep blue. If I were to buy a 65 model, the 65 Sport Fury would be my choice
Beautiful! My only dissatisfaction would be with that common 60s combo of a white car with black vinyl interior – it may have been clean and fresh in the 60s, but it never did anything for me. I’m sure many will disagree. Also, I have firsthand experience with that black Ford vinyl in a convertible – that stuff could get HOT!
Back in 1965, a new car buyer would have had a tough decision to make – perhaps the most evenly matched Big 3 in years. I know that I would have preferred the more traditional look, but a choice between Ford and Plymouth would have been a tough one.
Funny you remarked about white cars back then. My thoughts exactly. White cars in general were not attractive for some reason. Perhaps it was the paint used at the time – always appeared flat and dirty, but that color just didn’t ‘pop’ like a white car in the last 20 years or so. Must be the clearcoat…
My avatar with that black vinyl interior did get very HOT in that NoCal 100-degree summer heat. I dealt with it by buying those woven-material seat cushions with the springs in them to give air flow. They worked well, but still kept the top up during the day!
Top down, Tunes up,one of my favorite Ford convertibles…..Wimbledon white,wire wheel hubcaps…..ahhh to be young again…
1965 was a great year for the U.S. auto industry. A booming economy, low unemployment and high wages made new cars affordable to more than ever before. The Vietnam war had yet to sour America’s confidence and outlook and we were proud to have the latest from Detroit in our driveways.
The new full sizers from Ford and Chevrolet sold like hotcakes. Something like 1.4 million full size Chevys were sold and almost a million full-size Fords. These are numbers Accord and Camry can only dream of. Helping no doubt was the fact that the re-styled full-sizers from Ford and Chevy were quite attractive packages, with each having its own unique look and personality. I like them both. I would have had a hard time back then making a decision.
A real beauty,Ford was at the top of the game in car styling back then.They all looked great from humble Falcon sedans to top of the range convertibles
That big Ford had no chance at being the sales leader in 1965. That was the first year of the 4th gen Impala and they sold over 1 million that year. It does get better for Ford in 1966 where they out sell Chevy by 5776 units to claim the number 1 sales spot.
IMO you have to go back to the forties to find a full sized ford that is more attractive than that.
“4th gen Impala”
The big 1965 Chevys were not all Impalas, but simply still called ‘Chevrolets’. There was also Biscayne, BelAir, and the new Caprice. The all Impala line didn’t appear until model year 2000.
Fair to say, 1965 wasn’t a changing year for Ford(as far as sales of full size cars go)… If I’m not mistaken the best selling full size car(and best selling all time model for Chevrolet) was the 1965 Chevy Impala.
Oh, well Ford at least the Mustang is selling like hot cakes. Lol
One of my favorites. I agree with the comments that white does not do it justice. Another reason why 1965 was a terrific year for styling and packaging across the industry.
“The worst year was in 1962, when full-sized Chevys outsold the big Fords two-to-one”. I think a few things were in play here – the ’62 Ford is pretty frumpy looking; the ’62 Chevy seems particularly well regarded today, although I can’t say I’m that big a fan. The new Fairlane undoubtedly siphoned off some sales, and I think Ford also may have suffered by consolidating all of the full-sizers under the Galaxie name. The Galaxie had been top dog only three years earlier, and I wonder if this may have given the impression that they didn’t have lower priced models available. Having three or four different model names for various trim levels had become practically a default standard industry wide by that time.
Also, didn’t Ford suffer badly in the market in the early 60s from the terrible quality of the 57-60 models? The 59 Ford outsold the Chevy due to styling issues but otherwise Chevy was pulling way ahead.
The 1959 Ford had good quality for the day. Stung by the problems with the 1957 model, Ford worked hard to eliminate the bugs for 1959, and largely succeeded. The problem was the 1960 model.
Ford was worried that its conservative 1959 offering would get whipped by the all-new 1959 “batwing” Chevrolet, but Ford actually closed up much of the gap that Chevrolet had opened in 1958. If the midyear Galaxie series had been available at the beginning of the 1959 model year, Ford may have very well made it a dead heat with Chevrolet.
The 1960 Ford was a stylistic blunder, and because it was rushed into production, it was rife with quality problems. Ford rushed it into production because it had been spooked by spy information on the radically new 1959 Chevrolet. In retrospect, Ford would have been better off following its original plan of simply offering a facelift of the popular 1959 car for 1960.
I believe you are right on all accounts, and the point about all big Fords being Galaxies is a keen insight – they also weren’t as cleanly differentiated as the later Fury I-II-III-Sport Fury series, at least in naming.
But the ’62 design definitely deserves its share of the blame. It just screams plain, even in the upper trim levels. A real Robert McNamara car. Whereas the Chevy, especially in upper trim levels was very snappy.
Still, you’d think they could have picked up a lot of Plymouth sales. Because if any car with the antithesis of the ’62 Plymouth, it was the ’62 Ford.
When people left Chrysler, they went to GM, not Ford, for whatever reason. Note that the 1962 model year marks GM’s peak in market share. Chrysler, meanwhile, was down to less than 10 percent for the year, thanks to disastrous sales of the downsized Dodge and Plymouth!
