Over the winter, my family and I cut through the parking lot of an old service station on the way to a store across the road when this 1966 Ford Custom caught my eye sitting out in the cold. These days, it’s unusual to see any classic car exposed to a harsh Ontario winter, as most survivors are lovingly cared for and tucked away in garages. Finding this plain and unpretentious ’66 Ford Custom reminded me of my childhood when a car like this would have been just an old car.
While Ford spent the mid-1960s promoting the quiet luxury of the LTD, this stripped-down Custom represented the opposite end of the lineup: a blue-collar full-size sedan powered by a basic 240 six-cylinder and ordered with few frills beyond what was necessary. It’s the kind of car most people actually bought, even if collective memory prefers to remember the flashy, better-equipped models of that time.
The ’66 Ford was probably in its best form as the luxurious LTD or the luxury-performance 7-Litre. With the introduction of the new stiff body structure residing on a relatively flexible perimeter chassis with soft springs in the 1965 model year, Ford had become the leader in quiet and isolated rides. Ford had also made an effort to move their interiors and craftsmanship to a new level, in particular for the low-priced market, leading to the great brougham epoch. However, this ’66 Ford Custom is quite the juxtaposition to a luxurious ‘66 LTD.
Like many cars from Canada sold during that era, this Ford Custom is a relatively plain and low option car. Under the hood of this Ford Custom resides the base level 150 hp (gross) 240 six-cylinder engine, which is actually quite fitting for a Canadian stripper. The Canadian market cars had often had slightly different engine availability than the American counterparts. 1966 was the first year that the 289 V8 was offered as the base V8 engine for the Canadian market standard Ford, replacing the 352-2V V8 that was the base V8 in prior years. The 390-2V, and 428-4V were available as optional V8s, along with the almost never seen 427 FE V8.
I suspect that the vast majority of the Ford Customs sold in Canada were equipped with the 240 six-cylinder or the 289 V8. Most of the ’66 Fords that have survived today are the higher-end models with the more desirable body styles and engines, so finding a Custom 4-door sedan with a six cylinder is interesting in my eyes.
This particular ’66 Ford was one that was vaguely familiar with. It was located in the neighborhood of a town that I used to frequent often, as I had family that lived close by. I recall this ’66 Ford about 20 years ago and it looked like it had just rolled off the showroom floor. It was the pride and joy of the owner of the service station. This was the type of service station that was once common. You know the type, a small dingy garage with a set of full service gas pumps. The owner was the mechanic who ran the shop and he usually had a couple of teenage employees to pump gas. I recall seeing this old blue Ford all shined up and parked outside the garage. Every now and then you’d see it raised on a hoist as the owner tended to its maintenance needs. He had invested time in making this old sedan look good.
It’s quite apparent the sands of time haven’t been kind to this old Ford. As I snapped a few shots, I question what happened over these years that made this car move from someone’s pride and joy, to being stored outside in a parking lot alongside modern bland-mobiles. Parked near a busy roadway, it would get splashed with the salty water on wet winter days. The once glossy paint job is starting to peel and has now thinned on the horizontal surfaces to the point that rust is starting to come through the paint. On the lower body, more severe rust has set in, enough that would require some sheet metal surgery. Hopefully the rust prone frame is still solid.
As I walked away from this old Ford, I wondered what lies ahead for it in the future. Will it get restored again? Will it continue to deteriorate and end up in a junkyard? I am not sure, but I can only hope that someone saves it from its current state of purgatory.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
Further Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1965 Ford Custom – The End Of The Stripper Tudor Era
Cohort Outtake: 1966 Ford Custom 500 2-Door Sedan – White Sale Special, Presumably
Cohort Outtake: 1966 Ford LTD – “Remarkable! I Do Believe Your Ford Is Quieter!”
Curbside Classic: 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 7 Litre – Maybe It Should Have Had 7 Gallons
Car Show Classic: 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 – Look Ma, No Cruise-O-Matic!
