With Ford Australia focused on gaining acceptance for its new Falcon family car, it also needed a stylish hero-car to fill the gap left by the late lamented Customlines and ‘tank’ Fairlanes
Galaxies were all about the Milky Way for me as a little kid and I remained a devotee into my teens (to be clear I’m not talking chocolate bars, I’m talking about our solar system’s abode). Then one weekend at the Sandown circuit in 1962 my focus on our heavenly galaxy was hit for six, right here at ground level, by Len Lukey’s Ford Galaxie.
As Lex Davison wrestled the bellowing brute through a corner I was gobsmacked by its sheer size, its racing-red bodywork and all that raw V8 energy. And it was no slouch either, giving Stormin’ Norman Beechey in his well-sorted Impala a run for his money at its first outing. While there was no doubting its brutish power, who knew that something that raw could actually be punted successfully around a demanding circuit?
While Galaxies had an impact on Australian motorsport – Lukey’s four-door and the later two-door fastback of Brit aristocrat Sir Gawaine Baillie – it was a chequered and short-lived history. Inadequate brakes were behind numerous crashes resulting in DNFs. However, over a period in British Saloon Car competition in the early 1960s, Galaxies successfully challenged the previously dominant Jaguars. Racing royalty wasn’t averse to pedalling the big Gals either. Local stars like Norm Beechey and John Reaburn joined Lex Davison while Jack Brabham, Jim Clark, Dan Gurney and Graham Hill were happy to punt racing Galaxies overseas.
Local Ford fans can be excused for losing touch with Ford’s US full-size car line-up from the mid-1950s thanks to Ford Australia’s annual updates of the venerable Customline with superficial changes until 1959. We missed Fairlane’s 1955 launch, Customline’s 1956 demise and Galaxie’s 1959 launch in the US. The ‘tank’ Fairlane’s arrival here in 1959 began the reconnection process. Around the time Fairlane went compact in 1962 and Galaxie became Ford’s sole full-size US model small numbers of imported big Gals became available from selected Ford dealerships. Numbers continued to be modest once local assembly commenced in 1964.
Who’s up for a spin in my ’64 ragtop?
When I started at Ford in late 1969 the hero-model Galaxie’s days were numbered – it was soon to be replaced by the XA/ZF-derived P5 and P6 LTDs in 1973. Interestingly local conversion of the last Galaxies (1969-72 models) was carried out in Ford’s Broadmeadows tractor plant. Like Aston Martin and Lamborghini, the Galaxie’s tractor-maker connection didn’t hurt its image.
While I didn’t get overly excited by occasionally driving a mate’s early-60s four-door Galaxie back in the day, I did have the hots for the red convertible belonging to Labor politician and journo, Pete Steedman.
Along with my 1960s Sandown Park epiphany, another Galaxie moment sticks with me. One summer’s day in the 1970s at the Sylvania Hotel near Ford HQ, I spotted a gleaming Galaxie-based hearse parking near me. The many floral tributes atop the deceased’s fine coffin said this was a much-admired individual. Arriving at the bar, the immaculately turned-out driver and colleague ordered schooners before downing them post-haste. Then another round. While not challenging Bob Hawke’s record they were having a red-hot go. Then after checking his watch, and a quick word with his mate, the driver ordered a third round.
I had to know what was going on. They explained that early in the 230km trip from Wangaratta to Melbourne’s Fawkner cemetery (near Ford) they managed to slip past a road worker just before he turned his traffic sign from SLOW to STOP, bringing the long line of mourners’ cars to a halt. Taking a punt on how long the convoy would be delayed, plus the Galaxie’s mile-munching ability, they hatched the convivial-drinks plan. If I remember correctly they managed a fourth round before jumping back into the hearse and crossing Sydney Road to await the mourner convoy’s arrival.
It worked. No harm done then…
From Unique Cars #474, January 2023
Photography: Ford