1963 Ford Galaxie 500XL Fastback

For 1963, Ford saw no reason to radically change a good thing, and the 1963 model was essentially unchanged save for some freshening and added trim. A lower, fastback roofline was added mid year to improve looks and make the big cars more competitive on the NASCAR tracks. This 1963½ model was called the "Sports Roof" hardtop.

While not much changed for the everyday buyer, for the performance oriented things were a little different — for partway through this year and in limited quantities there became available Ford's new racing secret weapon, the 427, replacing the 406.

This new engine, designed for performance rather than refinement, was offered to the public simply because racing rules required the use of only engines sold in sufficient numbers in production vehicles. Ford took the 427 CID (7.0 L) equipped Galaxie to the dragstrip in serious fashion beginning in 1963, building a number of lightweight cars just for that purpose. They featured fiberglass fenders, doors, trunklid and aluminum bumpers. Rated conservatively at 425 hp, this engine also featured in Carroll Shelby's final incarnation of the AC Cobra. The base Galaxie was joined in 1963 by the barebones Ford 300 sedan.

The 390 CID (of 389.6 CID or 6.4 L true displacement) engine, with a bore of 4.05 in (103 mm) and stroke of 3.78 in (96 mm), was the most common FE engine in later application. It was used in many Ford cars as the standard engine, as well as many trucks.

It was a popular high-performance engine too; although not as powerful as the 427 and 428 models, it provided good performance, particularly in the lighter weight vehicles, and was in much greater supply.the 390cid 2v is rated at 265 bhp @ 4,100 rpm.