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RIDE OF THE WEEK: 1959 FORD GALAXIE

The past few weeks, Motorhead has gone back to the 1960s with two great cars: a fabulous 1968 Ford Mustang and an equally impressive 1964 Chevrolet Impala. This week we go back a few years more, back to the ’50s, and back to Ford, but this time a 1959 Ford Galaxie owned by Ted and Joan Hynoski of Lake Ariel.
1959 was the first year Ford introduced the Galaxie line, and it would continue being produced into the ’70s. Ford was looking for a model that could fit in between the luxury Thunderbird and the compact Fords like the Falcon. The Galaxie was promoted as having “Thunderbird elegance” at a more affordable price.
The 1959 Galaxies were all made of stainless steel with chrome body trim, and they came in six different models: the Galaxie Club Victoria, the Galaxie Town Victoria, the Galaxie Town Sedan, the Galaxie Club Sedan, the Galaxie Sunliner Convertible and the Galaxie Skyliner Retractable. Each model had its own features to set it off from the other.
The Hynoskis say that the Galaxie was one of the first cars to come with air conditioning as an available option (theirs has air conditioning, but they don’t use it all that often because they are concerned about finding parts for it).
The Galaxie also came with a deluxe rear antenna, sunray multi-colored wheel covers, a power front seat, power steering, power windows and the new Ford “Swift Sure” power brakes.
The Hynoskis’ Galaxie contains the “223 Mileage Maker Six Cylinder” engine which is capable of producing about 145-150 horsepower (some Galaxies had more powerful engines that took the horsepower up to almost 300). It also features the two speed “Ford-o-matic” transmission.
The Hynoskis love to take their Galaxie out and show it off at all the local car shows.
“It reminds us of when we met, back in the early 1960s,” Joan said. “My father owned an old Ford, and sometimes he would let us take it out on dates. Finding and buying this Galaxie takes us back to another time, when things seemed so much simpler.”
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