Rare Fords
# 61 Ford Galaxie 500 Magic Cruiser
Another rare Blue Oval...
We are all familiar with the big old Ford Galaxie that the Americans drove around in during the ‘60s – its classic long bonnet, two huge doors, sloping roofline, and huge boot lid were icons of ‘60s American car design. However, much less known, are the ‘Magic Cruiser’ concepts, based on the 1966 Galaxie 50, and later revised for the 1967 Galaxie XL.
The Magic Cruiser was designed and built by Barris Kustoms, with the idea of producing a ‘super fastback’ that could double as a sleek, two-door fastback, or be converted into a huge, load-lugging station wagon at the flick of a switch.
The conversion was made possible because Barris replaced the rear window and huge bootlid with a single panel from the roofline to the rear lights – hinged at the roof, this piece could then be lifted to create the station wagon design, or left lowered when in ‘fastback’ mode. The transformation was activated by a switch mounted on the dash, which in turn operated a series of aircraft-style hydraulic systems and screw jacks which raised the roof in around seven seconds.
With the roof raised, the lower portion of the tailgate could be dropped to allow easy access to the rear, where, thanks to the newfound headroom, a third, rear-facing seat was mounted. This third seat, along with the standard forward-facing rear seats, could also be folded flat to provide a huge cargo area when in ‘station wagon’ mode.
The Magic Cruiser was set apart from the production Galaxie with revised headlamps, shaved door handles, and wire wheels. The custom shade of ‘Gold Sunset’ paint was also a special one-off for the Magic Cruiser concept.
The first Magic Cruiser was shown in 1966, and a second car – known as Magic Cruiser II – was unveiled in 1967, based on the XL model Galaxie. Ford wanted people to think it was an entirely new concept, but in reality it was likely the original Magic Cruiser concept was reskinned to look like the updated version.