The seller is giving the hard-sell on turning this car into a restomod monster, but being a purist, I’d love to have it restored to original spec. This 1960 Ford Galaxie Starliner is a two-door hardtop and it’s quite a car. Or, it was, and it could be again. It’s listed on eBay with a current bid price of $1,600 and can be found in Scottsdale, Arizona. Thanks to Blindmarc for sending in this tip!
The photos aren’t the best for this auction, but I guess those who know about the Starliner can probably decide as to whether they want this car based on the few photos that there are. The Starliner was the top of the line for Ford in 1960 and this pillarless, sloped-back two-door hardtop was the one to have. The Starliner model went away for the 1962 lineup.
The snippets of photos that are included in the eBay link seem to show a car that’s in fairly good condition, at least as far as dents go. There is quite a bit of rust in certain places, but overall it looks pretty solid. Both the driver’s side and passenger’s side floors will need you to show your skill with a welder. The seller says that a new trunk floor has been “installed correctly”, and it does look pretty good.
The interior needs to be fully restored, as you can see. As the owner says, this “car is all there but does need a complete restoration.” They really give the hard-sell on turning it into a restomod, which is lost on me being a lover of original spec vehicles, but to each his/her own. There are probably a few things that can be saved and cleaned up, but most of the soft surfaces inside will need to be replaced. I doubt if this is originally an Arizona car with this much rust, but the interior doesn’t surprise me with the amount of mice that roam that area. This car has an automatic transmission but there is no mention as to whether it’s a 2-speed Fordomatic or a 3-speed Cruise-O-Matic.
Or, maybe this is an Arizona car with that AC sticking out there! That has to be a rare option and the seller says that it’s a “FACTORY AC car”, but the interior portion sure doesn’t look factory to me, or it doesn’t look too well designed and integrated into the interior; it’s just stuck on the bottom like an aftermarket unit would be. Any ideas on whether this is really a factory piece or not? This is the famous “Thunderbird” 352 Special V8 with 300 hp and 381 ft-lb of torque. The seller talks about stuffing a 427 in there and I could see where that might be popular, but 300 hp in an original engine would be more than enough for me, and keeping it original would be what I would do. How about you, would you restore this fantastic car back to original spec or would you turn it into a modified “strip warrior” as the seller mentions?
I have a 96 Lincoln Town Car Executive that would provide a perfect resto drive train and disc brakes at the corners. This would be awesome as a resto-mod!!
David, there’s a guy in the San Diego area that did exactly that to a Starliner. It’s got a modern police interceptor drivetrain under it and modern electronics, plus disc brakes all around. I’ve seen the car at the Good Guys show in Del Mar, CA and it is absolutely stunning. He wins trophies everywhere he takes it.
Enduro!!
1960 Ford was a one year styling exercise. Add the Starliner package and you have quite a rare vehicle. I’ve always lusted after this model.
They were quite attractive, but didn’t sell particularly well because they didn’t look “Ford” enough. Ford would restyle the ’61s with more “Ford” cues such as the flower pot tail lights.
Scotty G,
Not real familiar with factory air back then, but I don’t think it came through the dash. A lot of factory air set-ups were under the dash. With the power steering pump down under the compressor, it looks like factory(?). Even ’65-’66 Mustangs factory air was under the dash, with a Ford emblem on the housing under the dash.
I’m not 100%, but I don’t think Ford’s factory air went through the dash until ’67 on anything. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong so I may learn more.
1965. I had one.
65 Galaxie had their air condioner integrated into the dash. I had one.
My dad had a ’60 Ford Fairlane 4 door. The way the windshield and rear window wrapped up into the roof made it hard to find shade in the car. Rear seat passengers were always in danger of a sunburned neck.
That’s why they called it a Starliner. Stars at night, sun in the daytime.
No different roof line, The Starliner used its own roof. Fairlane that year shared its roof styles with the Galaxie (there were two different roofs).
The car is in Michigan per the ad. What have anyone the impression that it’s in Scottsdale? That’s MI rust – not AZ rust!
The e-bay ad says item located in Scottsdale,AZ. Where do you see Mich?
Text of the listing says the car is located in Michigan.
I see in his description down the page now. I was reading the e-bay ad where it says Shipping. Thanks.
You are correct, Todd. I saw both but must for some reason I assumed that the car was from Arizona. It sure looks more like a Michigan car than an Arizona car. Thanks for catching that!
I think it’s an originally Arizona car that currently resides in Michigan.
If it was from Arizona, it probably spent time at the bottom of Lake Havasu.
Gotta admit, with those bodylines this would look damn nice shaved and dropped.
Full-size Fords got “in-dash” factory air in 1965, Falcons/Fairlanes in ’66 and Mustangs in ’67. Before that it was under-dash.
