(first posted 6/14/2014) This 1962 Full Sized Ford represented a very solid entry in the full-sized sales wars. The base platform came out in 1960 and would carry forward through 1965, so it represented a mid generation model. This means the factory had the assembly procedures sorted out, but the basic body dies were not worn out from five years of continuous production. In addition, in 1962 Ford sold more Galaxie 500 four door sedans than any other body style or trim level, making this a car we’re all familiar with.
Once we’ve zoomed out, you can see the typical horizontal Ford grille, sixties era chrome trim, and that squared off Ford roofline that first appeared on the 1958 Thunderbird. In Tom Klockau’s write up of the 1962 Galaxie 500 Town Victoria (the four door hardtop), he argued the 1962 was not only one of the most reliable Fords in this series, but also the best looking. Based on this shot, it’s hard to argue. I’m not sure if this car is a restoration or a survivor, but every detail appears to meet factory specifications.
If this car is a restoration, it’s a very impressive one. Given all the chrome trim on this top line model, it would be a major undertaking to gather all the pieces needed to build the full chromium inventory. I’m always amazed to see all the individual chrome parts on vehicles of this vintage. For example, the trunk lid includes seven individual letters to spell out G-A-L-A-X-I-E. Today, some bean counter would insist on a single badge in one corner, so they could eliminate six of the seven labor operations.
No article on early sixties Fords would be complete without a shot of their signature tail lights, mimicking the exhaust end of a jet engine. Generally, I find the front of cars much more interesting than the back, but cars of this era tend to increase the interest level with lots of details between the tail lights. In addition to a door hiding the fuel filler, this Galaxie also delivers a ribbed fill panel, and back up lights cleverly concealed in the tail lamp centers.
Looking at that gracefully curved “500,” I suspect someone removed those emblems during a repaint. While I could see a car leaving Detroit with such a glaring defect, I expect the dealership would fix it before delivery…
While we’re back here, let’s admire the interplay between the lines on this fender. The chrome panel on the lower edge helps to emphasize the gentle taper at back of the car. You can also see how the trunk lid angles down to create a crest on the top edge of the fender. Not a tail fin per se, but it hearkens back to that classic fifties styling element.
But this ’62 Galaxie a sixties car, with that era’s styling elements, including this lovely badge, C-pillar cap, and side spear. I always try to catch a few close up details when I see a Curbside Classic, but I rarely find so many shiny baubles in a single shot.
Up front, we find more of the same. A thin chrome strip accentuates that graceful wheel opening, the chrome spear steps down from triple wide to single wide, and a fender mounted gun sight provides the driver with a dedicated alignment device (the passenger gets one too, even though they have no steering wheel). There’s plenty of chrome up front as well, with a massive bumper and thick headlight bezels, but my favorite bling in this picture is the shiny wheel cover over that black steel wheel. With it, Ford continues their jet engine theme, but instead of an exhaust outlet, we’re treated to the turbine blades from the front of a jet engine.
To wrap up our tour of ’62 Galaxie chrome trim, I’ll pause at yet another gun sight. I’m not sure how this crosshair will aid the driver as he aims his full sized dream machine down the road, but Ford mounted it just in case. Behind the grille, a Galaxie might come equipped with the standard 223 cubic inch six, but most probably came with one of the V8s, either the Y-block 292 or one the FE V8s, which came in 352, 390, or for the racers, in 406 cubic inch versions. Based on the dual pipes out back, this is likely either a 352 or 390 car.
It’s an ugly picture, but I wanted to include this interior shot so you could see the air conditioner case mounted under the dash – definitely a rare option back in the day.
To make up for the bad photo, here’s a clean interior shot off the internet. This is a Galaxie Custom so it’s lacking a bit of chrome trim, but the layout is essentially the same. How I wish I could get such a clean shot curbside!
To close our posting, I thought I’d share a picture of the car that shares garage space with our four door. I spotted its tail lights the day I shot the town sedan, but the two door wasn’t positioned for photos. The next weekend I spotted it at the local car show, and saved an image. This sedan is packing a 406 with dual quad induction (although I doubt the quad carbs or the 406 were factory installed), and brings on serious street cred thanks to those dog dish hubcaps and menacing grey paint. Between the two of them, we seemed to have all bases covered, from four-door business to two-door pleasure.
