From Galaxie to Fiesta: Vote for These Iconic Ford and Lincoln Vehicles

If you’ve visited the Ford Experience Center lately, you may have noticed the latest exhibit from our Ford Archives team, which revisits some of the memorable retired Ford and Lincoln vehicles of all time. The display cases are packed with handpicked artifacts, including rare photos, original press releases, and cool memorabilia that will transport you back to the heyday of these now-retired nameplates. The vehicles were selected by the Archives team to highlight the incredible range and evolution of our lineups over the years. Revisit these classics below and tell us your favorite! And be sure to stop by the FXC to take a step back in time with this exhibit. 

Ford Galaxie

The name of this luxury series of vehicles, which was said to bear a resemblance to the Thunderbird that preceded it to the market by just months, was inspired by the space race of that era. Originally planned for the 1960 model year, Ford pushed Galaxie into production a year early in late-1958. A 1959 Galaxie Town Sedan model became Ford Motor Company’s 50 millionth vehicle produced in April 1959. It was later part of a caravan that reenacted the famed 1909 ocean-to-ocean endurance race. The Galaxie was a fixture on the stock car race circuits, including a successful stint in NASCAR. The Galaxie 500 was added to the lineup in 1962, and the last Galaxie came off the line in 1974.

Ford Country Squire

While station wagons are no longer the vehicle of choice for families, Ford was a leader in the market for decades before the industry transitioned to other family haulers. The Country Squire was introduced in June 1950, just as family road trip season was getting underway. This Country Squire line of station wagons was immortalized in film, rebranded as a Wagon Queen Family Truckster belonging to Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold in “National Lampoon’s Vacation” in 1983. The real-world Country Squire had seating for eight passengers or plenty of cargo space sans passengers. The company channeled those family-togetherness ethos with the Country Squire serving as a platform for a push-button camper created in the late 1950s. In all, the Country Squire name would adorn Ford’s top-of-the-line station wagons for 40 years.

Lincoln Town Car

The Town Car name was expanded from a package option to its own model line in 1981 and became a popular choice for fleets and limo services. In 1990, an all-new Town Car became the fourth Ford-built vehicle in the previous five years to win MotorTrend Car of the Year and the first luxury sedan in nearly 40 years to earn the honor. The last Lincoln Town Car came off the line in 2011, but the model reemerged like a phoenix rising in a 2013 Super Bowl ad as part of a 30-second spot heralding the arrival of the all-new Lincoln MKZ as part of the brand’s rebirth.  

Ford Ranchero

We’ve spent a good deal of time lately on coupe utility-styled vehicles – a vehicle with a car design and the handling and  capability of a pickup – which originated with Ford in Australia, and the Ford Ranchero was the American version of the worldwide phenomenon. Early advertising for the Ranchero capitalized on the vehicle’s dual-purpose functionality as, “More than a car! More than a truck!” The Ranch Wagon derivative was initially offered in standard and custom lines, as the company sold 18,000 Ranchero vehicles right out of the gate in its first year on the market in 1957. Ranchero shared underpinnings and design elements with other Ford vehicles over the next two decades before its production run ended in 1979. 

Ford Club Wagon

In 1961, Ford created the van segment in the U.S. with the introduction of the Econoline. A year later,  what came next was known as the Ford Falcon Club Wagon, a family-friendly version of the Econoline designed for family transportation and some light towing. Club Wagon was also a popular choice for conversion companies to create campers and mobile offices. An aerodynamic and stylistic redesign of the fourth generation led to the 1992 Econoline Chateau Club Wagon being named MotorTrend’s Truck of the Year. Econoline was renamed as the E-Series in the early 2000s.

Ford Taurus

The Ford Taurus was a smash hit when it was introduced in 1986 and is widely credited as one of the vehicles that saved Ford Motor Company. The sleek, aerodynamic car was named MotorTrend Car of the Year after it debuted and was famously cast as the police vehicle in “RoboCop.” Ford was selling more than 350,000 Taurus cars per year, and it was America’s best-selling car for five consecutive years from 1992 to 1997. While the nameplate was briefly discontinued in 2006 before being reintroduced in 2007, Ford sold more than eight million of the cars in total. The last Ford Taurus for North American consumers rolled off the line in 2019, as Ford overhauled its product lineup for the region. 

Ford Fiesta

Taurus isn’t the only nameplate in this collection to have been revived. Fiesta debuted in the U.S. and Canada in 1978 amid a lingering oil crisis. The car, like the Taurus, was an instant hit, selling one million cars in less than three years on the market. The popular subcompact world car was available to customers in the United States from 1978 to 1980 – it was discontinued in favor of the 1981 Ford Escort – and then again from 2010 to 2019. More than 22 million Fiesta cars were sold around the world before production ended in 2023.

Love Ford history? Access http://fordarchivesonline.com with your CDSID to search your favorite topics. Or visit http://fordheritagevault.com, where no CDSID is needed, to browse and download thousands of curated assets from Ford’s archives.