Thanks for the info.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one,,, years ago ( mid-80’s) I was walking through a yard in S. Wis. an employee was stacking cars on a flatbed, for their final ride . ( this was before portable crushers) The worker, on a big forklift, would “skewer” the cars in the side, and mash them on top of another on a flatbed trailer. His next “victim” was a ’61 Starliner.( also a nice car) It didn’t have a drivetrain, but the body was better than this. He was just about to pierce the side when I yelled, “HEY, hold on, that’s a ’61 Starliner”. The guy looked at me and said, “you want it or don’t you”. I said, “I don’t but someone might”. With that, he said, “No time” and put forks through the side. I couldn’t watch. Starliners are indeed rare, and while this is a lot of work, you won’t find too many. To new owner: please, keep it original.
AC was likely Dealer installed when new, have to check but could be FoMoCo.
Back in the day Some locals looking for a fight wrapped one around a tree, one of the bigger local tragedy I think either 3 or 4 High school/just out of high school, didn’t make it.
Yep Ford Crest on AC
It states “item location” as Arizona, but in the write-up he says it’s in Michigan. I find that odd. I’m not an expert in Arizona seasons, but the trees in the background don’t appear to have any leaves, which ,to me, says Michigan.
Wherever it is,I think it should be restored to original condition.
I have a soft spot for these. We had one when I was a kid (from 1960 to 1964). White with red interior. (That same, sort of plaid, seen here. Can’t imagine where you’d get that material now. It had a sparkley thread running through it!)
Pretty sure it didn’t have a hood ornament though. (Just checked — it didn’t. Photo attached — with any luck at all.) (Apparently not enough luck. Keeps telling me there’s an error, that the photo must be under 8MB, and it’s a 2.9MB JPEG! Don’t know what else I can do! Sorry.)
They were rare then and they’re a lot more rare now. It would be a real shame to destroy it by slamming, glamming, or anything-else-ing it!
Puhnto, this year Starliner had a hood ornament but had a flat one of the Ford Crest. This would look good slammed on an air-ride suspension in it’s Tuxedo black paint with polished stainless steel fender skirts and some 17″ chrome mag spoke rims. Maybe the hockey puck style chrome rocker panel moldings, dual spotlights and dual rear mounted slanted antennas with dual chrome exhaust coming out the back under the rear bumper. Redo the interior to original with some red fuzzy dice hangin’ from the rearview mirror. SWEEET !!!!!
FYI, I’m sure SMS Auto Fabrics in Portland, Oregon will have the exact original sparkly NOS (new old stock) upholstery for this car including the Chrome Mylar on the door panels. They stock 1000’s of NOS material for all old American cars. I’ve bought yards and yards full from them over the years for Fords, Chevies, Caddy’s, etc. probably has the largest supply in the world.
I see 352 ci and I cringe, my first car was a 65 LTD with the 352, and the engine was terrible ( bought it used) don’t know if it was the engine itself, or the poor care it had. Now to this 60 Starliner, as a kid I lived near a volunteer fire department, whenever the siren went off one of the volunteers would come off this hill that was near me, and it would rumble past the house was a then new, or nearly new black 60 Starliner, I loved it! I ” think” it had the 390, ( didn’t know then_) as it had duals , I would make this into a copy of that, a mirror like black finish, I just might use better quality cloth interior , the cloth interior of my dads wore out quickly . I wouldn’t nesc, go for the ” restomod” , depending on the reliability of the 352, may rebuild that or get a 390 to put in its place would have to put a beerier tranny in it , and of course make the suspension safe . in the northeast these were known rusters, so this one doesn’t look half bad. also, I think I would get rid of the chrome t give it a cleaner look , the only chrome of course being the door handles
Mike D. – My first car was ALSO a 1965 Galaxie 500 with the 250 hp 352 4V. Bought it from the second owner (a friend of my mother) who’d owned it since 1971 and it came with a lot of personal history.
The 352 was a great motor in this car and significantly more than any 16-year-old in the 1980’s needed for transportation. Biggest problem I ever encountered with it was a dreadful knock which increased as it came off idle; we’d originally thought it was a low end bearing issue, but it turned out to be a worn fuel pump. $16 dollars later and it was as quiet as you could ever hope for.
I still see that car around sometimes. Nice to know that it’s stood the test of time. Ford built their full-sized cars for durability back then and that one is a testament to what these cars can withstand.
while I was driving it, I was told it was a lot of noise, and no go . it would backfire thru the carb when I kicked it into passing gear , and it couldn’t pass anything except a gas station.. on a good day I saw maybe 11 mpg
Hi Mike, I agree with Mike H., the 352 ( and all it’s variants) were just the work horse motors of the time. Just about every full sized Ford and trucks had these motors. While not the most efficient motor, they chugged on and on despite poor maintenance. My old man never changed the oil in his cars( unless we went on a trip), claimed it was a ploy to sell oil ( and wondered why his cars always used oil), so who knows what that car had been through before you got it.
Mike D: It sounds like you had a carb problem causing the backfire.
Symptom of a worn timing chain, when you floor it and right away it spits through the carb. If it was the carb it would stumble or gasp but not backfire.