I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt that the “Galaxy” spelling throughout the article is the result of a spell checker. 😉
I fixed it.
First a caveat: Any opinions I have of Fords of this period are colored by the fact that Chevrolet was putting food on the table during this time.
I’ve rather found the ’62’s as Detroit’s second best year of the decade (’65’s were the best), although styling-wise I find the full size Ford the most mundane of the three. The Chevrolet was dowright attractive in a conservative way, the Plymouth was . . . . . wild . . . . and I still liked it the best of the three. The Ford was there. Period. Nice, but nothing special, except for the tail lights.
What I always disliked about Fords at this time was the little cheap touches compared to a Chevrolet: That they couldn’t fare in the shift linkage with the steering column, making an automatic look like a three-on-the-tree (and the manual Chevy’s were as neatly finished as the Powerglide models), the Ford door handles were hollow in the back, while the Chevrolet was a solid casting, etc.
Little things that a car crazy 11/12 year old would notice. Even given the obvious family bias, the GM products just seemed a little bit better made than the Ford.
These were a bit dowdier than the Impala, but the ’63 freshening made it much more attractive.
You’re right about the little cheap touches compared to GM. A prime example was that factory A/C on a pre 1965 Ford was a cheap looking hang on unit under the dash. Chevy factory air had nicely integrated controls and dash vents since 1955.
It’s strange because Ford offered an integrated A/C system in 1956 that included dash mounted round vents. Apparently the company later moved to under dash hang on units. The exposed shift linkage and cheap looking handle/plastic grip definitely looked and felt inferior to what Chevrolet was offering at the time.
While I like those great wheel covers and some of the trim details on the 62, the 63 seemed to project a more handsome, integrated look.
Another antiquated feature was the manually operated covers for the exterior locks. They were not only inconvenient, but were much easier to get full of dirt and/or freeze than the modern, spring loaded covers that had been adopted by everyone except Studebaker (I believe) by this time. This was the last year of them on the full sized Ford’s. I am not sure when the lower level cars updated.
I had a Galaxie four door for a short while that I bought to resell. It was a six cylinder with a Fordomatic. I made some minor repairs and resold it, but I made the mistake of washing it in the dead of winter. I had a nice set of jumper cables in the trunk When the people who bought it came to pick it up I tried to get my jumpers out the trunk. Guess what, that blasted lock was frozen. I tried for a while to get it to cooperate, but gave up because the people were getting restless and I did not want to lose the sale.
I prefer the ’63 & ’64’s to this model (I’ve owned 1 ’63 and 2 ’64’s), but I certainly would not kick a nice ’62 out of my driveway.
The system is what would call semi-integrated. While the unit hung under the dash, it was operated by dash-mounted HVAC controls, and was capable of supplying fresh as well as heated air.
Would this Ford A/C system have been any different from that offered by Mercury? My parents’ ’63 Monterey Custom had the factory under dash unit, controlled by two knobs on the unit itself. It operated independently from the in-dash heater controls, and provided only conditioned air, as I recall. I remember being so disappointed with this ungainly looking unit, which was integrated into the dash on the ’64 Mercurys.
BTW, I have often considered the ’62 Ford wheelcovers among the best ever offered by Ford, nice to see them again.
There was the above described “SelectAire”, and the cheaper “FordAire”, which is the simple hang-on unit.
Nice car,I love the afterburner tail lights.In the 60s Ford was turning out some great looking cars(apart from the 67 Thunderbird).
The 1962 Ford Galaxie doesn’t have a very attractive looking front end styling. It wasn’t until 1964, when it got a different grille, that it got a better looking front end.
A great car and thanks for sharing.
Do you think those tail lights and rear bumper were shared with the Falcon – they look so similar, but i would have thought the Galaxie was wider making sharing bumpers a bit difficult.
They are different bumpers and tail lights. Similar in appearance perhaps, but totally different is size.
The ’62 has its moments of greatness and its moments of humdrum.
It is a very attractive car from certain angles and the Ford jet treatment of the tail lights is terrific. On the other hand, the 292 (last seen in the ’62) was archaic and the open steering column (also last seen in ’62) was an unfortunate event.
