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2025 Chevrolet Traverse ReviewThe 1959 Ford Galaxie 500 was Peak ‘50s
The Ford Galaxie arrived as the pinnacle of Ford’s lineup leading the transition from the era of ‘50s gaudy chrome to the ‘60s sleek simplicity.
The Ford Galaxie Pivot Point
Paleontologists refer to it as the KP Boundry, that layer of sediment that records the aftermath of the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. Like ice cores and tree rings, sedimentary layers are one of nature’s clearest illustrators of what was and what came after. What does the KP Boundry have to do with cars? Allow me to explain.
There are few more stark and rapid periods of change in cars than we find in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Other pivotal decades include the 1920s and 1970s, but even then, the rates of change were more gradual. Going from 1958-59 to 1960-61, we see the height of one style, the Borque chrome and fins era, give way almost overnight to a new era of simplicity with the advent of Midcentury Modern design.
The Ford Galaxie 500, launched in late 1958 as a 1959 model, arrived as Ford’s new top-of-the-line full-size sedan at the peak of chrome and fins styling. And like the ’59 Cadillac, ’59 Chevy, Plymouth Belvedere, Buick Electra, and others, the Galaxie laid on the gleaming chrome and flared its fins. But cars like the ’59 Galaxie and ’59 Cadillac were accentuating those features right up to the edge of absurdity just as tastes were changing.
The 1960 model year and those directly subsequent saw the industry adopt simpler, straighter designs. Look to the Lincoln Continental, Chevrolet C2 Corvette, or the Ford Thunderbird for prime examples. Fins got smaller before being deleted entirely. Massive, front-end dominating chrome grilles shrunk as well. The Ford Galaxie’s pivot between the 1959 and 1960 models is another of these automotive KP Boundaries.
The Last of the Chrome Kings – The ’59 Galaxie
The Ford Galaxie was all-new for 1959, supplanting the Fairlane as the top model with the combined naming and badging for Ford Galaxie Fairlane 500. As such, the Galaxie featured the utmost in ornamentation. In the Galaxie’s case that meant a front-end spanning chrome grille and bumper with quad headlights and gun-sight fender ornaments while the rear end got the obligatory fins, fender side skirts, and a set of giant rocket exhaust style taillights as the car’s most distinctive feature.
The Galaxie was offered as a two- or four-door hardtop or sedan, a convertible (Sunliner), and retracting hardtop convertible (the top-trim Skyliner). Ford emphasized the Galaxie’s safety advancements that added standard seat belts (!), a padded dash, and childproof locks. The Galaxie also got Ford’s top engine option a 352 cu.-in. FE V8 making 300 horsepower along a Mileage Maker 223 cu.-in. I-6, a collection of Y-block V8s, and a smaller 332 cu.-in. FE V8.
The Galaxie’s head-turning looks and high-end features made for strong sales which crested 464,100 units for the 1959 model year. As good as the Galaxie may have looked, many of its prominent design elements, like the grille, fins, and taillights, had grown as flashy as they could get without crossing the line into self-parody (some still argue the ’59 Caddy did just that).
The Early 1960s Ford Galaxie Turns the Page
The Galaxie name presaged the embrace of Jet-Age aesthetics along with the ’59 model’s fins and rocket exhaust taillights. After the Galaxie’s brief and successful inaugural year Ford gave the car, and the rest of their full-size lineup, a thoroughly modernizing redesign. Engines were carried over, including the top end 352 V8 and standard issue 223 straight-six. The Starliner, a new two-door, was added and served dual purposes as the new top-of-the-line trim as well as Ford’s NASCAR offering.
As we noted above, Ford made a sharp turn away from ostentation and toward elegant simplicity in its redesign of the Galaxie for 1960. The grille and front end were simplified, new side trim now ran the length of the car, and though the fins remained, as did the round taillights, but were less pronounced.
Each subsequent year saw additional changes to the Galaxie’s design. For 1961, a new egg crate grille was added while the rear fins diminished in size yet again. Two new engines arrived, 390- and 401-horsepower versions of the 390 cu.-in. FE V8. By the 1962 model year, the Galaxie’s transformation was almost complete as the fins in back were deleted entirely and yet another new grille design was implemented. The new Galaxie 500 XL (Xtra Lively) trim introduced new amenities like a center console and bucket seats. Two new 406 cu.-in. FE V8 now tops the range of engine options.
The 1963 Ford Galaxie brought the car’s straightest lines yet, along with yet another new grille design. The sharply angled C-pillar was a visual throughline that stretched back to the 1959 model. (Notably, this C-pillar design was not original to the Galaxie, the Thunderbird had implemented a nearly identical design for its 1958 model). In 1963, the Galaxie got its most powerful engine to date, Ford’s 427 V8.
Additionally for 1963, the Galaxie served as Ford’s official NASCAR and NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) car. Between the racing associations, powerful V8 options, and a contemporary design, the Ford Galaxie was reaching its zenith. The buying public sure seemed to think so as the Galaxie’s sales reached a stratospheric 648,010 units that year.
The 1964 model Ford Galaxie was mostly a carryover from the popular ’63 model with minor revisions to the grille (of course) and new side trim again running the length of the car. Within five years, the Ford Galaxie had morphed from a gleaming monument to all things chrome to a sleek and powerful emblem of Midcentury Modern design.
