(first posted 3/16/2013) The sixties are called the decade of change. But what was brewing for years often took a while to actually manifest in mainstream American’s lives, homes and driveways. For instance, the full-size sporty two-door hardtop; ever since it arrived in around 1949, it became a hugely popular staple, along with Wonder Bread and such. So when did the changes finally erupt in Anytown, USA? When did Johnny decide to grow out his crew cut? And when did Mary buy her first loaf of whole-wheat bread? It’s hard to pin down exactly. But when it came to the big two-door sporty hardtop, 1967-1968 was the tipping point, certainly for the Galaxie 500.
We took advantage of a gloriously warm Friday night to walk down to the Whiteaker District for dinner and car spotting. This big red Galaxie was certainly unavoidable, looking a wee bit out of place in front of the New Day Bakery and all the Subarus.
Undoubtedly, the ’67 Fords were a knee-jerk reaction to GM’s bold new Coke-bottle ’65s. The sharp edges and flat sides of the ’65s and ’66s suddenly gave way to softer skins and rounder transitions. Hardly original, but its a handsome car nonetheless.
The front end was the finale for the Pontiac-copy stacked headlights. Sure beats the sad ’68s with their generic-mobile front face (except the hidden-headlight LTDs and XLs).
This one appears to have the 289 V8, given the lack of a badge indicating big-block power. Although the 289 had been the base V8 in the big cars since 1964, they were surprisingly uncommon in them. I used to wonder as a kid “why do they all seem to have the 352 or 390?”, when the Chevy 283 was still so ubiquitous. The reason was that Ford couldn’t make enough, due to the overwhelming success of the Mustang. By 1967, that eased a bit, and the 352 was finally sent packing.
Having been a “Chevy Guy” in my childhood, it’s taken a while for me to acknowledge that the Fords in the classic sixties era were probably a bit better built and trimmed. I actually noticed it then, but prejudices die hard.
The era of full-sized fastbacks would soon be over; the Great Brougham Epoch was under way, and slick and shiny fastbacks were giving way to grained-vinyl and formal rooflines. Some 200,000 of these Galaxie 500 2-door hardtops were sold in 1967. In 1968? just over one-third that amount (69k). This ’67 really was the swansong of the big sporty hardtop coupe. Change was in the air.
Sharp car in resale red. Looks very original and well cared for.
Siiiiiiiiiiiigh. Swoooooooooon.
The ’67 big Ford fastback coupe is, to me, the pinnacle of Ford’s big-car styling. (Well, except for the ’66’s tail lights. I still love those.) I could stare at this car all day and not get tired.
Strangely, I never liked the big fastbacks. They look out of proportion to me. I’m not really a fastback fan at all, to be honest. Some of them look OK, like the Bullitt-era and the land-yacht early-1970s Mustangs, but they were designed that way. Just tacking a fastback look on a car kills it for me.
See, I think these work better than the subsequent fastback Torino and big Ford XL. I’d call this a semi-fastback — the roof curves down to the curving decklid, but there’s still a notchback profile, enhanced by the more upright rear fenders. I think that makes a big difference and I’d say Ford pulled it off better here than Chevy did on the ’67 Impala hardtop.
Agreed. It was probably a combination of shifting taste as well as the excessive fastback on the ’68s that contributed to their big drop in sales.
A less fortunate relation
How sad. Probably the most beautiful car in the yard too.
Too Bad..That Car Probably Had No Frame Left When It Was 10 Years Old.
I had a ’67 Galaxie,289,2dr.Fastback,green..
The Frame was already rebuilt on both sides by Cave Welding in Springfield,
Ma.<.<.<Was a Great Car… It Liked to slip into Reverse from Park if left
unattended running.,. Also from neutral into drive if left unattended & running.