I had a plain jane ’62 Galaxie (not a 500) sedan for a number of years. The body on it was profoundly tight, much tighter than my ’63, but the 292 was a clattering slug that was hard to start. The three-speed in the ’62 was non-synchronized if I remember correctly, and it was a model not equipped with any external mirrors. Plus, with it being a base model, it had very little exterior chrome.
It was sold in 1995 or so to a guy in Hayfield, Minnesota.
Is the three-speed in your ’63 syncro in first? I’ve long wondered whether the overdrive was also available on the all-syncro Ford transmission, as my OD came with the non-first gear synco BW T-85/T87.
It’s syncho in 2nd and 3rd only. When I had the ’62, driving the two back-to-back was an interesting contrast in shifting, as I’m wanting to say the synchronized second and third gears were new for ’63.
American three-speeds have been synchronized on 2nd and 3rd since the 30s, some even earlier. No post-war crash boxes, which are quite a bit more challenging to drive.
Ford’s transmission got syncros on 2nd and 3rd back in 1932. But it wasn’t until 1963 that their new all-syncro three-speed came out, with syncro on first. But it wasn’t compatible with OD, so OD cars got a different tranny, the B/W three-speed, which never did get syncro n first gear. It’s a trade off.
My ’66 F100 originally had the all-syncro three speed, which really was nice for shifting into first without coming to a full stop. But I wanted OD, so swapped in the BW T-87. It didn’t occur to me at the time that I would be giving up 1st gear syncro in the process. But since I drive around with OD enabled, it’s almost as good as a syncro on first, as the freewheeling allows engagement without a full stop.
It took till 70 for GMH to fit syncro to first on 3speed manuals where GMUK fitted it in 1961, Ive just scrapped two non syncro Hillman boxes having updated the gearbox in my Minx to Super Minx, I get paid to drive non syncromesh trans trucks so I dont want to do it for free in my own vehicles.
Paul, your statements are proof positive my memory stinks. 🙂
I’ve not really missed having non-synchro in the ’63 as it has enough torque to accelerate from nearly a dead stop in second without much complaint. If it had a smaller engine, my opinion might be different.
The RL Beddie 4X4 300 cube troop mover I drove in the Army had all ratios needing double-declutching, up, and down, every time
..if you damaged a gear you were automatically up on a charge for careless use of defence equipment
..actually, i reckon there is nothing smoother and more satisfying to a petrol-head than a full throttle properly executed double de-clutch, it’s an art-form if done ‘properly’, and the troops soon let you know in no uncertain terms if you were banging them around too much in the back of the truck..!
I always found something squat about the way these Fords sit on the road. It’s and odd stance that gives the car a stodgier look than the ’62 Chevy,
Oh boy, does this bring back fond memories. For me, this car represents a large part of my childhood and the special relationship I had with my maternal grandfather. My grandpa had that exact ’62 Galaxie sedan back in the ’60s and up through about 1971, except his was Band-Aid beige. My sister and I spent a lot of time with our grandparents back in the ’60s and early ’70s, and my grandpa and I loved going out “exploring” in and around Lincoln, NE, always in his beige Galaxie. I was into trains back then as a kid, and there was a Rock Island railroad line that ran not far from his house. Whenever I heard that distinctive Rock Island locomotive horn blowing in the distance, we’d jump in the Galaxie, which he always parked in the street in front of his house, and drive down to the crossing to watch the train go by. He always kept a handful of cigars in that Galaxie, which he’d never light up (at least not with me in the car), but would stick in his mouth and just chew on. We spent a lot of time together in that old Ford. Thank you for the excellent write up, and the brief trip down memory lane in a ’62 Galaxie sedan just like my grandpa had!
Reminds me of the 62 Monterey 2 door mom had years ago. About the same cream color with beige and brown interior, 390, bucket seats, floor shifter and under dash air conditioner. The interior had lots of chrome trim bits and looked very upscale, it did have hand crank windows. The red and white lamps in the doors were a nice touch. I took it on the still being built 210 freeway in LA at age 14. Really mom, I only moved it from the street to the driveway. That car would take off quite well. The only problems we had with it was the repair shop my parents used. They had tie rods replaced and they came off at a stop sign, I rode with dad to the car after she called him and the wheels were pointing out in opposite directions! The same shop also did the brakes and they failed while we were on a road trip with dad driving, when the shop mechanic pulled the rear drums the shoes and hardware fell on the floor. I really liked that car, they replaced it with a green 67 4 door Park Lane. The same shop that worked on the 62 did a valve job and then replaced transmission because it had almost no power. Both times it still would hardly move. Finally they figured out the muffler had collapsed internally and the exhaust was almost totally plugged up. I don’t know why dad continued to use that gas station repair shop. I think he got along well with the owner. I hope he was repaid for the mistakes.
