Galaxie too far out for Ford

If ever a car has been consigned to its maker’s heritage dust bin, Ford’s svelte 1960 full-size model is a prime example.

Its origins date back to 1957 when GM had been spooked by Chrysler’s stylish new cars and hurriedly reshaped their 1959 models to regain design leadership.

Getting wind of what GM were doing, Ford decided to ditch the face-lifted 1959 models it had planned for 1960 and search for something more futuristic to offer.

The answer was a concept car called Quicksilver, which had been styled in Ford’s advance styling studio.

Long, low and wide, with thin pillars and expansive glass areas, it abandoned the 1950’s wrap around windscreen in favour of straight front pillars.

The rear fins were flattened into gull wings.

Henry Ford II and George Walker, Ford’s design boss, were enamoured by the Quicksilver.

They authorised a fast-track development program to bring it into production, using the 1959 platform.

This all happened almost a year before the 1959 car hit the market.

The task of “productionising” the Quicksilver went to Joe Oros, the Ford studio manager.

Oros was legendary within Ford.

He’d established Ford’s “tubular” side body and circular rear lights design theme with the 1952 model.

He also convinced Henry Ford II that a light truck should be styled and marketed as a car.

The result was the 1953 F100 and Ford’s 70+ year dominance of “small” truck market.

The Oros-designed 1957 Ford outsold Chevrolet and, ironically, Ford’s soon-to-be 1959 range, which he thought was too 1950s, would beat Chevrolet again.

Trouble was, the Quicksilver’s dimensions did not match the inner structure and chassis of the 1959 model.

As a result, the Quicksilver’s shape was altered and the ’59 chassis significantly modified to enable it to fit together.

Despite the problems, the design team retained most of the Quicksilver’s styling features.

But the 1960 Ford did not appeal to buyers.

Only 910,000 customers bought one. Chevrolet, meanwhile, sold over 1.3 million.

A few reasons are given for the poor sales.

Poor quality is the main reason given, because of the rushed chassis development.

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“Stolen” sales by the new Falcon and Mercury Comet — this duo went to over 540,000 buyers — is also cited.

The styling being too advanced is another.

Whatever the reasons, the 1960 car was soon erased from Ford’s corporate history and hardly mentioned.

For me, the 1960 Ford is one of the early 1960’s great shapes.

It is more integrated than what GM was selling in 1960 and streets ahead of the tortured sheet metal that covered Chrysler’s products, as the comparison photos show.

Oros summed it up best when he said: “It was miles ahead of anything we had done previously.”

David Burrell is the editor of retroautos