Cohort Sighting: 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 – Black Hole
This is exactly the kind of car my father would have bought back in the day…he was always interested in just basic transportation nothing more…
This is almost exactly the car my grandparents had while I was growing up, right down to the color, tho’ theirs was the higher-spec Galaxie with an automatic, not sure if it had the six or a V8.
I love me a good stripper! Vince is correct to state that not every big Ford was an LTD. My own observation is that about half these cars were sixes and had three on the tree. Most of the rest a 289 with automatic.
There is a good chance that this car still has the original 240 six. Ford built this engine and it’s sister 300 to be bulletproof. Since it was owned by a mechanic for so long it probably received the best of care – oil changes, tune ups, belt and hose replacements as needed and may never have had the head off.
It would be wonderful if you could find out more about the cars history.
I hope someone gets this going again. It’s not a car that makes any sense to restore, economically, but you could get it going and just drive it for something different. Or, hopefully, someone sees the intrinsic value of these kinds of cars enough to put some love into it for their own enjoyment.
Being a 4-door and straight-six really cuts down the potential buyer list, but that configuration is the perfect choice for an economical family car. The 240 is the predecessor to the famous Ford 300-6, and in a relatively heavy car like this, it’d equal the performance of the “gotta rev it to get it” 289, and easily outlast it. I love both motors, but the small block is better suited to lighter and sportier cars. It’s also a far better engine than the Falcon six, which had more “cheap” shortcuts like four vs. seven main bearings. It’s not going to win any races, and loaded down with the family and luggage would make for plenty of sight-seeing on mountain passes. On the other hand, compared to the work a lot of those engines did in trucks (year-in, year-out), it’s not a heavy burden.
Finally, going back to this one, someone willing to put in some effort can turn every car guys head for just a few-hundred dollars with a decent (but please, not too loud) exhaust. V-8s abound in classics and modern sports cars, so it’s almost impossible to stand out… short of being loud and obnoxious, which I wish were a less common choice. So there you go, somebody. It’s a car worth caring about, one somebody cared for, and hopefully someone of the same mind will appear.
I love this. The kind of car that was so common on the road during my 1970s kidhood, but which was seldom saved because nobody cared then.
Agreed. These types of cars were everywhere, because the human animal is inherently cheap, and didn’t care enough to think that somebody might want it 50 years in the future.
Frank Murphy from the cartoon F is for Family would have saved a bit more money if he drived a Custom instead of a Galaxie. 😉
https://imcdb.org/vehicle_875978-Ford-Galaxie-500-1966.html
As I snapped a few shots, I question what happened over these years that made this car move from someone’s pride and joy, to being stored outside in a parking lot alongside modern bland-mobiles.
My guess is that the owner died, the kids sold the station, but they can’t bring themselves to get rid of the car. They also don’t have any room for the car nor do they want to pay money to store the car someplace safe. It’s a damn shame as this car in the condition it was in when the owner was alive would be quite popular at car shows for all the reasons mentioned above.
My second car was a 1966 Custom 500 with a 240 automatic. No power steering or power brakes but it did have full wheel covers, vinyl seats and a bit more trim than a Custom. I bought it in 1975 from my chemistry teacher for $400 and sold it in 1982 for $300 after getting me through high school and university.
I should have added that it was a white sale special with the chromed window frames.
My grandfather owned a 1966 Meteor Rideau in that exact same interior/exterior color combination. And being a Canadian Meteor in the same trim level as the Ford Custom, the interiors were identical except for the emblems.
Nice old Ford, I remember these well .
Decent drivers -if- you didn’t like doing anything in a hurry, the V8’s too because slow steering and poor handling .
This one looks pretty good to me, the article says lower body rust, I don’t see it .
I began high school in the Fall of 1970 and many students had cars like this their parents no longer liked but essentially worthless as trade – ins, teenager would jamb them full of other teenagers and thrash , they just kept going .
-Nate