If you test drove the ’62 Ford Galaxie, Chevrolet Bel Air and Plymouth Fury back-to-back; you would walk away convinced that the ’62 Plymouth Fury was a MUCH better driver.
Dad had this car with a 352 and slushbox. Tried to like it but every time I borrowed it when I came home on leave it shafted me. Replaced with a Buick that liked me better. Thought the 352 was pretty thirsty but the car was heavy.
What a nice looking car and I sometimes wish I could go back to the 1960s just to check everything out. Many U.S cities have limited spaces for parking so I imagine the number of spaces increased as the number of smaller cars increased over the decades. The VW Kombie, Chevy G20, and Toyota Corolla are also Curbside Classics, but more so depending on where you live.
Ford full size car sales suffered a serious decline in the early 60s, and ’62 was a low point, with only 706k sold. Chevy outsold it by over 2 to 1, with 1418k sales. In fact, Ford only barely outsold the disastrous ’62 Plymouths and Dodges, by a very small margin.One might think that folks unhappy with Chrysler’s “plucked chickens” might give Ford a shot, but they all seem to have gone to Chevy. The story of Ford’s very poor performance with its large cars in the 60s is not often fully appreciated. No wonder they were so eager to bet on the Mustang.
The Fairlane and Falcon are only part of the story; Ford overall was slipping badly, after tying Chevy overall in ’61.
Ford’s “Total Performance” campaign and the introduction of the semi-fastback roofline on the Galaxie midway through the 1963 model year, along with the big push into racing, were in response to these lackluster results.
Ford successfully upgraded build quality and reliability after 1960, but Chevrolet generated more excitement by selling performance to traditional American buyers (Impala Super Sport and the 409 engine) and those who were enamored with small, sporty cars (Corvair Monza).
In some respects, Ford under Robert McNamara was like AMC under George Romney – both had the right answers for 1958-1961, when a weak economy had buyers placing a priority on economy and practicality. But when the economy picked up in 1962, buyers again began placing a premium on excitement and style.
Ford did have Lee Iacocca waiting in the wings to inject more pizazz into Ford offerings, which he would do after 1962. Whatever his faults in the 1970s, he was what Ford needed in the early 1960s.
What really got Ford back on track were the Mustang and the “quieter than a Rolls Royce” LTD, both of which were pushed by Iacocca.
This brings back memories, one of my uncles had a “62 Galaxie for two or three years, I really liked that car. My parents owned a “62 Impala, and as far as I was concerned the Ford was far superior to the Chevy(and not because the Chevy had the stovebolt six and Powerglide), In my opinion, the Ford rode much better, had a lot more power–it had the 352 c.I. engine-and a much better interior; the seats were much firmer and more comfortable. However, my uncle only had it two or three years before he traded it in on another vehicle-I have forgotten now. He stated that he “didn’t like the chassis” of the Galaxie; in retrospect I should have asked what he meant by that, unfortunately, I never did.
There was a 60 wagon in a junkyard I worked in at school 352 auto it was used for parts gathering and light towing no pieplate tailights the reason it landed there was a rear end shunt no tailgate either a chain around the towbar and onto whatever you wanted to move worked ok it had mudgrip tyres for traction.
Original exhaust was dual for 352, no side badge. Also duals for the 390, badged behind the front wheels. Ditto for the 406, indicating either an engine transplant or trim removal in your last picture.
I have always thought the ’63 was the best-looking overall of the 1960-64 full-size Fords, especially once the fastback 2-door style was introduced midway through the model year.
In 1972 I bought a clean ’62 Ranch Wagon with the 292 V-8 and two speed slush box for $150. , I liked the car although it was a stripper with only an AM radio , no power anything .
A couple years later I was given a Desert Beige ’62 Galaxie two door with the I6 and overdrive three on the tree tranny , I loved it but it threw a rod so off to the junkyard it went .
*very* conservative looking cars , prolly why I liked the ’62s so much .
FWIW , the star in the middle of the grille , is the base V-8 call out .
