Ford brought out the Starliner for 1960-61 as the fastback version of their Galaxie line of full-size cars. With its expansive glass and thin roof pillars, Chevy would copy the look in 1961-62 first with the Impala, then the Bel Air. With their rather slippery aerodynamics, the Starliners symbolized the 1960s jet age we were in at the time. This ’60 Starliner looks rather impressive all around, but the big surprise under the hood is a 406 cubic inch V8 with a triple-carb set-up. Located in Pelham, New Hampshire, the bidding here on eBay has reached $21,100, but the reserve has not been cleared.
For 1960, Ford added their Galaxie Special Series which was comprised of the Starliner hardtop and Sunliner convertible. Nothing but top-level trim was used and the Galaxie name was replaced on the trunk lid with Starliner (or Sunliner, as the case would be). The Starliner name was borrowed from the 1952–54 Studebaker Starliner and the Lockheed L-1649A airplane. The Starliner name would disappear in 1962 in favor of the Galaxie 500/500 XL, but not before 68,641 Starliners were built for 1960, followed by another 29,669 for 1961.
While this ’60 Starliner could have left the factory with either a 292 or 352 V8, that’s what’s not there now. A 406 sits there with a tri-power carburetor set-up and a mild cam upgrade. That engine was part of Ford’s “FE” series of engines. FE stood for Ford Edsel and they were most often used in trucks. These were built between 1958-76 and had several carburetor variations, including 3X2-barrel units as in the seller’s car. Depending on the compression ratio, these engines could put out nearly one horsepower per cubic inch and 450 lb·ft of torque. But since this engine has had at least a little modification, it’s hard to say what it will do.
The seller tells us the car is ready to drive and enjoy, so that must mean it runs well. The body is straight and the black paint shiny with no rust on the frame and underbody or in the trunk. The chrome and stainless pieces seem to be in good shape, as well. The interior looks exceptionally nice and the seats have been reupholstered. The dash, door panels, and carpeting are said to be good, but there are a few small holes in the headliner but are not distracting.
So, hop in, put the 3-speed automatic in drive, and take off, as this car has the look of a plane ready to launch off an aircraft carrier with its smooth roofline and flat tailfins. NADA says these Starliners are worth about $32,000, but that doesn’t consider the engine transplant. Since it came from another Ford product and gives it more punch, I would think the swap will be considered an asset.
These are gorgeous cars. Fell in love with them at the 2020 Ford Nationals Carlisle. The pictures presented are 2 years old. A lot can happen to a car in 2 years….
Lovely! The ’60 two-door “fastback” was probably as pretty as Ford passenger cars ever got, and if I had been old enough to buy one, I would have liked nothing better than to stuff in a 406 when they became available two years later.
IIRC, the factory 406 cars had beefed-up brakes and suspensions. I would hope that was done here, but the ad copy doesn’t say so. That would be Job One for me. Job Two would be a set of Torq-Thrusts. The wires don’t git ‘er done for me.
No matter when the engine swap was actually performed, this is a period-correct style hot rod for me. I would have loved it in ’62, and it grabs me now.
Ditch the wires for a set of steelies or Torque Thrusts, and source and install a proper oval air cleaner
For once, I’ll say, the price is justified, the 1960 Ford was the most beautiful, one year design, and the 406, tri carb was the hottest stick out there. I think Chrysler engines packed more whallop, but the cars themselves were too heavy. Pontiac too, too heavy, and the 409 was getting old. I bet some found out, that metal dash was awfully hard. Beautiful car.
Actually the 409was only around for 4 years so the 272 292 312 352 were getting old. Full sized cars from that era were not as heavy as today’s V6 powered SUV’S. MY Traverse weighs @ 4300 lbs. Star liners, Impalas, Savoys, Fury’s, Bonnevilles etc were @ 3800 lbs and not aerodynamic. Cadillac’s, Newports, Lincolns, Mercs were very heavy.
The 352 was an FE engine (same as the 406), and was introduced in 1958.
We had a ’75 Cutlass w/350 that weighed 4500#
Yes, the 409 was only around 4.5 years, starting in 1961. I find it hard to understand the continuation of the 292 Y block as far as the 1962 Fords. They had a 332 FE to go with the 352 in 1958. Why drop an engine with superior design, more horsepower and economy for the boat anchor 292s. They also continued in trucks until 1964. I can only figure that they must have had a bunch laying around. They didn’t even use the 312 after 1957 and the 332 was 2 years only, ’58 and ’59. You had to do a lot of work to fix the oiling problem of the 292. There are good mechanics that can get the Y blocks to run really good, but that was not the factory, at least for the 272 and 292s.
