Ford Galaxie 500

Saturday 23 January 2016
The Ford Galaxie is a full-size car that was built in the United States by Ford for model years 1959 through 1974. The name was used for the top models in Ford's full-size range from 1958 until 1961, in a marketing attempt to appeal to the excitement surrounding the Space Race. For 1962, all full-size Fords wore the Galaxie badge, with "500" and "500/XL" denoting the higher series. The Galaxie 500/LTD was introduced for 1965 followed by the Galaxie 500 7-Litre for 1966. The Galaxie 500 part was dropped from the LTD in 1966, and from the XL in 1967; however the basic series structuring levels were maintained. The "regular" Galaxie 500 continued below the LTD as Ford's mid-level full-size model from 1965 until its demise at the end of the 1974 model year.
The Galaxie was the high volume counterpart to the Chevrolet Impala.
The similarly named Ford Galaxy is a large car/minivan available in the European market. The vehicle's name is derived from the original Ford Galaxie.
The 1963 model was essentially unchanged save for some freshening and added trim; windshields were reshaped and a four-door hardtop 500/XL was added. A lower, fastback roofline was added mid-year to improve looks and make the big cars more competitive on the NASCAR tracks with the added downforce. This 1963½ model, the industry's first official "½ year" model, was called the "Sports Hardtop" or "Fastback" (it shared this feature with the for 1963½ Falcon). Galaxie buyers showed their preference as the new Sports Hardtop models handily outsold the "boxtop" square-roof models. The Sports Hardtop was available in both Galaxie 500, and Galaxie 500/XL trim. Mercury also received the new roofline (under the Marauder badge) in Monterey, Montclair, and Park Lane models. A base-model Galaxie was offered for 1963 only, badged as the Ford 300. The "Swing-away" steering wheel became optional.
At the beginning of the 1963 model run, the 292 Y-Block V8 was replaced as the base V8 engine with the new small block 260. The 260 proved under-powered for the heavy full size Ford and was replaced midyear (coincident with the introduction of the 63 & 1/2 models) with the 289 V8. The 289 was then the largest of the "small block series" that was first used (221 cubic inch version) in the 1962 Fairlane. The 260 was offered on the Falcon Sprint and later, in mid 1964, in the early version of the 1965 Mustang. By 1965 model introduction (in the fall of 1964), the 260 (which had disappointing performance in all versions including the Sprint and Mustang) was replaced by the 289 in all models. Ford continued to offer the FE series 352 in the 1963 full size, as well as 3 versions of the 390 V8 (Regular, High performance, and Police). Five different transmissions were offered for 1963. A 3-speed manual column shift was standard on all models except the 406 V8, which required the heavier duty Borg-Warner 4-speed manual. A three speed manual with overdrive was optional, but rarely ordered. The two speed Ford-O-Matic was common with the 6 cylinder and small block V-8s, while the majority of big blocks (352 and 390) were ordered with the 3-speed Cruise-O-Matic automatic transmission. The availability of several different rear end ratios, along with 5 transmissions, and 8 different engines, led to a huge number of different driveline combinations for 1963. The most produced combination for the Galaxie and Galaxie 500 was the 352 V8, with Cruise-O-Matic and the 3.0 rear end ratio.

Technical data:
- engine: V8
- capacity: 4700 cc
- horsepower: 195 HP
- gearbox: 4+1
- top speed: 160 km/h

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