IN A GALAXIE 1 HOUR & 20 MINUTES AWAY . . .
I was leaving a diner in Danbury when I saw this massive rump sitting right in front of me:
All I need are the amazing taillights to identify this one! This is a 1959 Ford Galaxie in Tu-Tone Colonial White over Surf Blue. In my opinion this is the high water mark for Ford rear-end styling from the moment they started production in 1903 to the present day.
There's subtlety in adding styling cues during the Space Age, and then there's this; naming your car the Galaxie and making the back look like a rocket ship! This car was an overt (and successful) attempt at capturing the magic surrounding the Space Age, ushered in with the launch of Sputnik.
Ford launched this car in 1959 to replace the top trim level designation of the Fairlane 500. For the model year this car wore both Fairlane and Galaxie badging. When you think of the fins Cadillac was rocking in '59 (think Ecto-1) you can appreciate how understated this car is.
I briefly owned a '59 Edsel Ranger 2 door and I can tell you that this is the sister car to it. The roofline, glass, and basic bodies are identical.
I briefly owned a '59 Edsel Ranger 2 door and I can tell you that this is the sister car to it. The roofline, glass, and basic bodies are identical.
I love this swooping chrome spear on the side.
Inside is so destroyed that it doesn't even have a dashboard! With the column shifter at such a high position I'm guessing that this is a 3 on the tree manual transmission.
What we would call patina in the back gives way to a primer/rust nightmare in the front.
The wipers are hinged on the outside edges on this car, meaning that the area they can't reach is the center of the windshield!
*My Edsel had a small pedal to the right of the gas pedal. I pressed on it out of curiosity once and it made the wipers turn on for one swipe! Awesome design footnote I didn't know existed.
The wipers are hinged on the outside edges on this car, meaning that the area they can't reach is the center of the windshield!
*My Edsel had a small pedal to the right of the gas pedal. I pressed on it out of curiosity once and it made the wipers turn on for one swipe! Awesome design footnote I didn't know existed.
I guess there's at least 1 tire on the passenger side. I can't imagine that finding a grill, bumper, headlights, signals, and inner fender wells will be cheap to replace on this beast.
That was all I'd seen of this slab when I shot it last year. Imagine my surprise when I saw it pop up on Craigslist for sale recently! (You mean people don't typically look at 1905-1975 cars for sale "including local areas"?)
1959 Ford 2 Door Rat Rod - $3850 (Danbury)
1959 Ford 2 Door Rat Rod. Needs work... Has Thunderbird Motor in it. Runs and Drives. Automatic. Has to go.... $3850.00 OBO.
Runs and drives! I really didn't see that coming.
I guess if you want serious patina and couldn't care less about headlights or legality this is the ride for you!
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