The 409 didn’t appear untill late ’61 and those were bad engines. The 406 was not a good engine either but in ’63 the Ford 427 was one of the best big blocks ever produced.
OK, being a long-time fan of any early 60s Impalas even I have to admit this has to be one of the absolutely prettiest fullsize cars of its period. With that said it doesn’t scream FORD either; unless you know what it is I think it could’ve easily passed for being a ’60 GM car design-wise.
Neither the ’59 nor ’61 Fords aren’t even close to being as beautiful
The reason you luv this car is that Foed got the plans of the 60 Chevy and there model was no where it and they also had a full mock up of a “FUTURE CAR” and put the Chevy styling into that and produced a NEW CAR in 18 months .And as for the Roof Style it carried over into 1961 then Ford dropped it for 62 then made a lift off fastback roof for the 62 Convertable and tryed to get it passed by NASCAR but they wernt fooled and waved them out the door. FORD allways played catch up to the Chevy. All 58 Edsels had the FE Engine of 361 ci unless you opted for the bigger Lincloin engine.
The reason you luv this car is that Foed got the plans of the 60 Chevy and there model was no where it and they also had a full mock up of a “FUTURE CAR” and put the Chevy styling into that and produced a NEW CAR in 18 months .And as for the Roof Style it carried over into 1961 then Ford dropped it for 62 then made a lift off fastback roof for the 62 Convertable and tryed to get it passed by NASCAR but they wernt fooled and waved them out the door. FORD allways played catch up to the Chevy. All 58 Edsels had the FE Engine of 361 ci unless you opted for the bigger Lincloin engine. The future car was called the Quick Silver.
Yeah, but the Ford derivative is so much more tasteful and refined.
I agree with Eric on this one, being more refined and tasteful than the Chevrolet. Chevy really turned over the apple cart in ’59 after a beautiful 1958 model. They even had cartoons about the ’59 Chevy scaring children. It was a disaster of a design and ’60 was to try to smooth over the ’59 to get the top sales spot back, which they did. Chevy lost it in 1959 to Ford. Of course, I know there are plenty of people who love the ’59 Chevy, but I am not one. Mine is the ’59 Ford. Ford took a lot of heat for the ’60 design looking like a Chevrolet so they changed back to a main stream Ford design in ’61. Much better IMO and the Starliner roof design worked really well. The 1960 Ford design has grown on me over the years though. But like a lot of people say, Ford was playing catch up most of the time, except a few years.
Such a first rate design. The 60 is a beauty and hard to come by. No issues about further tasteful resto mods here.
saw a red one awhile back –complete and seemed to be in running condition. they are very slippery looking and just gorgeous.
Actually Ford copied this design from the 59 Impala two door hardtop.
…if you squint real hard.
In retrospect it seems odd that Ford copied the 59 Chevy that it outsold. Then in 61 they copied their own 57 in an attempt to make up for their mistake.
Ford couldn’t have copied the 59 Chevy because the designs are 2 to 3 years in advance. Just a coincidence, but even then they don’t really look that much alike.
Chuck, By the time the ’59 Chevy was introduced to the public, Ford already had the roof tooling and sub assembly parts in production from the suppliers. In the 50s & 60s it took a minimum of 18 months to go from an accepted design to production.
So that means they were either independently created, or Ford had their man inside the GM styling studios. That’s very unlikely.
The reason there is a several month gap in production each year is because it takes that long just to get the new changes in manufacturing equipment into place, then test build the cars & solve all the technical & logistical problems.
Plus, this was long before the Japanese showed US manufacturers how to handle the “just in time” concept. So items coming in from suppliers often sat unused for months, especially for the lower production items like a Starliner hardtop.
For example, lets say L.O.F. was shipping rear window glass units, and they could ship 100 units per truckload. So with sedan rear windows being made at a rate 10 times the Starliner units, that shipment of Starliner glass might sit a lot longer in storage before Ford ordered another truckload.
Wow what a beauty! Early 60s Starliners or Sunliners are hard to beat. Period correct engine upgrade but I agree about updating the wheels. Price is certainly justified here.
After the resounding success of the ’59 Ford, the ’60 model was not as popular, with sales down over 11,000. However, the 1960 Ford has aged well all these years later, with the 1960 model arguably one of Ford’s best designs!
Beautiful car, beautiful wheels, but not together! (IMHO)
I’ve always wondered why Ford didn’t incorporate a reflector in the back bumper’s indentation to give the impression of a round taillight, to echo the prior and subsequent model years.
That was the one “mod” I remember my Dad doing to ours. He got an extra set of taillight lenses and modified them to fit in the recesses.