-Nate
The gunsight in the middle of the grille had nothing to do with engine size. It was standard on the Galaxie 500, no matter what engine it had. My 390 powered ’62 has it as does my other ’62 which was a six cylinder car. The “base” Galaxie 100 did not have the gunsight in the grille. The 390 and 406 had the Thunderbird callouts on the front fender. The 223, 292 and 352 cars did not have the engine callouts.
Of the 1960-61-62-63-64 cars on that basic platform (was ’65 really also on it, Dave?), the 61-62 seem the most alike to my eyes. I wonder how much of the running gear interchanges…?
About that errant (curved) “500” on the rear/left fender–can someone tell me when automakers began using adhesives for these sorts of things, rather than 100% mechanical (screw or clip) mounting?
Also, Dave’s remark about how such an error is/was possible from the factory reminded me of this wire-service period photo, verified as a factory mistake (excuse the eBay watermarking):
….or the guy who was responsible knew exactly what he was doing.
The ’65 Ford was on a new platform (supposedly the first complete update since the ’49).
I’d say that for the most part, adhesives were phased in over the latter part of the ’70s. I had a ’74 Cutlass where all of the nameplates and emblems were post and nut; my next car was a ’78 Malibu where everything was done with adhesives.
Me thinks the ’57 Ford was pretty much new. It might have carried over some suspension bits; the Ford front end suspension was completely revised in’54. There were running changes along the way, but the ’57 clearly had a completely new frame to go along with the much lower, longer and wider body.
2nd that, should edit the post to say “…through 1964” as the 65’s were all new chassis.
The letters on my 67 Galaxie had posts cast into them that pressed through holes drilled into the quarter panel. There may have been a plastic grommet that pressed into the hole first. Anyway, someone must hace screwed up in drilling the holes to make the “500” come out looking like that.
…how such an error is/was possible from the factory
I was wandering through the Ford showroom at the local dealer and there sat a new Granada, with a Monarch badge on one side…right in the showroom, the salesman knew about it, they didn’t fix it.
To continue the legacy, I was wandering through the Ford showroom,1988-1989, at the local dealer and there sat a new Tempo, with Topaz badging on passenger side…right in the showroom, pointed out to the salesman, they hadn’t seen it. I had worked for GMC 1978-1986, not unusual to see the wrong grill or tailgate for a Chevy on the GMC and occasionally the wrong side badging.
This looks like a twin of my best friend, well, former best friend’s first car. He didn’t have it long, it blew up while in the mountains of PA, and never made it back home. My main memory of it was when I put my hand completely through the top of the front quarter panel. It was basically nothing but rust with a fairly fresh coat of badly applied paint. My friend wasn’t upset, in fact he laughed about it. About 3 weeks later, he went on it’s final ride to join his parents at their family getaway and he never even got close before the trans let go in a big way, spraying parts all over the road. He wanted to have it towed the rest of the way in, but his parents killed that idea, and he sold it to the tow truck driver for $50. It was a vastly superior car to the one that replaced it, a Triumph TR-4A. The body on it made the Galaxie look solid.
The 62 Galaxie is such a strange animal. On one hand, it is attractive and modern. At the same time, it is almost an anachronism, more like something from the 50s. I have always found it strange how Ford whipsawed from conservatism in the 40s to an aggressive modernism in the 50s then back to a conservatism worthy of Henry himself in the early 60s.
The low sales numbers would explain why there were relatively few of these on the road in my youth compared with the 63 and 64 models.
Just about anything on the market seemed dated after GM started to streak ahead of everybody ’61. ’65 was a major catch up year for everybody else, but they were all using the best elements of GM’s ’63 and ’64 cars. At least everybody else finally had good looking, if dated, designs through the mid / late ’60s.
This looks exactly like my father’s 1962 Galaxie 500. His was also white, but with comfortable black brocade upholstery, and the 292 with automatic. I love the 1962-63 big Fords.
Lots of fair criticism leveled at early ’60s Fords here. I think the ’62 was the beginning of continuous improvement that carried through at least ’67. The front of this is frumpy, but the rear two quarter view is actually quite nice. Overall, tasteful but conservative.
Always liked the early 60s Galaxies myself, especially the 64s.
Great pics! The 1963 big Ford has always been my favorite of the ‘60-‘64 gen.
