The long-awaited 2021 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals MCACN made a comeback in Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Illinois, Chicago. The indoor gathering had the rarest of examples. Center stage was a 1961 Ford Starliner owned by George Poteet that was a huge hit. Kevin Oeste from V8TV got a chance to interview the restorer.
The Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals is a show that brings all different kinds of muscle cars together. Zach Straits brought out a 1961 Ford Starliner owned by George Poteet that is a restoration marvel.
The 1961 Ford Starliner was the fastback version of the 1960 to 1961 Galaxie line of full-size Fords. In 1960, the Starliner convertible Suliner and hardtop became the Ford Galaxie Special Series. Since it only used the Galaxie trim, Ford changed the name on the trunk lid to Starliner.
Under the hood, Poteet's Starliner still has the original 390FE motor, but with a '57 Thunderbird air cleaner. The good thing is it resembles the 352 Hypo that would have been an obvious option. Straits took a creative license with the 1961 Starliner. The owner is not bent on having a perfectly restored car since he likes to drive them.
Jeff Burns Racing restored the 390FE engine and dyno-ed it at 300 hp with the original four-barrel carb restoration done by historian Dan Brown.
Galaxies tend to float a lot driving down the road. To keep it planted, Straits did some suspension upgrades. These included power disc brakes, Ridetech shocks, and big sway bars.
Straits and his team were looking to over-restore this classic beyond the factory original. The Starliner comes with a lot of stainless steel that needs a lot of polishing. For a perfect finish, they chrome-plated some of the panels including the grille, stainless hub caps, taillight buckets, and windshield wipers, which were hard to source.
The interior is also completely redone. Since the inserts did not match the seats on the Galaxie, they had to modify it using door panel vinyl material for a clean, unique finish.
This 1960 Starliner was a showstopper at the 2021 MCACN Show, and Straits had a couple of trophies to prove it.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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