These 60 Ford Star liners are nice cars of that period and this one should be restored back to it original specs. As for the air conditioner Ford used a factory hang on under the dash unit in these period cars until 1964. In the redesigned 65 they installed it into the dash.
The 352 is just a smaller displacement that eventually became the 390, then the 406, then, and 428. All the same FE engine family
I think it was also the basis for the 360 which mainly did duty in 3/4 ton pickups into the early 1970’s. It was originally the 352 “Interceptor V-8 Thunderbird Special” (1958).
You left out the 427,also an FE block,with 4 bolt mains.Had one in a 63 1/2 Galaxy convertible “R” Code. Bought it brand new. $3249.00.
Ford’s 427 4-bolt mains were referred to as “Cross Bolt Mains”. The strongest design.
Actually it started life in 1958 as the 332. One of the first FE engines. It was used in the Skyliner retractable that year. In that same year Ford enlarged it for the T-Bird as the ” 352 Thunderbird” engine, with higher compression and a 4 barrel.
Friend of mine has a 61 he runs in nostalgic drags,,,9 second car in the 1/4,,car is called “Old Yeller”,,been featured in a few ford magazines in the past 25 years
After seeing this ’60 it reminded me of one that got away back in about ’03 I had a chance to buy a triple black starliner convertible for $10k it was a stunning driver, at the time I was into restoring a ’59 chevy and passed on buying the Ford, now I wish I would have bought it and just put it away, woulda, shoulda, coulda….
Gary K, There was no such thing as a “Starliner” convertible. The “Starliner” was always a 2 door sweptback hardtop. Everybody makes that same mistake even the AMT modelcar company back in 1960 so don’t feel bad but all of Ford’s soft top convertibles from the early 1950’s (1951 or ’52?) thru 1962 were called a “Sunliner”. Back in 1957 thru 1959, their “Retractable Hardtops” (retractable steel hardtop folded down into the trunk) were called “Skyliners” though they did have a “Skyliner” in the early 1950’s (’53 & ’54) that was a hardtop with a green plexiglass non opening large sunroof across the whole front half roof of the car. The ’55 and ’56 Ford had that same green tinted plexiglass roof as an option on the “Crown Victoria” it was then called the “Crown Victoria Glasstop”. And the 1950’s Mercury counterpart that had that same green plexiglass roof was respectively called the “Mercury SunValley”… Very confusing to say the least.
Up until about 1964, factory A/C units were mounted under the dash panel. Ford, for some reason, was slow to catch on to the integrated factory A/C units (see Mustang). I believe I see a Ford emblem on the unit. They worked well, but it was not as easy to get to the controls. Also, by judging by the poor quality picture, I don’t believe that I see an L2 & L1 on the gear selector, indicating that it’s a Ford -o Matic.
Beautifully styled cars, spectacular when in really nice shape.
Fell in love with this one, from the
http://barnfinds.com/barn-find-emergency-truck-1958-ford-coe/
posting.
Nice !!
I have always wanted to do one as a restomod…this is a very cool one-year body style(front-end) ..427 0r 460…
Fordamatic 2-speed. Only D & L.
Love these big Fords.
I LOVED THE 62 FORD BUBBLETOP MUCH BETTER THAN THE 61….I am watching heads explode as guys are thinking no such animal…..It was called the Starlift….Ford created a bolt on bubbletop for their NASCAR racers which was supposed to be available for the public. Bolt on to a convertible…good for 3 mph more….won the only race competed in then was banned.
http://powerbyford.blogspot.com/2011/05/1962-nascar-galaxie-500-starlift.html
61 Starliner was a car I liked, but like the Pontiac bubbletops..they weighed a couple hundred pounds more then the 61-62 Chev Bel Air bubbletops…of which I owned one of each! I have only 1 photo of me and my 61 bubbletop (me on left/with noted Bob Fuller future nationally known car builder on rt) Bob’s Ford truck in photo hauling my 66 442….had a Ford 427 side oiler in it! That would be the engine to place in a 61 Starliner…I laugh now at our fun we had with rare engines that we treated like yesterdays trash…..One of my friends I grew up with turned into a major pot dealer…someone gave him a perfect 62 Ford 406 tripower with the special cast highway patrol hi performance cast headers for dope payment….he offered it to me for free…and I said no…on principle of him getting it in a dope deal…..We were young once….
When i was young a neighbor had one just like it, it was new then and it was a neat car for sure. I think the Ford Air units did hang under the dash. I think this year was the widest American car made.
My father bought a 60 Starliner new with the hi po package 360 hp 352 ci. with three on tree with o/d. Dad bought it because the factory had to sell a certain number of cars in order to have a new model to compete in Nascar dad was on a race team. Dad passed 4 years ago and that’s the only new car he ever bought.I still have the car and it’s still original except for seat covers that were custom made when car was new and dad put a set of magnum 500 wheels on it. It still looks new with 86k miles I am 77 years old now and show the car some and take to local cruise in.
Love to see a photo of that!
BF Execs, can that be arranged?
Death to restomod – pure stock forever.