Meet the Team

This is Gene, he is 80 something years old although he thinks that he is 30. He likes having fun, drinking beer but more importantly has been restoring Fords for the last 60 years. The reason that I am buying this car is because he says that if he did not already have a Galaxie he would buy this one.

In addition Gene has a mechanic. In true Appalacian fashion the mechanic only works when he needs the money but when he works he works at three times the speed of anyone else. As far as I can see paying $8 per hour in cash to someone who works like this means that I am actually paying $2.68 per hour. So I get to do the fun stuff, like dissmantling a big block FE and converting it from 395 to 427 and I can farm out the stuff that I can't do myself.

With a team like this what can possibly go wrong?

Meet the Car

So I went to see the car on Friday. The deal was that I wanted to hear and see the engine running and would then hand over a huge amount of my hard earned money. Sadly the guy who was selling the car decided to go out instead, such is the way of doing business in the south. In fairness we were a tad late in arriving, like an hour, and he had to take kids to a ball game or something. Nevertheless I had a good look at the car and there was no way that it was ready to fire up so it was going to be a waste of my time and frankly Friday nights are made for beer. On the bright side I got to see the car and I pretty much made up my mind that I was going to have it no matter what. She looks in awful condition now but much of the point of this will be the restore this wreck into the proud and haughty beauty that she once was. To be honest
these picture do not really show how bad this old classic is but as I say that is part of the fun. Just to prove my point and reassure myself that this is not all going to end in tears here is a quote from a respected car revue source ;

The 1963 Galaxie was a classic from the first day it rolled off the showroom floor. This car's distinctive lines and styling are timeless and are now among the most collected Fords of any era. These Galaxies offered many choices for the car buyer. The line offered a large choice of models starting with the Galaxie Sedan. These Galaxie were the base model cars with very simple trim and

ornamentation, usually equipped with the smaller engine configuration; However, these cars could be special ordered with just about any engine. The Galaxie 500 Sedans, Hardtop, and Convertible were a step up from the base model Galaxie and featured an attractive full length upper and lower body side molding and attractive cloth and vinyl interior trim package. The Galaxie 500XL models were available in the Hardtop both four door and two door, the Convertible and the 1963 ½ Galaxie Fastback which featured a new sporty roof line with no post and Starliner type looks. The standard equipment on these cars was a deluxe offering with standard bucket seats and console, full wheel covers, wall to wall carpeting, courtesy lights, contoured deluxe seat upholstery among other luxury features. The 1963 was offered with several engine choices. The Mileage Maker Six Cylinder (All models except 500XL), 260 V-8 at 164 horsepower, the 352 Thunderbird V-8 at 220 horsepower, the Thunderbird 390-4V engine at 300 horsepower, the 406 Thunderbird High Performance with tri-power carburetion at 405 horsepower. Ford later introduced the 427 high performance engine in both a single four barrel version at 410 horsepower and a dual four barrel carburetor at an astounding 425 horsepower. This engine option was offered in a very limited number of 1963 Galaxies. Transmission types were the Synchro Smooth manual column shift, the 4 speed manual on the floor, Fordomatic Drive automatic, and Cruise-O-Matic three speed automatic. Some of the available options for 1963 are as follows: Swing Away Steering Wheel, Power Front Seat, Power Windows, Power Steering, Power Brakes, Padded Dash and Visors, Backup Lights, Deluxe Wheel Covers, Spotlight Mirrors and Select Aire Conditioner. Words fail to describe the beauty and design of this legendary Galaxie. The 1963 will always be of great interest to the car collector and Ford enthusiast.


So there you have it. The new plan is that the seller will get it fired up this week and I will see it running on Saturday. If all goes well it will be mine by Saturday afternoon.

Watch this space.

The Start

For reasons that I still do not understand I have decided to restore a 1963 Ford Galaxie 500. Most of the people that I have spoken to have all thrown up their hands in horror and begged me not to do it. Car restoration works like this. You buy a wreck, you spend years of your life and thousands of your dollars restoring it. Then you sell it for about half of what you spent on it.

Fortunately this will not be the case for me. You see the car is going to be a graduation present for Kimberley my eldest daughter. This not only gives me 3 years to complete the project but means that I start the restoration knowing that I am going to lose vast amounts of money and that should take away some of the financial disappointment. (Actually to be honest I plan to complete in two years and have fun myself for a year).

So why a 63 Galaxie? Well Kimberley has always loved that classic square American muscle car shape even when she was a preteen and we were living in England, I guess somethings were just meant to be.

Tonight I am going to look at a project car and hopefully it will soon be mine. I am particularly keen on this one as it has a 3 speed column shift (plus overdrive) and factory air (a rarity on a 63 Galaxie). Kimberley scorns auto transmission and as I am determined to keep the car pretty much stock, the air will make the car more drivable in these hot Virginia summers.

What will follow is lots of pictures and progress reports. I am hoping that in August 2009 I will be able to look back on this and say "Wow what a ride, let's do it all over again", we will see.