A 1961 Ford Starliner

By Joe Berk

I was having a bad day and I was in a blue funk, but new friend Chuck and his magnificent 1961 Ford Starliner came to the rescue.   Read on and you’ll understand.

A white that is almost a very faint gray.   Chuck’s 1961 Starliner looks great; I think it would look even better in lipstick red.

The blue mood story goes like this: I have a 2018 Subaru Outback that I love except for the entertainment system.  That’s the touchscreen, the backup camera display, the navigation system, the Bluetooth phone system, and the radio (including Sirius XM).  Subaru calls it the entertainment system, but it has been anything but entertaining.  It went out repeatedly in the first couple of years that I’ve owned the car and the Subie dealer replaced it three times.  God only knows how many times I’ve brought the car back to the dealer to have them reflash the chip, the part in which miracles occur that govern everything.

After it was fixed, the entertainment system still had its moods.  When I ‘d hang up after a phone call, the radio (even if it wasn’t on before the call) immediately went to max volume.  When I start the car the radio turns on, even if I turned it off previously. The nav system scrolls through screens whenever it feels like doing so.  The touchscreen stops taking inputs.  Maybe Subaru named it correctly.  It has been entertaining.

You can guess where this story is going.  As a 2018 model, my Subaru is off its warranty, and the entertainment system went out again.  I took it to the dealer and they charged me $215 to tell me my car needs, you guessed it, a new entertainment system.  The price?  Close to $2500.

So that’s what put me in a foul mood.  If you go online and Google this topic, Subaru entertainment system anomalies are all over the Internet.  There are literally hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people who have experienced the same issues.  I think Subaru should have extended the warranty and addressed the underlying design problems.  I called Subaru of America and bitched about my situation and they “opened up a claim” (whatever that means).  They are supposed to get back to me later next week.

On the way home from the dealer, I stopped for gas.  It’s dropped $0.20 per gallon recently, which puts regular unleaded at $4.79 a gallon here in the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia.  That’s still way too high.  It added to my blue funk.  Then I saw the Starliner.  As I shut off my Subaru after pulling up to the pump, I saw this cool rear roof profile and heard the deep rumbling of an American V8.  You know, sounding the way an engine should sound.  I could feel the vibrations of its thumps through the ground.  The way God intended automobile engines to be before Gen X, Y, Z, or whatever we’re up to now started saving the planet.  At first, I thought this anti-Gore convenient truth was a Buick, or maybe an Oldsmobile, because all I could see from my vantage point was the rear roof line, with what looked like the three portholes that graced the fenders of early Buicks.  But I was wrong.  It wasn’t a GM product at all.

390 cubic inches and 375 horsepower.  Lots of chrome.  No chips.  America at its best, in my opinion.
Tri-Power. Three two-barrel carburetors, if you come from a generation denoted by a letter. A great time to be a teenager, the 1960s were.

I spoke to Chuck, the owner, and he told me I was looking at a 1961 Ford Starliner, one of fewer than 30,000 Ford Galaxie variants made that year.  Even fewer were made with Ford’s 375-horsepower, 390-cubic-inch, Tri-Power engine.  Wow.  Tri-Power.  I hadn’t even heard the term, Tri-Power, in maybe 30 or 40 years. The car has a 3.55 rear end and Posi-Traction (another term I hadn’t heard in a while).  Chuck opened the hood and showed me the engine.  I was in heaven.  I forgot all about my Subaru woes.

I told Chuck about the ExhaustNotes blog and asked if I could take a few photos.  “Sure,” he said.

A retro-modern interior, with the period-correct aftermarket Sun tachometer. Cue up the Beach Boys or Jan & Dean.
A Hurst shifter, with a genuine Hurst T-handle. I had one of these in my GTO. Wrapping your hand around a Hurst shifter handle is a sensual experience. It was cool when being cool meant something. If you know, you know. If not, go play with your cell phone.

I asked about the wheels.  They’re made by Ford, but they weren’t the wheels that came with the car.  Chuck pointed out that the rear wheels are wider than the front wheels.  His Starliner now has disk brakes, an upgrade from the original equipment.   Everything about this car was appealing.  Especially the, you know, exhaust notes.  It sounded heavenly.

The wheels just worked on this car. They looked great.
The view from the rear quarter. It was an amazing car. Made my day, that Starliner did.

Chuck told me the car was for sale.  The ticket in was $35,000.  That’s just about what I paid for my Subaru 6 years ago.  “It’s nice, but I couldn’t swing it right now,” I told Chuck.  “Not enough people are clicking on the ExhaustNotes popup ads.”

