1968 Mercury cougar xr7 Had one, miss it 
That car is incredible. I remember the taillights.
True classic
It is funny getting old, that cougar still looks fresh and refined to me.
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My heart sinks a little when I see that Cougar but that’s another story and I understand now that dads are happy to see their sons succeed. Still I felt a little sorry for the dad.
My dad had a 60 impala, totaled while parked on the street, He loved that car but did not care one whit for my cougar. Not sure what you are saying @bing
Galaxy for me. My first car was a 62 Galaxy 2 door coupe, 3 on the tree. Besides it’s basic reliability, one thing I liked about it, b/c of the small motor it had, it was challenging to keep the speed up on the steep , winding uphill road I drove daily to the mountain ski resort. So I had to learn by doing when to step on the gas to build up speed on the straight-away, and the maximum speed I could safely make the turns. Over time I got pretty good at it. At first it would take me close to 40 minutes, but by the end I could make the trip in a little over 25 minutes, as long as nobody was in the way.
What a great story. I like the look of the 62 models. My father brought home a scale model of the 62 Galaxy. I used to “drive” that car across the world. As a kid, those trips can go anywhere. Anyway, it’s one of the car toys I remember. My little brother had an even better treat - a pedal car Mustang. 
If I had my choice of 64 or 65 full sized low priced cars it would have been a 64 Plymouth Fury. I liked the pushbuttons and the room and I thought they were better handling the the Ford or especially the Chevy. I always got an unsettled feeling from the rear suspension in the Chevy in bad weather, I thought Chrysler had the best transmissions then also. If forced to chose between the Chevy and Ford I would have the Ford, year wouldn’t matter,
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I had a 63 and later a 65 Plymouth wagon. I bought the 63 in 1969 for $80, drove it Philadelphia to Colorado and towed a 46 Chev pickup I bought there ($300) back to Hartford. The 65 I bought in 1973 for $150, stick shift V8. We drove that from Connecticut to Glacier Park, through Canada, then through the west to LA. Sold it there for $150 and drove a “drive away” Ford Galaxie 500 to New York. They all got me from here to there. Stuff was cheap in the late 60’s, until the gas shortages of 1974. I bought a 72 Chevelle station wagon in 1976 or so for $800 and thought I was spending a ton of money.
Of the 4 cars you offered I’d take the 65 Chevy Caprice. None are my first choice.
I owned two 1963 Ford Galaxies, One 1963 Chevrolet Impala SS convertible, and one 1966 Chevrolet Impala. You have good taste and memories.
I never heard of safety concerns regarding Chevrolets X-frames. I guess I survived by never being T-boned. A buddy had a very nice 1967 Plymouth Satellite GTX which was T-boned by a very nice 1957 Chevrolet. Two classics destroyed in one accident! At least no one was hurt.
There were performance models. My second 1963 Ford Galaxie was a two door hardtop 406 cu in 405hp 3X2v tri-power Super High Performance. They were dynamometer tested at closer to 450hp.
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My 62 had the 6 banger 223 w/135 HP … lol … but it was still fun to drive. For me anyway. Sometimes the challenge to eek out performance from a hamster cage engine is what makes it fun. Speaking of which, I don’t think my current Corolla is rated w/as much HP as that. But somehow the Corolla is quite a bit quicker and more nimble.
Your Toyota Corolla is probably 600+ pounds lighter than the 1962 Ford Galaxie.
My 2007 Corolla (auto/air) tips the scales at about 3000 lbs. Most full size cars weigh 3700 to 4000 Lbs.
You’re comparing gross HP to net HP. 135 HP gross would translate to about 105-110 HP net (it’s not an exact science). And the Galaxie is probably a good 400-500 pounds heavier with fewer gears and probably a more relaxed rear end ratio.
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Did your Galaxie have an automatic or a manual? That era automatics (it might have been a 2 speed) made most any car feel slow.
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Car and Driver did an article on also-fans that didn’t make the cut in their tests. The Fiat 124 spider Abarth was one of those cars. One of the testers said he liked it as well as the Boxter in the test because he had to drive it flat out all the time to have any hope of keeping up with the Boxter, even when it was not pushed hard. The feeling of wringing everything out of the Fiat was very satisfying.
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It had a 3-speed manual. There wasn’t really any problem with the transmission gearing, other than perhaps at very high speeds, 75 mph+ the engine rev’d a bit. The engine power was the main limitation, not noticed so much on the flats, but definitely noticed going up steep hills. The Galaxie’s suspension was markedly inferior to my Corolla also, but that wasn’t noticed unless in sharp, fast turns or when going very fast, neither of which I did on a routine basis. .
@George_San_Jose1 I really liked the looks of the 1962 Ford Galaxy. One option that really helped the six was the Borg-Warner overdrive.