We’ve seen some really nice Fords here on Barn Finds over the last week or so, and this one may top them all. Although, it’s like choosing your favorite child, it’s almost impossible to choose a favorite vintage car. Or, for me it is. This drop-dead gorgeous 1961 Ford Galaxie Club Victoria can be found here on eBay in Guttenberg, Iowa and they have a $25,500 buy-it-now price listed or you can make an offer. Thanks to Larry D. for sending in this tip!
Wow. Wowie wow-wow, this thing is nice, reeeeeal nice. The Club Victoria was Ford’s biggest seller in the Galaxie line in 1961. A square-roof two-door hardtop coupe and four-door sedan, they were reintroduced for the 1961 model year. I really like this body style over the Starliner sloping-rear-roofline design, being a lover of formal, luxury cars, but that’s just me. The seller has included a few underside photos and it looks good, but it appears to be coated with something, as most vehicles do these days.
This car looks amazing and the odometer shows 44,000 miles. The seller says that the paint and body are without blemishes and I don’t see any. I can even live with the wide white walls, even though this car may be a touch late for such a look for most people. It’s like the men-wearing-hats era, once that went away in the 1960s, it looks a little out of place to see men wearing a brimmed hat today, but it’s still cool for the most part.
This is a second-generation Ford Galaxie, and they were made from 1959 for the 1960 model year until the model year 1964, at which point, the Galaxie basically stepped from the 1950s to the modern era. The seats would have originally been red shimmer fabric and vinyl rather than red and white vinyl and I’d go back to that if this were my car, but again, that’s just me. It looks nice inside other than the wear on the steering wheel and a big crack on the top of the dash. As expected, the backseat looks great as does the trunk.
The engine is Ford’s 352-cu.in. Y-block FE V8, which would have had 220 horsepower and 336 lb-ft of torque. It’s backed up by a two-speed Ford-O-Matic automatic transmission and the seller says that it’s an excellent driver. They have it priced at about Hagerty’s #2 excellent condition value, just for the record. Are there any second-generation Galaxie fans out there?
Pillarless 2-door coupes have a very strong pull. I’m partial to the 250C myself but this one is an American rival to be sure.
That doesn’t look like a 44K steering wheel!
I’m with you on the formal roofs, Scotty.
I’m a ’63 guy, but this is nice!
I like the ‘61 and ‘62 Fords simply because they’re overshadowed by their younger’63 and ‘64 brethren. They’re the red headed stepchildren and, to me, that adds a lot of appeal. Besides, who can fault those glowing “afterburner” taillights on the ‘61s? I remember riding behind those at dusk as a young car lover and thinking how cool they looked.
Now, there’s an oxymoron for you; cool afterburners. 🔥
Beautiful car, my personal favorite year Galaxie, although I prefer the Starliner, and with a 390 Tri-Power of course
My favorite Christmas memory is that of a man in our church, who had a 1961 baby blue/blue interior Galaxie Sunliner. Christmas ’66 he was here, he took me and I don’t know who else out caroling in it, with the top down. That might have only been less than half an hour, but the memory is forever with that car. I’m a big fan of the formal roof Galaxies, and I think ’59s was a mid year trim option, then ’60 was the official model.
I’m going with the Starliner, over the formal roofline. Though my favorite big Ford was the ’60 Starliner, the ’61 was a close second.
A 352 is the FE block.
The 312 was the largest Y block.
The intermediate coolant fill tank between engine and radiator is a typical FE block car configuration.
The Y block rocker arm covers had two studs from the rocker arm assembly that went through the covers to hold the covers in place.
👍🏻
@Mark Brown
One dead giveaway is that the Y-blocks had the distributor in the rear while the FEs had them up front like all the Ford V8s to come after that.
Absolutely! There was actually a bigger Y block that was used in Lincoln’s circa 1957. The first FE motors showed up in 58 as 332 s or 352s.
the 368 y block used in the Lincoln was the largest.
And that engine was also used in the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser.
352 is an FE engine not a Y-Block.
The FE actually is a Y-Block design, extended skirt block, they were just never promoted that way, or labeled as such. Same with the early Lincoln V8s.
FE for sure
$25,500? Worth every penny.
Before I went to Viet Nam my parents helped my wife and I buy a 61 Ford two door post. It was $400 from the dealer. I was shocked that my parents wanted to help us buy it. I am sure it was because they felt my wife needed a dependable car while I was gone. For that reason and the memory ,I would love to have this car. I know its not $400 bucks but the 25 K for its condition seems fair.
It hss an FE engine.
Scotty does not know Fords.
Seller even says: It is powered by a BIG BLOCK 352 V8 engine
None of us are scholars here. None of us know everything about every vehicle ever made, including you, T, Mann, just for the record. We all do research on the internet about the dozens of makes and models that get written about here, and sometimes we get burned or – gasp – make an honest mistake; like this time. Thanks for the lesson, folks, and for mostly being polite about it.
The link in the engine paragraph shows an FE so I had that right, and I knew that it was an FE but still typed out Y-Block, my apologies.
Scotty, most of us here are reasonable and even also make occasional mistakes. Further, we support the efforts you and the others put forth 100%.
