This is the left front corner of an unrestored 1969 Ford Galaxie 500. I chased this car through my neighborhood for months trying to get it to sit still long enough to get a decent picture of it. Then, as frequently happens, Chip and I were walking down a side street two blocks from my house and practically walked into it. Naturally, I gave it the full Brad and Angelina full court paparazzi number and made zillions of shots of it. And, now that I know where it lives... I've always had a particular fondness for full sized Fords of this era. I'm not the only one, as these cars were wildly popular. Maybe it was because they were reasonably priced and offered something for everyone. From the low priced Custom 500, adored by police, fire departments and taxi companies nationwide; to the mid-level Galaxie 500, the only car that could compete with Chevrolet's perennial sales champion Impala; to the "upscale" LTD, with so much affordable luxury and swanky style that it made middle class families feel like they were getting away with something. One of those middle class families that felt like they were putting something over on the car dealer was mine. For most of my childhood and into my mid-teens, our family car was a gold 1969 LTD coupe with a de riqueur black vinyl top and a goldish-tan interior in that shiny quasi metallic looking vinyl they used in car interiors back then; the kind of vinyl that would give you third degree burns on your backside when you sat down in the car during the summer. One of the coolest things about the LTD though, was a feature not shared with the lesser models (like this Galaxie): headlights concealed behind flip up doors in the grille. Very James Bond. And, with the exception of a Honda Civic my parents bought in the Nineties, it was the most reliable car they ever owned. On -20 degree mornings, ours would be the only car on the block that would start. Of course after the fifth or sixth winter, we'd all be shivering under blankets because all the weather stripping had fallen off as the thing dissolved into a giant rust bucket around its unstoppable drive-train. For some reason all 1969-70 Fords rusted like crazy. One theory was that Ford got a good deal on some inferior steel. Another was that the undercoating was faulty. Whatever the reason, most of them rusted away to junk a long time ago. That's why finding this one is so rare. Photographed in the Albany Park area of Chicago on April 10, 2012.