Plus The E-Brake never worked while I had it.<.<.<.<
That is truly a stunning car! There is something about the lines of that car that are perfect in every way. I think the interiors of the Fords were of slightly better quality than the competition at GM. Seeing the dashboard and steering wheel reminds me of my childhood – our neighbors had a wagon in the same color and year. They kept it for several years until one of their daughters totaled it. It is always cool to see a vintage car the year you were born!!
I had a scoutmaster with a red 67 Country Sedan – the wagon without the wood paneling. I rode in that one on several camping trips.
That was it jp – a red ’67 Country Sedan! No woodgrain (which for wagons seemed kind of strange back then, at least where I lived as all of them seemed to be Country Squires, Grand Safaris or Caprice Estates)
Didn’t the 289 get a call out badge? I am thinking this might be a six cylinder (indeed, a rare animal) due to the lack of a call-out badge.
The 289 cars did not get a fender ID.
A handsome car as you say, but the ’66 still gets my vote as the best looking full-size Ford.
+1 It has been my favorite full-sized Ford since I first caught sight of my aunt’s new 66 LTD coupe (Black over Vintage Burgundy) in the driveway on Thanksgiving Day, 1965. The graceful roofline with concave rear window, luxurious interior (“panty cloth”), handsome, intricate grille – the whole car less blocky and more crisply styled than the 65 – I was in love (of course it reminded me a lot of one of my all-time favorite cars, the 63 Grand Prix). I like the 67 but less so than the 66; never a fan of big cars with fastback or semi-fastback rooflines.
Here’s a nice view of that roofline on my 66 7 Litre:
I agree with you on this. My folks owned a 66 Ford Galaxie 500 two door in light blue with a white roof. It was a sharp looking car – it always turned heads. I loved that car! It had the 390 with the three speed Cruise-O-Matic in it, so it would move on out when needed. I really hated it when Dad sold that car. I wish I still had it! Anyway, I do agree – the 1966 full size Fords were good looking cars. There were sure a lot of them on the road back then,
The ’67 Ford is my second favorite full-sizer of the ’60’s, behind the ’63. Both are terrific looking vehicles and this particular ’67 is one of the best looking I’ve viewed in quite a while. A ’67 Galaxie is on my bucket list.
Nice! While I usually like the 1st year of a car design, as a truer vision, some evolved beautifully. Certainly the case here, the 65 was a little too boxy, the 66 was just right…….and so was the 67 and 68!
Slowly all the Gentleman’s Hot Rods disappeared. The Full size Grand Prix and 2+2, the XL….gone after 1970, along with the Marauder X-100 ;-( Even the Impala SS
If you wanted “sport” you went to an intermediate GTO, Torino or GTX. People became aware of excess at some point. But they had a whole Brougham era to go through yet.
Don’t forget the Plymouth Sport Fury who evolved into a Sport Fury S-23 and GT for 1970. The “regular” Sport Fury interited a 4-door hardtop. Then the Sport Fury GT and the “regular” Sport Fury did one final lap for the 1971 model year.
I am prejudiced (my first car was the convertible version of this car) but I simply love the lines on these. That interior shot duplicates exactly the view that I spent many happy teenage hours in.
I can confirm that the interior materials were first rate, and those seats wore very well. That changed when Ford went to a softer vinyl in 1968 that would split at the seams with great regularity. The one place the Chevys outdid these was the door panels – no carpet on the Ford’s lower door panels. Also, the Ford’s vinyl/foam armrests always seemed a bit cheap. The finger area was not indented all that deeply, so you were always closing the door with your fingertips.
Fabulous find!
Another one I missed taking notice of!I was only interested in pony cars and muscle cars as a kid and paid no attention to full size cars A few more gentleman’s hot rods please!I love the kicked up rear flanks, another American beauty
Beautiful find. Too bad it’s such a low option car. It’s lucky to have an automatic and full wheel covers. It’s lacking the almost always ordered clock and remote mirror (part of the visibility group). Doesn’t even have deluxe seat belts, and the brakes are manual too.