Ford did offer a feflector to fill this space as an option just another example of cost cutting. i have in my 70 years never seen what would have been a real 1960 Ford. the 61 Ford has no carry over design from the 59 nor has the 60 and the 60’s Ford was made into an Edsel just buy hang ons and were all made in 1959.
I’m about the same age as Mick. The family Country Squire in the 60’s was close to its birth year. I was more a fan of the round tail lights, but driving dad’s car with dad’s gas credit card was good.
Here now in NorCal there was a baby blue 2 door 1960 that used to park at the Lake Chabot parking lot and the owner would go running. I never did see him at a time when I could ask him, but I think it was a 6 cylinder automatic, pretty plain. Nice to see though, gave me a little throwback memory every time I saw it.
We had one when I was in the seventh grade. Ours was white with the red interior. My folks were looking to buy a brand new 1960 Fairlane (full-size Ford in 1960) four-door with no options except a V-8 and auto transmission. They had considered some one-year-old used cars with more features, including a 1959 Mercury Park Lane Cruiser hardtop and a 1959 Edsel. We really liked the Mercury but then dad found the Starliner. Slightly used, and for the same money as the stripped down Fairlane! I remember we felt pretty spiffy tooling around in that snazzy hard top.
My best friend’s family had a 1960 wagon, white with woodgrain on the sides. I was only 7 years old in 1960, but that wagon seemed like the Queen Mary! Fricken huge! Bench seats you could fit 4 kids across on.
I always thought this year was a strange design for Ford, kind of wedged between the very appealing ’57-59 cars, and the cleanly styled full-sized cars of the mid 60’s.
My father traded a 58 Chevy Brookwood for a 60 Ford Country Sedan, the difference in width was notable. The Chevy fit in our garage with room to spare while the Ford was such a tight fit that we could barely open a door to get out of the car once it was in the garage. In fact, 60 Fords were illegal in many states that had laws on automobile width. I have heard that 60 Fords were the widest cars Detroit ever produced.
BTW, my father thought he was being frugal by special ordering our Country Sedan with the 6 cylinder and automatic transmission. He found out that a big car with a 6 cylinder engine that saw hard duty in mountainous terrain was not economical in the long run.
Wide, compared to the Wide-Track Pontiacs of the mid 60s?
Dave; wide as in overall width. In 1960 to be classified as a car some states required that it didn’t exceed 80inches – a ’60 Ford is 81.5. Note that by ’61 a Ford fullsize is back down to 79.9inches(…).
The Pontiac ‘Wide-Track’ you mention refers to the division’s concept of constructing cars with a wider track width than what was common among competing vehicle manufacturers in the day to promote a more stabile, firmer ride to better suit PMD’s ‘performance’ image
I bought a new 1960 Starliner off the showroom floor in the fall of ’60 just after the ’61s had been released for $2500 cash. While it had the little 292 Y block V8 and a two speed automatic transmission, I put just under 100,000 miles on it in just under 3 years. It was a great car, gave good mileage with good comfort for cross country driving. It looked exactly like this car, black on black, but with stock wheels of course.
I have seen a Starliner in Red and best of all it had a SOHC 427 cradled between the fenderwalls, it was orange. I infinitely prefer the black over the red, this one is awesome! The 406 was Ford’s answer to the chevy 409, too bad it wasn’t first. Would have had a pop song and a spray cleaner named after it like chevy.
“cradled between the fenderwalls” Lovingly described by a true car fan! :-)
I recall one in a Detroit
suburb some years ago.
Beautiful…
The Ford “Starliners” of `60-`61 and the “Bubbletop” Chevy`s of the same era, are some of the most beautiful full size cars of any era. (IMO)
My first new car was a black 60 Ford Starliner with red interior and a 352 eng.It was a good one
In 1960, I was a 10 year old kid fascinated by cars. My 18 year old brother was already driving and had a funky ’53 Dodge. My father woke me up one morning very concerned, saying that my brother had had an accident the night before and his car burned to toast. The poor old Dodge had been dragged back to the house and was out front. I jumped out of bed and rushed to the window to see the wreck. Much to my surprise, instead of a hulk of twisted, burned metal, was a brand new, shiny black 1960 Ford Starliner! I thought it was the most beautiful car I had ever seen. Dad kept it for 6 years and it was always clean and waxed. We made many family trips in it and was a real reliable and comfortable car. Great memories. Real hard to find one now, in any condition let alone one as nice as this.
Oh, and the Dodge was still there.
Any psychologists out there that can explain why I remember the smell of a freshly opened loaf of Wonder Bread whenever I see or think of these cars??