The gas pump on my Subie clicked off, setting a new record:  $77 to fill my tank.  I didn’t care.  The Starliner had me in a good place, and I was going to stay there.

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21 thoughts on “A 1961 Ford Starliner”

  2. You paid 35 thousand for a Subaru 8 years ago? Wow!!!

    When you get to the Ford in the road ,
    Take it!
    Super cool car .

  3. I know EXACTLY what you are saying! My 1967 Chevelle SS 396 was a real road thumper and best ET at Raceway Park in Englishtown NJ was 12.56 @ 108.5 MPH on a mild Wedsenday night at the drags. Joe and I were next door neighbors. Joe’s father told me one day that he could hear me coming home for my gas station job late at night going through the gears down Deans Lane. Those were the days.
    One of my summer jobs was with the South Brunswick County Road department fixing potholes and brush removal. They had an old cop car that we would drive around, and it was a 1963 Ford with the 390-cop engine. It had a three-speed column shifter.

    1. Great times. I remember when you put the 4.88 gears in your Chevelle and you wound it out on Davidson Mill Road. Hell of a ride. We had it good back then.

  4. I once had a 65? Chevelle. It was a former race car . It had 4.88 and a hole in the hood for a tunnelram . But the race motor was replaced by a stock 283 and speed auto.
    I could bounce the front end up in the air but I think the top speed was maybe 55. Lol. Crazy shit. It was really good to be young in 1970

    1. I think it would be good to be young any time. But it was better back in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s.

  5. We are on our 3rd Subaru Crosstrek in 5 years (lease deals kept getting better) and our current 2024 version also does weird stuff in the infotainment area. Annoying in that other revisions between the years improved stuff – better lane keep assist and smoother adaptive cruise control for instance. I think they tried to do too much with both Apple Car Play and Android Auto. I want the Sony 8 track player from my 1973 Datsun Pickup again….and more cup holders for Yoo-Hoo.

    1. Yeah, SUBARU definitely screwed the pooch on their infotainment systems. My niece has a ‘24 Outback and she said the infotainment system on it is terrible, too.

  6. Joe-Love this! Isn’t it amazing how a thing of beauty (and that car certainly is) can lift our moods!

    1. Thanks, Lynn. Yep, a good looking car or motorcycle can make the day for many of us.

      Good to hear from you.

  7. Dang, Tri-Power 390, Posi-Trac, Hurst shifter, Red buckets and only 35K… Dang! again! It would lighten my mood too… Okay, I am clicking every AD on the site if that helps!

    1. Dang is the right word.

      Click away, Amigo! Yep, it helps.

      Thanks for commenting, Terry. And for clicking.

  8. had a ’59 Ford pick up with a 292 engine, T-98 4 speed, and just sidepipes! Short Bed pick up with WIDE tires all around. When I drove it to my buddys ranch , he could hear me coming 2 miles out. I couldn’t hear squat after driving it 10 miles, but hey we had fun in the thing.

    1. Awesome. We had a ’56 F-100 and then a ’65 F-100. Wish they were still in the family.

      Thanks for commenting, Angel.

  9. Great post! My family had a 1960 Ford Galaxie, 4-door hard top. 292 V8 with auto transmission. I used to deliver papers in it (yes, I was way underage) Car was not a speed racer like this 61 but it was my fun car.

    By the way, check if the info entertainment system in a WRX is problematic. That is what you should be driving!

    1. We had a 4-door ’61 Chevy Impala. Loved the colors; they were almost the same as the Starliner in this blog.

      My first job was not delivering papers. I worked on a poultry farm, and a big part of my job was shoveling chicken poop out of the chicken. Today, I write the blog. The job hasn’t changed much.

  10. I appreciate the foundational and ecclectic nature of your posts, Joe. Great bikes and rides are, well great, but your blog recognizes that there’s a lot more good stuff going on in the world, too. Like this ’61 Starliner. What a jewel! And I’m a bowtie guy. It says volumes about the character you are that you could unwind an excellent story from a chance meeting at a gas station.
    Keep ’em coming…
    P.S. I purchased a Meuller scope for a Ruger 77/22 today because I had heard of the brand here.
    Good stuff indeed!

    1. Thanks. Appreciate your kind words, Lowell.

      I’m more of a bowtie guy, too. But I appreciate a good Ford. Or Buick. Or Chrysler. Or, well, you understand…

      Those Mueller scopes are good. I enjoy using mine.

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