It is sad that some others here feel the need to sling mud at you guys, especially when it’s from a member. There are tactful ways to point out discrepancies, and tmann’s example above is not one of them.
Don’t sweat it Scotty. Im a Ford guy and although I had never heard of a 352 Y block, I have been surprised often at what I didn’t know about them and I’ve found in my old age that if I keep my mouth shut I might learn something. Hard to tell tman’s inflection from text. He was probably just poking at you.
Yblocker— I had one of those 390 / 401 HP 61 Starliners when I was 17. I have owned about 150 cars and that remains my absolute favorite.
Love the 60’s big Fords. (1) 63-1/2 Galaxie (2) 61 Starliner (3) 60 Sun/Starliner. All look great but that’s my top 3. Miss my 63-1/2. Slight rake with blackwalls on chrome reverse wheels. That was some serious ‘stylin’.
Just sold a 61 Club Vic in runs/drives restorable condition. I wish the seller well in getting this number. Its what dreams are made of…
I love the Sixties round Galaxies. I had a couple of 64s. A friend of mine had a 61 with that roof line which we called the box top or tbird top. The car was the same body as this Galaxie but it had Galaxie/Fairlane badges. We never found a listing for Galaxie/ Fairlane model. The badges were formed together ( not a Galaxie badge placed next to a fairlane badge). Anybody know?
I’m not sure what your friend had, sure it was a 61? At midyear 59, Ford added the Galaxie trim level to the Fairlane 500. It had a Fairlane 500 emblem on the trunk lid, and a Galaxie emblem on each rear upper quarter, the car was a Fairlane 500 Galaxie. 60 thru 61, they were separate trim levels . In 62, the name Fairlane was given to the new intermediate model, and the full size Ford was now the Galaxie 500
I wanted one of these so bad when I was 8 and saw one in the S&H Green Stamp catalog. “Hey, Mom. How long will it take to save up 600 books of stamps?”
That “sparkle fabric” may be available from SMS in Oregon, but you would probably need a loan from Bill Gates to buy it. The do have a really complete line of original fabrics, but way far out of this mans’ price range. I was surprised at the ask that the leaves hadn’t been cleaned out of the drivers vent and from around the steering column where it enters the firewall. Overall, the car is really nice but I personally feel that the pricing should be in the 3 to high 3 range due to checking in the paint, and the letters missing from the hood. To me it looks like it has been “nosed” but not “decked” Just my personal opinion, don’t want to offend anybody, even the seller.
Yes, SMS has the fabric. You make it sound like the cloth is exorbitantly priced. Most of these fabrics are in the $125-$150 yd cost, but you only need 3 yards of cloth, so that’s not THAT much to a collector/restorer. How much does the incorrect material cost? (And that’s basically money thrown away to do it incorrectly.)
60 and 61 Starliner…62 406…had 63 1/2::: Now a 64 T Bolt Tubed/caged 427.
Not an expert on anything. But I love it. Gorgeous big ol yacht
Ahhhh memories…my dad was always a Ford man so whatever possessed my dad to buy it Is a question I never asked but I believe it was probably about 1962 when he purchased a used 1959 Pontiac Bonneville that he discovered shortly after had some pretty serious lower end engine problems which turned out to be spun rod bearings that had been incorrectly repaired. Long story short, I was about 10 at the time and one Saturday night, he loaded us up in the patched up poncho and started cruising the used car lots when yours truly spotted a beautiful ‘61 Galaxie 4 door hardtop, red with a white top, red on white interior. My dad was not a fan of two things about the car. He didn’t like 4 door hardtops because he said they misalign and rattle. The other thing was he didn’t trust the bulletproof cast iron case cruise-a-matic transmission which is what the car was equipped with and was mated to the venerable 352 FE. He probably didn’t keep the sporty ‘61 a year before trading for a factory fresh ‘63 Galaxie 500 4 door sedan, 352 and 3 speed with overdrive. It remained his and my moms primary vehicle until he finally broke down and purchased a brand new ‘89 Taurus only because the old ‘63 was manual steering and my mom was getting to a point where it was hard for her to drive it. They are both in heaven now but I still have that old ‘63 up on jack stands. I’m 71 now and don’t know if I’ll live to see it roadworthy again but other than a few battle scars, it’s still rock solid but will never be as gorgeous as that red and white ‘61.
Even though I love GM cars of the sixties this ’61 Ford is drop dead gorgeous(love this body style) and for the record the wide white walls is correct for this year(the last year) when the thin white walls came in ’62 for American vehicles. This is worth every dime of that 25K.
One of my favorite childhood memories involves one of these cars, except a much more plebian one sans anything extra. My little girlfriend and I were playing in the yard one afternoon waiting for her mom to get home from work. We started hearing a car horn honking over and over again repeatedly. It got louder and louder until her mom’s Ford came around the corner and pulled into their driveway, honking continuously. The actual steering wheel had broken off somehow, and her mom was driving the car using only the thin metal horn ring. I still laugh about that, and she and I still talk about it. Now, go back and look at the horn ring. LOL
Had a bronze white top square roof 390 3pd on the tree overdrive was an absolute beast 1962
Absolutly beautiful. I have always liked the good looks of the 61 Ford. This one is truly beautiful. However looking at the steering wheel tells me the odometer has rolled over at least once.