The hot motor for the 1960 Ford was the high performance 352 rated at 360 hp. It had an aluminum intake with 4V carb, decent heads, hot solid lifter cam and free flowing cast iron exhaust manifolds. The 406 came out in 62, and used the same cam as the HP 352. Beautiful car, always wanted one
I had a 1960 Starliner black withe the 360 hp engine, 3 speed overdrive transmission. I later put in a 427 did’nt think it ran that much better. I loved that car, had seats big as a bed, I was single then and it served me well. The trunk was huge.
Beautiful Starliner! Someone mentioned it needs the original Ford tri-power aluminum oval air cleaner. It won’t fit a ‘60. I know from personal experience. I had a ‘60 Sunliner HP352/360 horsepower, stick & Overdrive. This special order engine had a factory single 4 aluminum intake with a Holley carburetor. I installed a ‘61-‘63 Tri-Power assuming it would fit fine. The installation went well until I went to close the big Ford’s hood. I thought it looked tight so I lowered it carefully. Oops. The front lip of the oval air cleaners top lid just bumped a portion of under hood bracing. So off came the hood and delivered to a trusted body shop that made the slight alteration needed.
And that tri-power? Well worth the time and work. It was fantastic! The progressive linkage was easy to adjust. When the accelerator was floored the sound of those three Holleys was incredible.
“Headliner has small holes”, means the mice now live there.
Those holes are not :”small”.
The case with my yellow 1960 Starliner.
Fords had round tail lights from 1952 until 1959,
and went back to round in 1961 through 1964.
The 1960 tail lights were thought of as spaceman.
My dad had bought a used 1960 Country Squire when I was about 15 so I learned to drive with that car. those front corner rangefinders were worth their weight in tungsten for those massive cars.
Grey paint, red and white interior, the car was used as a test bed for nearby Raybestos brake company, so whatever they left in the car worked well.
On the other side, it had the 352 with a 2 barrel so it didn’t breathe very well and my high school buddy’s Rambler topped out faster than this sled.
On the third hand, those bench seats…ooh, especially with the seat belt in the front middle position, perfect for my girlfriend.
We used to haul stage flats, and I also hauled a lot of my high school basketball team to Maraczi’s for burgers after the game: I was the 5’6″ short guy.
PairsNPaint told us what is dad did that I always thought the car needed.
GLWS.
I doubt that Chevrolet copied the thin-pillar bubbletop look from the 1960 Starliner, since Chevy had gone with the thin-pillar design since 1955 [except for 1958], and especially considering the bubbletop look of the 1959 and 1960 models.
Had a 38 Ford Coupe and 51 Ford Convertible back in the mid sixties but otherwise pretty much a Chevy guy since. Saying that this is one beautiful car that there is nothing not to like about. Love to own and drive it!
When in high school, a friend drove us to Wienerschnitzel in her mother’s ’60 Country Squire and tore out the brick planter when going through the drive-thru. (ah, memories!)
Buy this and cruise around listening to “406” by the California Cruisers. OK, I made it up, but it sounds right to me.
I remember that one! “Get your kicks in a 406…”
I hope that this one stays local.
I’d love to see it in person at a show someday.
I remember one of these from the awful movie “Hollywood Knights” Thats where I fell in love with this body style. I’ve never owned one but every time I see one I think I should. One more thing, I think the 59 Ford was one of the least attractive cars ever made. It’s hard to understand how sales dropped in 1960. If course, that’s just my opinion.
Evidently, not everyone thought that! LOL
“The Brussels World’s Fair at night was a dazzling wonderland. Recently the lights of the United States pavilion provided a sparkling background for the latest creations of the top fashion designers from Europe and America, and for the cars that were awarded the Gold medal of the Comité Français des L’élegance of Paris—the world’s most beautifully proportioned cars—the 1959 Fords.” http://automotivemileposts.com/autobrevity/ford1959award.html
Go figure. huh.
I bought a 60 star liner for $100. About 1969. It had a 292 and automatic. I gave it to my younger brother who was driving my dads 55 T bird at the time. I think it probably saved his life as he was a very reckless driver. He hit a big oak tree that ended up in the middle of the hood. Of course it was totaled but it was a beautiful car.
In 1962 when I was 9 years old we camped out in the yard in a tent that leaked and when it started to rain we spent the rest of the night in the back of his dad’s 1960 white Ford station wagon with the green interior with the seats folded down. His dad was a heavy smoker and the inside of that car reeked with stale cigarette smoke that I can still smell to this day.
There is one of these that shows up now and then at our local Sunday night cruise in. Very nice cars. He even has a scale model of the 60 sitting on the rear window shelf. If you want a car to take to a cruise in or show and not end up parked in an entire section of cars that are all the same as yours …. The 60 Starliner is the way to go! And, ya gotta love how nobody knows what it is!
