Unfortunately, the 1960 Ford has never earned the esteem that it deserves. Some called the styling un-Fordlike, others thought it was overdone, but those arguments are hard to swallow when you’re looking at this tasteful 1960 Sunliner that has been treated to some expensive new cosmetic upgrades. It’s for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Temperance, Michigan, with an asking price of $28,000.
After a very successful year with its conservatively styled 1959 models, including the new Galaxie with its Skyliner/Thunderbird-aping roofline, Ford saw big-car sales tank in 1960, falling from 1,325,798 to 973,870. Of course, looking back, it’s easy to see that some sales were forfeited to the roomy and inexpensive compact Falcon, but not all of the decline can be laid at the new car’s wheels.
Some of the blame might belong to a styling motif that seemed like it was trying a little too hard to out-batwing the 1959 Chevy’s fins. While some might argue that Ford’s 1960 models would have been locked in by the time the 1959 Chevy saw the light of day, I feel that corporate insiders always knew what those across town were up to. Either way, the public didn’t seem to take to the 1960 Ford, although in my opinion it seems tame in terms of jet-age styling.
And it looks particularly good in Starliner hardtop and Sunliner convertible guises. This Sunliner is one of 44,762 built for 1960, and it shows us how nice a conservatively dressed 1960 Ford can look, although the new owner may want to omit the gigantic exhaust tips from the “custom-made dual exhaust.”
Especially because the car is all-bark, no bite. That’s not to depreciate the engine, which is the reliable 235-horsepower 352 in two-barrel tune. While the 352 could still be ordered in 300-horsepower “Thunderbird Special” and 360-horsepower “High-Performance” guises, the two-barrel replaced the little-remembered 332 FE in the full-size lineup for 1960. Seen here with power steering and brakes, it is a nice step up from the six or the 292 V8.
The interior is gorgeous. The ad’s text is a little unclear about which new parts have been installed and which will come with the car separately, but it sounds like there’s some new carpeting and interior trim involved. The dashboard gear-selector bezel gives us some good news: This Sunliner has the Dual-Range three-speed Cruise-O-Matic rather than the underwhelming two-speed Fordomatic. Both transmissions came standard with a freeway-friendly 2.91:1 gear ratio (3.10:1 with the optional “Equa-Lock” differential).
The upholstery seems to match factory illustrations, which is good because a late-1950s/early 1960s car doesn’t look quite right without its original intricate fabric designs. The worn windlace around the B-pillar makes me wonder if this 128,000-mile car has its original seat covers, but that seems unlikely; I have to imagine that the upholstery has been replaced at some point in the last 66 years. It’s just too nice.
As I mentioned, the car will come with spare parts, including some interior and exterior trim, although it sounds like the new exterior trim has already been installed. For some reason, the car will come with two extra wheels.
It will also come with the original full-size wheel covers, although I prefer its current look with new blackwall tires and basic hubcaps. In its light blue (Aquamarine?) paint and its brand-new (dark blue?) convertible top, it shows us how handsome a tastefully outfitted 1960 Ford can look; in fact, I might prefer it over a 1959 Sunliner. What do you think?
Related Reading
Curbside Classic: 1960 Ford Starliner – Haste Makes Waste (by Greg Beckenbaugh)
1960 Ford Galaxie 4-Door Hardtop: A Rare Survivor (by Stephen Pellegrino)
The Mystery Of Why The 1960-1962 Ford 292 Y-Block V8 Was Such A Slug Is Finally Solved! (by Paul N)
My oldest brothers girlfriend had one exactly like this except it was the 6 cylinder. First ride I ever had in a convertible. Possibly the slowest car I’ve ever been in.
The story I read was the subcontractor who was making the body stamping tooling for the ’59 Chevy leaked drawings to Ford but it’s unclear if the Quicksilver concept car was already being made at that point. The Quicksilver was a looker and the styling suffered somewhat in the translation to production but It wasn’t as bad as others.
Don’t see many of these any more. I like the tire and wheel look on it. Different.
I think there are few cars with looks so highly dependent on body style, trim level and color as the 1960 Ford. Convertibles and wagons seem to come off best, with low trim sedans looking downright grim. I recently came across the nicest 60 Ford sedan I have ever seen that is for sale in my area, photo below. For only 8 grand less in the asking price, this convertible is probably the better choice.