Chrysler’s market share began increasing in 1963, and continued to climb through 1968. GM’s market share began declining after 1962. Ford’s share was fairly steady through all of this.
My all time favorite full size Ford year… I’d be quite content with any Galaxie of this year, be it four door, two door, or wagon even with a 289. I don’t need a rocket ship, just a cruiser with a nice V8 burble.
Beautiful car and I would have to agree some above that 65 was probably the styling pinnacle for the Big 3. I do however think the full size Chevy in 65 was one of the best looking designs on a regular full size car in my life time. Remember thinking they were beautiful then and still do now. Now in 1966 I would go with the Ford as well as in 68 and 69. 67 was to me the year of the Plymouth as well as 1970. Of course I would not kick anything from Ford, Chevy or Plymouth 1965-70 out of my garage for dripping a little oil!
While I love the hard angles and straight lines of the ’65, I still have to say that my favorite big Ford was ’67. I also had a ’70 XL. That was a cool car as well.
“Curvaceous”
Sorry, I’m turning into Chief Pedant around here. Is M. La Hood on sabbatical? 🙂
I hated these when they came out, and don’t like them much more now. Plain Jane boxes. ’63 was a much better year, stylistically, IMO.
Thanks to Matchbox cars these have always been in my consciousness. I like them more than the 61-64, but conversely think the earlier wagon looks better than the stacked light wagons.
I had the Matchbox police car and fire chief car, too. I’ve always like the 1965 Ford as a result.
Off topic a bit, but I can’t help but notice the individuality of Ford and Mercurys in 65. A 65 Merc convert is a gorgeous boat in its own elegant way, as classy as the Ford is sporty. The two had never had such separate personalities in my opinion. But we all know the painfully slow sad ending to the story.
When I check the stacked headlights of the 1965 Plymouth Fury and 1965 Ford. I wonder if Elwood P. Engel had beginned to work on the 1965 Ford before moving to Chrysler and bringing some of his ideas he had at Ford as well?
If Ford thought the 65 to be a great design, then why did they fix the design in 66 and again in 67? By the time 67 rolls along, the Ford had hips and no longer had the right angles it had two years earlier. The Ford ends up adopting the look of the 65 Chevrolet.
The 65 was oddly squared and its proportions were a bit off. 66 fixed that and it is a better looking year. By 67 Ford had combined the look of the 65 Ford and Chevrolet and had a very nice looking car that year.
Also, not all of these cars were Galaxies. Fleet Fords were Customs.
I’ve thinking they adopted more the look of the 1965 Pontiac with its stacked headlights.
And let’s not forget then Customs and Galaxies often did cameos in almost every Quinn Martin tv shows of the era (The FBI, the Fugitive, the Invaders,…). 😉
I forgot to mention, during that time Pontiac was 3rd behind Chevrolet and Ford, kicking Plymouth to 4rd place. I wondered if the Ford guys was a bit afraid then it could be even kicked out of the 2nd place by Pontiac if the Mustang never came to fruitition?
I own a 65 two door hardtop. Fuel injected 5.0 and a three on the tree. Super reliable and driven daily. I probably don’t work 3-4 hours a year keeping the old girl on the road. I had a friend that ran a used car lot in California in the late 70’s. He said you couldn’t keep these on the lot. Everyone knew what a great car they were.
NIce photobomb in the second picture by a Fishmouth Taurus, probably the other end of the straight-line-to-curve scale of Ford styling in the last century. History has rendered its decision regarding these two. We were Chevy people, so of course I prefer the 65 Impala. But with the exception of the bezel surrounding the stacked headlights, which to me has always looked too high (as if the car is gazing at us with anger, or some skepticism), I thought these were very nice cars. It’s all good!
The following is a summary and paraphrase of the events and principles related in the book “A Century of Automotive Style: 100 Years of American Car Design” by Michael Lamm and Dave Holls.
The folded-paper school of design, full-sized 1965 Ford had roots in design vice-president, Gene Bordinat’s willingness to have engineering and manufacturing dictate what they would accommodate in future styling. The round surfaces had to have the sheet metal spiraled first, then tack welded, then into the stamping dies. Manufacturing informed styling they would no longer perform that spiraling operation, to design accordingly.
Gale Haldeman stated, on page 259, that in view of this dictum, for the 1965 Fords “So we decided the only way we were going to get the inside down as deep as we wanted was to basically fold the outside front fender line. The fender of the 1965 Ford was a #1 sweep, with just one fold at the edge. And this, in turn, dictated not only the sharp beltline but also the rear fender, the squared-off roof shape and the rest of it”
Impetus for the change to this manufacturing method likely came from cost accounting recommending such to reduce piece costs. The GM influence, beyond the 1963 Pontiac, were the methods Fisher employed which were generally regarded as the best in the industry.
BTW, the left front fender was damaged and badly repaired, the odd upward angle of the bezel and headlights show it compared to the right side.
And, The folded-paper styling was good enough for the 1965 Ford, why not Mercury too!