It’s time to check out some Blue Oval products as they looked on the roads back in the day. The shots of today’s gallery generally feature the cars as the centerpiece on driveways, curbsides and roads. Besides the cars, the locations and the few folks that appear in these add much appeal.
So, what Dearborn product calls your fancy from these?
I think I like the ’57 best, make mine a two tone with green .
-Nate
Beautiful ice plants in bloom (5th photo). Must be the Bay Area..
Could be way south as I had ice plants like that in Thousand Oaks.
It’s actually Surfridge Estates, which eventually was lost to LAX.
The story:
https://last1onthebus.com/surfridge-lax-and-the-el-segundo-blue/
Link does not work
Sad to hear. That neighborhood looked inviting. The one in the first ((b/w)) pic did too.
Great photos of Americana! Thanks
I generally think that Fords of this vintage lack the elegance (or flamboyance, if you will) of contemporary GM and Chrysler products. You can see that Ford designers tried to keep up with the competition but they just never got it quite right. To me, Fords from the 50s and 60s always appear frumpy when compared to GM and Chrysler cars.
Call me crazy, but the ones that speak to me are the 2-door Ranch Wagon, the Country squire and the ’60 Falcon.
Ah, but which Falcon?
I said “’60 Falcon”. There’s only one of them.
That is true as I only looked at the colors and year didn’t register. I was more curious in if color had anything to do with it.
That Falcon is gorgeous, but I don’t think that particular picture is really ‘vintage’…not with those aftermarket wheels…?
I too wondered when the picture was taken. In addition to the wheels/caps, I don’t think the color is factory original, and the bright chrome on the windows was added to a standard model (the deluxe trim package included chrome around the windows and along the body – we had two Falcons in 1961, a standard and a deluxe).
If the ‘60 Falcon is the yellow one, then that’s one of my favorites too.
And that Country Squire makes a nice woody wagon.
My dad bought a light green ’56 Ford station wagon (his other choice was a two-tone red and ivory Chevy Nomad. Despite my youthful entreaties, he rejected it as too impractical. “A 2-door station wagon? Silly.”)
The Ford was fast. I remember his racing a passenger train somewhere in the Midwest.
I agree with your Dad – 2 door wagons are “silly”. I grew up working in my Dad’s feed/seed store and will never forget the seed corn salesman coming around in his 2 door Ranch Wagon. Invariably, the 56 lb. bags of seed needed were at the front of the load and my brother or I were sent crawling thru that Wagon to retrieve them. It was a miserable chore.
He could have used a pickup with 8’ bed and a shell/topper. Crawling in to access cargo is a rite of passage for the youngest person around.
The photo of the 1956 Country Squire sure looks like it was taken in front of officers’ housing on some military base. We have streets and streets of those houses at the former Fort Devens near where I live. They’re fantastic houses, if you don’t mind everything looking the same.
Could certainly be military, however it could also be a neighborhood like the one in this link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/nhJb9cnjv9vHjkT77
The Ford has license plates from Central Ohio, and there’s a few neighborhoods in Columbus with apartments that look awfully similar to the photo. I haven’t been able to find a match yet, though
The ‘57 Ford in the photo featuring the Mustang looks so dated. There was a lot of styling change between 1957 and 1967, though perhaps not as much as between 1947 and ‘57. By contrast, with a few exceptions, the last 10-15 years have been pretty static.
My favorite? The (1960?’61?) Starliner that hasn’t yet shed its snow tires. The grass is green but the trees haven’t leafed out yet, so not quite ready to swap out rear tires.
Right there with you on the Starliner (1960), dman. Best dressed in black with appropriate footwear.
The ’66 or ’67 Fairlane in the last picture caught my eye. It just says road trip, an illustration from a story that may be lost. Today I could be tempted to step into the picture and see where it takes me…
and the proverbial, “missing wheel cover”.
I think I’d take the black ’52 (?) convertible. The big wheels give it attitude…
I’ll take all the 52 to 56s.
The Skyliner is parked in front of a couple things we don’t see now. Insulbrick asphalt siding and a rotary clothesline.