When you look at the amazing dashboards and steering wheels offered across the industry in 1960-62, the ones found in the big Ford are real downers. The dash hits me as on a par with Studebaker and Rambler, and the steering wheel (a 1960-only item) always looked upside down to me, but for the third spoke at the bottom. Everyone must have agreed, because Ford was back to its traditional 3 spoke wheel for 1961.
All in all, the 1960 Ford remains one of the cars that intrigues me the most of anything of its era.
I’ve never grasped the rationale of those steering wheels that were deliberately designed to look upside down. They just look weird and fall into the category of ‘what were they thinking?’. Seems like AMC was doing something similar for a while.
This gives me very heavy Imperial vibes. That’s a good thing.
I always considered overall that this deign was huge improvement over the 59 “baroque” design.
When I was six, the next door neighbor had a sky blue Fairlane. Beautiful car!
Beautiful car. Personally I’ve always liked the 60 Fords and I always love a convertible. The exterior color is meh to me but I’d still take it.
For 1960, my first choice will always be a Bonneville with a Chrysler Saratoga sporting a New Yorker grille being second.
But, for a Ford, the Sunliner is growing on me and a nice one (like the feature car) wouldn’t be so bad.
I’m with JP here, these have always been styling duds to me .
-Nate
That was certainly the impression they made in small town Midwest where I grew up – the 59 was popular, the 60 was not and the dealership where my Dad bought Fords couldn’t move them and were thankful they had the 60 Falcon to sell as it was nicely styled and popular. As soon as the 61 big Fords came out they sold well – my aunt and uncle bought one right away. Never liked the 60 then and still don’t.
I can’t look at a 1960 Ford without seeing the short-lived and ill-fated 1960 Edsel.
I always liked these and the 1961 Chevy Biscayne. Not over the top styling.
I never really understood what Ford was doing with their 1960 full sized car. It seemed to be big for the sake of being big. It was the maximum 80″ wide, which must have made the cars ponderous and hard to park.
For 1960, I would probably have bought a Pontiac, which were very popular in Canada, only costing a few dollars more than a Chevrolet. The Valiant was a good option but suffered from poor quality. In those days, it was not wise to buy a car from the first year of production.
Matter of taste. I think it would look better with white wall tires. Thick or thin. Not a fan of the Blackwalls. I would change the convertible to either black or white. Again matter of taste.
One of the editors of some car magazine a long time ago called the 1960 Ford lineup, “Robert S. McNamara’s ‘Dumb Cars for Dumb People’ philosophy.”
Others have said that the 1960 full size Ford was too sophisticated a design for Ford buyers. I like the blackwalls and dish hubcaps on the featured Sunliner. Whitewalls and glitzy hubcaps distract from the cars sleek lines. The convertible roof- more black- helps to tone down the high brightness of the mint green. More black, less chrome has an most a Germanic effect here.
Nice it’s not the “Ford o matic”. Even has the ‘wheel covers” fancy, dress, occasions. Think the price is to the high end. Would not be surprised to see someone pay it.
Sharp, looker.
I don’t like the fins–not on this Ford nor the Chevy.
For 1960 I like the Chrysler and Buick. It’s not my favorite car Year although my father had a 1960 Plymouth Sport Fury.
Although I have been a Chevy guy I have always had a soft spot for 1960 Full size Fords, maybe It was the clean futuristic styling with those half-moon taillights or more likely that one of my favorite uncles had a ragtop like the featured car. I believe his was white, not sure what was under the hood, probably a 292 or 352-2 barrel. IIRC they had a 59 Ford convertible before that, then Pontiac soft tops replacing the blue oval cars . I will forward this article to my cousins maybe they can fill in the blanks. Fond memories of uncle Bob and aunt Gertrude and their cars!
Two spare rims for those of us in the snow/ice belt meant the potential for two permanently mounted snow tires, ready on short notice if an early season snowfall sneaked up on us, for instance. No all-season tires back then, just noisy, coarse-lugged snow tires. We used to get a pair of extra rims for the used cars we owned from the salvage yard, usually with mismatched paint, and it made the seasonal change-over far more convenient. Our cars were invariably older so the rims were affordable and plentiful. We’re spoiled now with all-season tires and front or all-wheel drive!