Love those wheel covers! Satin finish & chrome hubcaps became a thing in the early ‘60’s. IMHO the best American wheel covers were on ‘61-‘66 cars. A couple of my favorite hubcaps are the ‘61 Buick Electra, ‘62 & ‘65 Buick Special /Skylark, ‘63–‘64 Avanti, ‘61 De Soto, and this ‘62 Ford.
The wheel trims look pretty much identical to the ones they used on the 1967 Ford Zodiac over here.
Since this first ran I noted something interesting about these that nobody has mentioned. There were only 2 models offered at the beginning of the year before the XL was added – the Bel-Air-ish Galaxie and the Impala-ish Galaxie 500. In 1960-61 there had been stripper Fairlanes and in 1963 there was the stripper 300 (that didn’t make it into the brochure) I suspect Ford tried shuffling the stripper buyer down to the new Fairlane line for 62.
It must not have worked (the sales figures tell the tale) because by 1963 Ford was matching the 3 trim (+ sport) offerings of the competition.
My father had the first of this series a ’60 Fairlane then a ’63 Galaxie 500 four door hardtop! I was delighted after our dowdy four door sedans. I learned to drive on the ’63. it was 352 Cruise-o-Matic, was a nice driving ca, what I thought so at 16…
These were tremendously popular in our area, Tunningley Motor Sales Ford moved dozens of the full-size models in those years. They were viewed as major improvements on the 1950’s models, especially in terms of rust-proofing. There were even a few 406 with tri-power around, though ended up thrashed to death and parted out. We also had a ’63 Galaxie with 289 which was a gutless wonder. And a ’63 Mercury Monterey Custom Breezeway, very nice car but not a dime’s worth of difference between it and the Galaxie 352 we’d had previously.
These are probably decent cars if you were raised in a Ford family and never learned about every superior car. Thanks to Tom Cotter at Hagery’s Barn Finds, I completely detest them. If I have to watch him using another undocumented Chrysler Turbine as a step stool to look at one of these Fords, or dragging his camera man through the interior of a Pont-a-Mousson four-speed-equipped Facel Vega to talk about another one of these meritless Fords then I’ll be a happier man. He can be surrounded by the most exotic and interesting derelict cars in the hemisphere, and he’ll hone in on one of these tedious appliances.
My family had a ’60 and then a ’63, so I know the dash especially well, and the gradual evolution of the front and rear ends 1961-62-63-64 before the formal new ’65’s showed up.
Interesting how Ford, like Chevy, toned things down after 1960.
I saw a whole lot of these in Great Lakes suburbia, held on to by original owners anywhere from three to 10-12 years, becoming by the early 1970s a college students’ car (for those who had one).
I wonder how today’s ’62 is doing, six years later. If it’s changed hands, hope it’s being kept nice by its latest caretaker!
A 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 Town Victoria was featured in the superlative suspense/horror movie “The Birds”.
Drove a 62 convertible for about a year, 352 auto. Kind of a dog and a unique exhaust note as the convertible had dual exhaust with no crossover or H-pipe. Frame had a Large X-brace to stiffen the frame. Also had a 63 Ford 4 speed 2 door sedan. Much more fun to drive. Not sure what model it was, it originally had a 406 engine. Blown motor replaced with a 352 using 406 top end and cam. Burned oil like no tomorrow but ran like crazy. Pulled the oil burner and dropped in a 390 from a T-Bird. Nice running motor but it did not rev like the 352, By 4800-5000 grand it was all done.
“For example, the trunk lid includes seven individual letters to spell out G-A-L-A-X-I-E. ”
Today, some bean counter would insist on a single badge in one corner, so they could eliminate six of the seven labor operations.
Three years later, the first of the “Flair Birds” with T-H-U-N-D-E-R-B-I-R-D on the leading edge on the hood.
My wife’s parents were original owners of a 2door black 1962 Ford Galaxy 500 with 390 Thunderbird motor, three on the tree, with OD. It sat in garage the past twenty some years. Before my mother in law passed away, we told her I’d rebirth the Galaxy this year. On Jan 11, 2021 the tow truck came and took it to a reputable auto shop. I brought it home March 5, 2021 to start a second life with me behind the wheel. The car is in really nice condition inside and out. Will enjoy it till we pass it down to our daughter…third generation owner.