Back then critics claimed the new Fords sniffed their way down the road. I think this car is great but if it had the 427 4-gear the price would be thru the roof. The 406 (a one year engine in ’62) was not know for durability and most gear heads blew them up.
If memory serves me correct; 1960 Ford’s were for some reason really, really wide. Friend’s mom had a station wagon that always seemed to find the edge of the garage door opening – often on the way in and the way out.
my uncle bought a 60 ford wagon new drove it for years i mean years, claimed he would drive it till the wheels fell off and he did. on another note i’ve owned 3 1960 edsels now that’s a car that most people don’t know, you don’t see many around but they were a great car to own and drive
thats good as it means you have owned 3 60 Fords with add on bits and if you had them now you would be in the money as you would no only 2000 plus were built over all models and are where all made in 1959. if only you had a time machine.
Beautiful car.
Lousy pics.
I owned one of these in the late 60s. White with red interior and 3 speed on the column. Hi performance 352 with a solid lifter cam and the big cast iron headers. That car was a monster. Bought it for a wopping $500.
Hope they upgraded the brakes to handle the bigger mill. Had one of these in the ’70’s with a 352 2bbl. It was a sled with inadequate brakes. Firing yourself out of a cannon would be safer than driving one of these at high speed with oe braking system.
My DREAM CAR! full on! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! Same year I was born!
Beautiful and unique but definitely not a fastback
Since the roof goes perfectly with the body I’m sure it was the original design.
In 1959 the Thunderbird roof was added to the Ford hardtop creating the Galaxie. It was wildly popular so I’m sure it was added to the 1960.
Ford got the plans for the 60 Chevy in 1958? and went into a panic as they had no car in the works to match it so they made the 60 Ford out of the Quicksilver ideas car . Thats how they got the roof.The 62 Galaxie never had this roof but not to be outdone Ford made a fastback roof that they made an option on the convertable .NASCAR WAS NOT FOOLED AND DID NOT ALLOW IT.
McQ i had a 60 Starliner back in ’69-’70 that i also put a 406 tri power motor in with the oval air cleaner & no issues, you’re right about the tri-power being the trick set up for these motors. Still my favorite older Ford, if i was in the market for another car, i’d be all over this one !, They were rare & hard to find parts for even back then!
FWIW I had a 67 GT500 with the oval air cleaner on dual quads. There were various different filter elements available for the oval air cleaner that varied in height. The one that Shelby supplied was so thin it choked the engine from breathing, I found one for a 427 that helped. Maybe you had a skinny one and that’s why the hood cleared.
@Dave Preston. I was surprised when I found interference with a stock air filter element and my ‘60s hood. Someone mentioned there supposedly and even shorter element available. I didn’t know that! My ‘60s was the original 352HP. No mods other than the tri-power I installed.
I had a Red ’60 Starliner, with the 360 horse 352, bought in 1965 when the original owner bought the first 64 1/2 Mustang Convertible with the hi-po 289. Mine had a 3-speed on the column with an overdrive, and would run 90 MPH at 2400 RPM. It had a 3:50 rear end, and while it wasn’t the best drag car, it was unbeatable after half a mile. The idiot I sold it to piled it into the back of a parked station wagon, and a great friend of mine bought the salvage, and ran that motor in a B-Gas ’31 Ford for another couple of years. The Starliner brought me some of the most unforgettable moments in my life, and the fact that these photos were sent to me today by another of my best friends from back then, just goes to show how important it was to us all.
By the way, while I owned mine, there was another one in town, just like mine, except light blue, and I think it’s owner had installed a 4:10 rear end. It was still winning drags when the ’62 came out with the 406, but when the 1963 Galaxie 500 XL came out with a 427 and a 4-speed, that became the gold standard.
@Fatgrandpa. Excellent story! And you’re right that a true High Performance 360 horsepower 352 (1960 only), NOT the ‘58-on 352, had no trouble keeping up with the ‘61 HP390 (new for ‘61) or the 406-4bbl. (‘62 to mid ‘63). But the 427 was too much. Bur then again car prep (traction bars, exhaust and tuning) and driver made all the difference.
Did Chevrolet not have this roof design first, before Ford, in 1959? In fact didn’t all of GM have the roof design? Ford came late again in 1960, although it was a good looking car.
what is the reserve on the 1960 starliner 406 car
Ralph,
The car is for sale on ebay. You can click on the link found in the 1st paragraph of this write-up. ebay doesn’t list the reserve prices, so you will have to contact the owner thru the ebay listing