The street is not paved, I believe ? Been a bit since I’ve been in a “gravel road”, situation.
I was thinking something very similar. That is, that a Skyliner was a pretty fancy/rare car to be parked in a kind of downmarket situation. Then I remembered that things like asphalt siding, rotary clotheslines, and rolled gravel street surfaces used to be quite common. It’s only once the rest of the culture moved onward and upward that these sorts of things started to pick up negative associations.
That ‘56 2-door in midnight blue and white with the glass top is probably my absolute favorite here.
I like the T-Bird driving past the flowers, and the ‘64 Galaxie convertible isn’t bad either!
The early black t bird 55?56?was best looking of all the t birds ever made easily as good looking as the early vetts,though all something to drool over. I guess I’m showing my age. An early tv commercial touted the gremlin as a thing of beauty. Realty was one of rhetoric ugliest ever but comment can sure apply to the 56 crown v in pic
I like the ’54 Sunliner, the ’64 Galaxy 500, and the yellow ’66 Fairlane.
Something has just recently occurred in the last picture with the ’66 Fairlane; my guess is the two guys on the left had the Fairlane’s 390 wound up and were passing a line of traffic led by mom & dad in their camper. They must have over corrected and put it in the desert where they lost their left front wheel cover. Looks like the type of road where you could “blow the cobwebs” out of your new Ford Fairlane 500.
The black ’56 Country Squire for sure! a neighbor up on Trafalgar Rd, the Sasches, had a black one with a red interior they bought new, a gorgeous car. They drove their daughter Jeannie and me and some other kids to Towson Elementary in 1st thru 3rd grade. Can’t recall what car replaced that one, but it clearly didn’t make the impression the black & red Squire did, and to this day Black & Red is the ultimate Ford Squire color combo in my book.
The Fairlane is a 1966 I believe to be a 500 xl ,( lower rocker trim ) I owned a red one wished I never sold it
Ours was a “67”, purchased around “71-2”. Was used rather hard, by the original owner.
Still ran well, not much rust. The lights in the console to tell you which gear was selected were mostly “out too”.
Neutral and low lit up, as I recall. Those gears never got used though.
Nothing like a 60s Falcon with a rusty muffler 😬
Since I own a ‘65 Thunderbird, I’m rather slanted in my preferences so my first choice would be the Thunderbird. However, since I first saw one as a kid growing up in Southern California, the Starliner was and still is an all time favorite. Such a handsome design.
Thank you for posting these.
The “square bird”, the “Crown Vic”, the two “Falcon’s” are my fav’s.
A flock of fine Fords. You can’t go wrong with an old Ford.
#1 A two tone ’60 Galaxie Starliner with dual rear antennas, snow tires on the rear, and ’59 or ’60 Thunderbird wheel covers. This is the first year of two for the Starliner. This one is in very nice condition and a nice color combo as well.
#2 A two tone V8 powered ’53 Mainline Ranch Wagon which was the last year for the flathead eight cylinder. Another clean car with what appears to be a baby/toddler seat in the front seat. On the other side of it is a ’54 Buick Special or Super, and the only other one I can ID is the black ’49 or ’50 Ford Fordor in the street.
#3 A black and white V8 powered ’55 Fairlane Crown Victoria. A very nice ride with the red and white interior.
#4 A brand new looking ’57 Custom 300 Tudor Sedan. That may be a buyers tag in the windshield and the owner has added his clamp on outside rear view mirror. The car you can see through the Ford may be a ’55 Oldsmobile, and the house next door is for sale.
#5 A lady in red enjoying her ’55 Thunderbird on a nice warm day. Another very clean car with a bit of curb rash on the front tire. The two cars driving away are a white over black ’52-’54 Ford and a white Cadillac of the ’49-’53 variety. The others are too blurry for me to ID.
#6 Another clean black ’55 model, this one a Fairlane Country Squire with a V8 and Fordomatic. The license is hard to read but I am going to say a Ohio 1955 issue. Across the street is a ’52 Chevrolet Styleline De Luxe 4 door sedan with a ’50 Pontiac Chieftain De Luxe Convertible Coupe driving into the photo.
