A very early example of Ford’s offering to the banker’s Hot Rod market, this 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 7-Litre Convertible was built at the Louisville plant in October 1965. Delivered new to its original owner on November 17, 1965 by H&N Ford in Hinton, West Virginia, it was undercoated at the dealership before it was delivered. One of about 125 factory 428, 4-speed 7-Litre convertibles known to still exist, it shows just over 16,000 miles on the odometer and retains most of its original Candy Apple Red paint. The original Red Crinkle interior is outfitted with bucket seats and a center console, with a black vinyl top keeping the weather out when necessary. The original owner held the car for 15 years before trading it back in at H&N. In 1981, the car was again sold by H&N and reportedly had just 13,000 miles on it at the time. Since then, about 3,000 miles have been added under the ownership of a single family. Accompanied by documentation such as the original Ford owner card, the dealer order card and dealership letters, the 7-Litre Registry compiled by the 7-Litre.org website shows this car as No. 3958. A newly styled, full-sized Ford Galaxie was introduced for the 1965 model year. It was touted as the smoothest-riding car the company had ever produced, and Ford spent a good deal of time and money on improving the chassis, reducing noise, vibration and harshness, creating an absolute bargain luxury car. The Galaxie treated buyers to a number of standard features, extra sound-deadening materials, upmarket interior materials and specialized seat foam. With all the effort, Ford found the car was quieter than a Rolls-Royce, something it used in advertising campaigns. Lending a little pep to the package, and building on the Total Performance marketing campaign, the 1966 Galaxie 7-Litre was introduced on October 1, 1965. A gentleman’s muscle car, the 7-Litre was available only as a convertible or hardtop coupe and was used to showcase Ford’s new 428 CI V-8 engine, which was velvety smooth with an exceptionally linear torque band delivering a lot of punch at a low RPM. While a respectable 8,705 7-Litre coupes were built for 1966, a mere 2,368 convertibles rolled off the assembly line that same year.