I love these cars as I grew up around big Fords, but they’re much nicer when more of the order boxes are checked off. The 289, while a great engine, is simply not enough for a car of this size and weight. Also, that poor little Windsor looks laughably tiny when you lift the hood on these, thanks to the expansive engine bay.
While there was a large gap up to the next choice, The 2-barrel 390, it was probably the best engine from a performance-economy balance.
Ford actually needed a medium size engine to plug
this gap, but it didn’t happen until mid-’69, when the 351 Windsor was finally offered on the Galaxie.
Another good reason to get a big block is the 9 inch rear that comes with it, instead of the marginal integral carrier WER type.
Perfection in my book would be dual pipes peeking out from the rear, even with it being a 289 V8 car. With a 4brl that is a pretty good little engine, not as silky smooth as the 283 SBC but a dang good engine for a car you’re gonna drive every day.
Makes me want to cruise main street slowly hearing the engine noise reverberate off the walls of the buildings…
I ve spent a lot of miles looking out from behind a stacked light Ford, the frontal treatment was kept in Aussie for their Fairlane of 70/71, Wish we got this body style Id still have one.
The 80s GL/Loyale Box-mobile parked next to it really makes you appreciate the size and lines. The styling of this era has aged much more gracefully than the latter long n low broughams.
It’s good to have noted that Ford, for all its faults, really did spend more on its interiors in this era. This was an era where the full-size Chevrolet still had plenty of painted metal on the inside; where the wheel and fixtures looked cheap and uninspiring. Obviously the Buicks and Olds models were better finished; I guess that was GM’s way of driving the customer up the price ladder.
They didn’t count on Ford and Lido.
Lido knew, instinctively, how to sell cars. What good salesmen could use to sell cars. And coming off the McNamara era, where the 1964 Ford Galaxie was decorated as Early American Drunk Tank…with the emerging of inexpensive plastics and vinyl wood applique…there was no budgetary reason why the lower-income new-car buyers couldn’t have a nice interior. And no reason not to use it to steal sales from Chevrolet.
These were the pinnacle. For my money, it’s 1968…but I’m prejudiced; that was our family car in my formative years. The 1967, in fact, looks better in fastback form than the more-squared-off 1968.
But it was a high-water mark. If only they’d had some rust protection on them!
It ought be noted: Looking at the interior shots, it’s obvious this beauty’s spent most of its time indoors. NO car interior can hold up like that.
Beautiful.
Gonna be an angry hippie comin out the bakery seein his white wagon locked in like that!
Back in the day we generally viewed Fords as DOGS.
Of course, our McHenry Ave mentality was based upon drag-style races with nary a thought of lateral g-forces, stopping distances, etc.
Okay, I slag off lots of cars (mostly from the 70s and early 80s though), but this one is sweet! I kind of recall buyers of full-size 2-doors justifying their choice by saying it was safer for the kids because they didn’t have a door they could open and fall out of.
My father’s cousin had a 65 Galaxie coupe red with white top that probably looked something like this. I have always enjoyed the 60s cars with white tops.
That’s a 66 in Vintage Burgundy. Goregous car.
Love it! I especially like the mag-style wheel covers.
Lovely car. Ford and GM did such a nice job with their chrome detailing back then and into the 70s. On the inside so many nice touches that are ingrained in my memory like the vertical wood on the doors, the safety steering wheel hub and fluting on the lower dash. Looks almost like a Lincoln level of quality.
Excellent write up Paul. I knew the 67 outsold the 68 but not by 3:1. Styling counts!
Fords better built than GMs of that vintage? I don’t believe so, not from what I recall – regardless of fuzzy memory. Maybe GM and Ford were close to parity, but Ford better than GM? Nope. Until I see documented proof, I will never buy that. GM was at the top of the world in those years, but all American cars started to slip by the late 60s due to many factors.
