The Ford Galaxie’s first three model years hid a genuine engineering experiment behind conventional full-size styling — a batch of roughly 200 lightweight race-only cars built to shed weight nobody expected Ford to bother losing. Add a one-year-only retractable hardtop and a short-lived Starliner body style, and the 1959-1961 Galaxie turns out to be far more interesting than its reputation as just a big sedan suggests. Read on for what made these years different.