#7 A sharp ’59 Thunderbird from California. Fender skirts were optional, so this one is either came without them or is missing at least one. I think they improve the look. In the upper right is the tail of a ’57 Buick Special.
#8 A very nice, slightly customized ’60 Falcon 2 door sedan with the Deluxe Trim Package, a custom paint job, chrome wheels with baby moon caps, and perhaps a custom interior as well.
#9 Another last year flathead powered ’53 Customline Sunliner with a ’56 Ohio plate. It is a nice looking ride but wear is already setting in with a rusty front bumper and a top that doesn’t fit too well.
#10 A Washington state ferry ride in a ’62 Falcon 4 door sedan with Deluxe Trim and a heavy load that is registered in Yakima County. Following is a ’61 Comet 4 door sedan, a rare ’57 Pontiac Star Chief Custom Safari, the Nomad’s cousin, and I’m not sure about the white over black one on the end.
#11 A clean ’64 Galaxie 500 convertible from New Jersey ready for a top down cruise. There is no engine badge on the fender so it is most likely a 289 V8.
#12 A twofer with a close to new, sweet looking, well equipped ’65 Mustang with a V8, vinyl top, and a ’65 Illinois plate. Across the street is a ’59 Custom 300 Tudor Sedan, as well as two ’65 Pontiac’s. On the far left is a Tempest Sport Coupe, and far right a Catalina convertible with wire wheel covers.
#13 A ’66 Fairlane 500/XL hardtop with a 289 V8 from California that looks like it has been playing in the dirt. Perhaps they are looking for the lost wheel cover.
It is so hard to choose a favorite from such a fine flock, but I will narrow it down to two, the ’57 or the Mustang.
Thanks for the photos.
I had a 63 falcon 2 door and a 66 galaxy 500 back in the day.
I don’t see this in these photos. What I remember about early-to-mid 1960’s Fords was that many (LOTS!) had a single, white light in the middle of the grille lit up all the time the car was running. I never knew if this was a “factory” deal, or a dealer add-on; but I’m leaning toward dealer add-on based on never seeing them in photos, only around my home-town.
I imagine it was a 1156 single-filament taillight bulb or other similar low-power 12-volt automotive lamp in a weather-tight housing; the precursor to Daytime Running Lights several decades early. In short, totally-useless and high-profit. I’m seeing the same sort of profit-driven “safety” bullcrap on the brake-lights now–the CHMSL flashes three times before staying on, every time the brake pedal is pushed. There’s one dealership in town cramming what I suspect is a two-dollar circuit board onto all their cars. I don’t know what they’re charging the customer for that abomination, though. Just because it’s irritating, doesn’t mean it’s “safer”.
Gimme that convertible Pontiac parked across the street from the Mustang. Have to pick a Ford you say? OK, I’ll take the ’64 convertible.
I’d bet it is a 352. Popularity of the new Ford 289s in the smaller models meant a lot of the big ’64 Fords ended up with 352s. Despite the extra cubes, a lo-po 352 offered no performance advantage over a Chev 283 or Plymouth 318..
The Galaxie 500 and the Fairlane convertible work for me.
The ’55 5-Bird is ok, but I never cared for the view from the rear. This is my favorite picture of the lot, though.
Excellent period shots.
Love that first pic of the Skyliner hardtop. That’s such a stateful display of bling, on a car with graceful lines. Ford’s styling during this period always appealed to me. The cars seem friendlier, even happier than most. Beyond the ’55 Chevy, GM’s cars were loaded down with superfluous chrome; later, by 1960, they became staid and formal.
Today I drive a Ford, a C-Max – in spite of the styling.
The ferry is crossing the Columbia River connecting Lincoln and Ferry counties. Named the Keller Ferry, it is an on demand ferry with a limited schedule 7 days a week. Pretty sure that is it.
That ’60 Starliner is a thing of beauty!