It’s still a nice car, but if I were looking for a classic, I’m a GM guy, and not a chance one of these would reside in my stable (well, perhaps a 1965 model…), but that’s just personal preference.
Yes, I do still feel that passionate to this day!
But…it’s a HARDTOP! After all – what’s NOT to like? I’d be proud to drive it.
The bug Ford had the more voluptuous lines, but my dad’s boss had a 1968 Mercury Montclair fastback, maroon over red interior, which had a nice tailored look.
I love 60’s cars. There is something just so right about the stylizing from this decade which looks even better on a longer car. Ford had some of the greatest hits of the decade, and this Galaxie was one of them. Chrysler had a few memorable cars as well. But GM didn’t have many misses in the styling of the 1960’s.
Great gar though, and being a classic Mustang freak, I’d have no problem listening to a 289 talking to me through a dual exhaust system. In my (biased) opinion, it doesn’t get any better than the exhaust note of a high revving 289, especially the hipo.
Oh well, to each his own. Me, I still think a big quiet, lazy slow-turning torquer is the way to go for these.
I agree wole-heartedly with your sentiment, enjoying dad’s 1960 & 1966 Impala, and later, my own avatar, a 1964 Impala SS.
I like the 66 best. After that I thought these looked cheaper to build.
But With the right boxes checked, convertible please, you have a cool car. Turquoise for me
triple aqua on the 64s
There is a farmer who lives a few miles from me on one of the back roads and I can barely see the front end of his turquoise ’67 Galaxie peeking out of the shed it lives in. It’s extremely hard to see and its covered with dust but I can tell it has a white top and it looks like it’s in fine shape..
I’m too scared to stop and ask about it.
As for cars built in the 60’s, nothing is more beautiful to me than a ’67-’68 full size GM or Mustang fastback, ’69-’70 Ford XL/Marauder or Mercury Cougar.
I agree with you on the 67-68 GM fastbacks, but I put these Ford’s up there with those cars too. I like the 65-66 Ford’s too, but the fastback and softer lines of the ’67 always really did me in. However, the face lift for 68 ruined the car for me, never cared for them period. At least the ’68 Chevy’s still looked good. I didn’t care for the 69-70 Fullsize fords as much, not bad looking, but my favourites are still the 65-67’s.
This is absolutely one of the most incredible lookers of its era, at least in the full size category. The proportions are damn near perfect. If this one had the GT-style wheels and a 390-4v under the hood, and a few more options, it would be in my garage in a heartbeat.
I always thought the ’67 Ford taillights were fussy and unattractive, but this Galaxie is quite lovely in profile. Nice to see one so lovingly preserved.
The ’67 Galaxie is one of my favorites. In middle school one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Spilker, drove one of these in light blue with a white roof (painted, not vinyl). He had bought it new in FL so it had the sunburned paint on the hood, roof and trunk but was still in very sound shape. I have pictures I took of it in about 1988; I’ll have to try and find them. He retired in 1993 and moved to Southern IL. I would not be surprised if he still has it!
I thought 1967 was the best year of the Ford full sized cars (especially in Galaxie and LTD form), I would love to own a 1967 Ford Galaxie or LTD 2 door hardtop.
This will date me but I had a ’67 XL fastback in high school. Bought in ’72 for $900, about 90,000 miles on it. Was a repaint aquamarine with all proper markings, perfect original black interior with auto stick on floor console. No A/C, hole in heater core. Had the big 390 and she sure moved out – power sliding in gravel into the driveway was cake with locking rear brakes.
Dates? What could you NOT do in a car like a living room?
That thing drove like a dream. Could not keep a starter bendix whole longer than 6 months though. And it ate solenoids like candy. But in high school with a job and gas at a quarter a gallon — that was living!
Gave her up when the tranny died as an LSU freshman. Got into a Mercury Capri, but that’s another tale.
