Some of these pictures are not of my original cars, they are however, the same model and color of my cars. This is a representative picture of the 61 Ford Galaxie that I bought on my 21st birthday in 1966. This picture is a Starliner model roof line. Mine was the two door hardtop with the square roof (known by Ford collectors as a "boxtop" ). The engine was a 401 HP 390 cube, coded Z. That engine option came from the factory with a four-barrel carburetor, plus a set of three deuces and an aluminum intake manifold in the trunk, to be installed by the dealer. What was unique about my car was it had a three speed column shift with that big engine option.

The triple set of Holley two barrels was a first for a production Ford. The 401 horse 390's came with special equipment. First, all came stock with the 3-speed manual transmission. Automatic was not available with this performance big block because Ford didn't think that their Cruise-O-Matic was up to the rpm and torque capabilities of the hi-power 390. As was possible in 1960, however, a Borg-Warner four-speed manual was offered through the dealer, in which case Ford supplied a blank tube running up to the top of the column in place of the column linkage.