Dad had a white 1967 Galaxie 500 4-door sedan with the 390 and A/C. It had guts, durability, and lots of space. Interior materials were robust, and the grade of steel weathered much better than the 1969/70 models. The A/C would blow so cold, frost would form on the lower edge of the open ash tray… no joke! 18-20 mpg on the highway at 70-75 mph.
Weird, theoretical musings, many years after the original post.
One of the reasons Americans bought 2-door hardtops and sedans in the 60s was that childproof rear door locks hadn’t been invented yet. Parents with young children bought 2-door cars so that small kids wouldn’t have doors to open while in motion. Mine sure did.
The Baby Boom ended in ’64. By ’69-70 those kids were old enough to be trusted not to open their doors, so mom could buy a 4-door. Mine did.
And dad used his car for commuting during the week. He didn’t really need a 4-door, weekends the family could travel in mom’s car. So dad might have bought a 2-door, full-size, hardtop.
But the ’67-68 era started bringing the Personal Luxury Coupe (let’s say the Cougar and the newly-downsized Gran Prix). Perfect car for dad to commute in – he really didn’t need a full-size.
Just off-the-cuff ideas, I don’t really have anything to back these thoughts up, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes.
Yes. Also cheaper. Then required car seats for the kids came along, and that made two door cars a really bad idea. Probably all the same reasons why some station wagons came only in 2-door models even though that seems like a particularly dumb idea now.
I never really liked the 67s overall styling to appreciate the fastback hardtop, while I’ll absolutely concede that the 68 is very dull the front end of the 67 has too much going on with its W shape and I don’t know if it’s just an optical illusion from the multiple angles and all the fussy chrome but the grille looks misaligned in certain angles on all of them. I think the roofline is attractive enough but I still prefer the Chevy execution to it, and Insay that as much more of a Ford guy. As a last hurrah to big Ford hardtops I actually prefer the buttressed 69-70s, but the public seemed to not be interested by then.
Intermediate designs really seemed to catch fire around 66, before that the Fairlanes and Chevelles of the world mostly sported styling cues from the big cars sometimes awkwardly squeezed into the smaller proportions, but by 1967 it seemed like intermediate designs stood on their own much more attractively, and the big cars inversely looked like they were using styling cues from the intermediates stretched to fit. I see the beauty and appeal of this Galaxie(especially inside) but I think the 67 Fairlane hardtop looks better proportioned and less heavy.
My mom had a beautiful ‘67 metallic beige Country Squire. After church she would stay to talk with her friends while I would go out to the wagon, sit behind the driver’s wheel and pretend I was driving in the Daytona or Indianapolis 500 while waiting. One day entirely by accident I discovered that if I pushed the safety flasher button halfway in while stepping on the brake pedal then the radio would play. Now I had music to entertain me while I waited! Mom wouldn’t have ever given me the keys as no one in 1960s rural Ohio ever bothered to lock their car, especially in a church parking lot, but now I had fooled her and the minister too and could listen to heathen R&B unhindered!
Did anyone else ever encounter this Easter egg in their ‘67 big Ford, or was it unique to the Country Squire or even a quirk of our particular vehicle?
Probably not just your car. Ford, especially, for many years were adept at finding the cheapest possible way to wire up a car. Most of the time their methods worked fine, but they sometimes led to weird edge-case behaviour like this what you describe. Another: several decades’ worth of Fords would light both front turn signals steadily for as long as you held the brake pedal down, if the hazard flashers were engaged.
And that was with everything working as designed. The edge cases tended to multiply and magnify on Fords with more wear and tear on them.
I couldn’t draw you a circuit diagram explaining your radio power ignition switch bypass, but I don’t have a hard time imagining it in general. The brake light switch and the hazard flasher switch both have a constantly-live power feed, so a shared wiring junction, perhaps in the fusebox, could wind up sending power to the radio with a halfway-on hazard flasher switch and the brake lights (and front turn signals…and dashboard pilot light) lit.
“Another: several decades’ worth of Fords would light both front turn signals steadily for as long as you held the brake pedal down, if the hazard flashers were engaged”
We found, as “lot boys” working at the local Ford dealer, that following the same situation, the radio would also play. Used to sit in the Fords at the used car lot and listen to the radio, until we heard our names called!
My ‘77 VW Scirocco was rife with such issues. Press the horn, the turn signals would come on, though fortunately not the other way around for some reason. And if I recall correctly, stepping on the brake pedal, and hence actuating the brake lights, occasionally turned on the wipers. Root cause was short-circuiting (or perhaps more strictly shared circuiting) due to corrosion in the printed circuit wiring board/fuse box which was right under a leaky hole for some wiring access. The car was 3 years old.
@ Dman :
All those A1 chassis VW’s had that problem, VW stupidly put the radio antenna directly over the fuse and relay box .
As soon as some kids bumped the antenna it would begin to leak .
Cars parked in gear with the park brake off as is wont on snow/salt country, we well know for starting up and driving into the car parked in front of them .
Still and all I remain a fan of those crude yet fun little cars .
-Nate
I learned to drive in the Canadian version of these cars, a 67 Meteor. The 289 was remarkably peppy, if not more so than the 352, though in full tow mod the 352 would out pull. I am talking the decompressed 2 bbl version 352 to be clear here. Nice cars! Quiet. I always thought the 67 out handled the 69+ models. Felt less wallowy imho.
WOW! does this car bring back memories! My fraternal grandparents had a smart talking salesman put them into this identical car, bright red & black vinyl insides, but it came from the factory with poverty caps. I visited a junkyard and bought 4 of the correct full size wheel covers as a Christmas present, and stuck them on the car Christmas morning.
The next summer it would get sooooo hot inside the car, that dad arranged for the Ford dealer to install a FoMoCo slim-lined Air Conditioning unit in the car, so my grandparents could even use the car.
My younger brother inherited the Galaxy, and he changed the transmission to a 3-speed with Hurst floor shifter, and added a set of Cragars. He used it all thru college and his Master’s degree. By then it was 15 years old and really rusty, especially the rear parts of the frame, so he unloaded it on a friend who just wanted a beater car.
I like it quite a bit. Fastbacks and fast tops. I’d take a Park Lane, Galaxie, New Yorker or 300 from 1967 without a vinyl roof. A Ford guy but if you drop a 300 in front of me make sure I have a napkin to catch my drooling.
That’s a beauty. I was a Ford guy in the 60’s but thought the 65/66 Impala had it all over the big Galaxies design-wise. But that flipped in 67 – the Impala overdid it on the curves while the Galaxie looked better. Our junior high track coach had a 7.0 Litre that we rode in to meets – that was some machine…
I too like the looks of this car now but not when it was new .
-Nate
I had a ’65 1/2 Galaxie 500 sedan in the mid to late 80’s. It had the 289 with the Motorcraft 2100 carburetor which on long interstate trips always had fantastic fuel economy for a car with the aerodynamics of a refrigerator. Got the car for my then wife to drive to a nursing student externship she did while we were in college. At the same time I also had a ’67 Sport Fury fast top which I drove for 13 years. Absolutely loved it. As much as I really like the featured ’67 Galaxie fast back, any 1967-68 Mopar C-body with the fast top roof will always be my first choice. Make mine sans vinyl top like my ’68 VIP.
As a 12 year old in 1967 this full-size Galaxie two door appealed to me and still does to this day. Back then, I bought a 1/25 scale Galaxie AMT model and built it stock because it just looked good that way. The body style was a refreshing change from the square lines of the 65, 66 but still retained a familiar look for the Ford faithful.
Like other Ford models back then they always seemed better trimmed than the competition and the 67 Ford I rode in certainly had a nice ride. In fact, I would say the 67 was a high point for the Galaxie, as the 68 and 69 just didn’t have the same vibe.