Nearly on the road

Well I thought that installing the rest of the interior was going to be a bear but as is often the case jobs that one views with trepidation turn out to be a cinch. As you an see I trimmed out the carpet and fitted the sill plates. I got the kick panels in, trimmed out the doors and got the window winders on (not the easiest task in the world Mr. Ford). The only slight disappointment was that not only could I not fit the sun visor brackets, I could not even find the screw holes! Oh well they must be there. Now here is the scary part, I think that I am ready to put her on the road. This week I will get some insurance and then a trip to the DMV to put the plates on and we are legal.

Outstanding tasks ;

Wire up the spotlight
Fix radio
Fix clock
Fit bumper guards
Install exhaust pipes
Repair broken wire on overdrive unit.

Then drive around town to the admiring gazes of my fellow man, and woman.

Another giant leap.

After waiting about 6 months the spot light guy turned up out of the blue and installed the spotlight. The guys that know say that a Galaxie is dressed up when it has a spotlight and bumper guards, now I am halfway there. Actually I should just mention that as a result of some dealing I now have a complete set of bumper guards and they will be installed once I have finished the interior.

Now talking about the interior I have made some huge progress. The carpet is in (although not trimmed out). The back is complete and the front seat is in. Finally I can drive it without falling over backwards. I still have another days work to complete the interior but I was pretty happy with the progress I made. I still have to trim the carpet (I don't quite understand why having spent all that money the carpet was not made to measure but whatever). The rear courtesy lenses need fitting as does the sill plates. I have no idea how I will find the screw holes for the accelerator pedal which are hidden by the carpet and I will have to cut a huge hole in the carpet for the headlamp dimmer switch. Next week I am going to murder some clay pigeons but I will try to do some more work during the week. In the meantime enjoy the pictures.

The Brakes

Here is another tale from the stupid mistakes department.

For some time I have been suffering from a strange syndrome with the Galaxie brakes. It seems like the brakes would start to bind and then get worse and worse until the wheels were just locked up. The last time I worked on the car it took all of the engine's 300 hp just to move her back into the garage. My task for last Saturday, therefore, was to fix the brakes. Now logic dictates that if all the wheels are locked the common denominator has to be the master cylinder so I removed the one from the Thunderbird and for the Galaxie to compare and exchange them. As soon as I looked at the Galaxie cylinder I realised what the problem was. A new cylinder has plastic plugs to keep dust out and I had overlooked to remove the plug for the brake rod. So the rod was pushing on the plug and the plug was pushing on the piston. The plug however was preventing the piston from retracting. Remove the plug and the brakes worked fine. All in all it took about 15 minutes. Of course I had expected it to take all day so I didn't bring any of the interior parts needed. With nothing else to do I was home by midday.

Another big leap forward

On Monday, here in Virginia, we had a blizzard, on Saturday we had 75 degrees and let me tell you after 2 months of doing squat it was mighty good to be working in the sunshine. So today's task was to trim out the headliner, fit the sailboards and put in the rear parcel shelf. (Actually I am not sure that you colonials call it a parcel shelf but it is the piece between the rear seat and the rear window). As the faithful reader will recall due to a cock up by Dearbourne Classics I ended up with a surplus of sailboard material and this I used to cover the parcel shelf and let me tell you that it looks damned sharp. Now back to the story.

I had anticipated that this was not going to be easy (nothing is for team Galaxie) and sure enough the first hour was spent in a rage of frustration, tears and Lord's name taking of in vain. After all of this I had achieved.

One piece of trim and five screws! Then I worked out for myself Gene told me that if you used a ice pick you could not only find the screw holes which are all hidden behind the cloth but you could also use the pick as a lever to align the trim to the holes. After that everything went swimmingly. Of course I was still at it all day but I was now singing a happy little song in the sun.

Here is the sailboard and parcel shelf installed and the rear window trimmed out.

and here is the front quarter. Lest you are worried the gap at the top is where the sun visor bracket screw in. There are a few wrinkles that I couldn't get out but you know I don't care. I shall hold my head up high and tell people that no professional restorer touched my car.

So next week (unless we have another blizzard I shall install the courtesy lamps and the sun visors, then rear panels and the rear seats. Maybe if time permits the carpet and the door panels. It is sure good to be working again. Now if you will excuse me I am off to sing a little John Denver number. Sunshine on my shoulders make me happy (yes it does).

The head liner is in !

We looked at the forecast and Tuesday was going to be the best day of the week so I made the decision and we pulled it off. Utilizing the knowledge gained in our first attempt my good lady and I (believe me folks it is a two man person job) got that bad boy in. So why, are you asking, are there no photographs of our magnificent achievements. Well I still have to put up the sailboards, the courtesy lamp bezels and all the trim. I also have to cut off the excess material. This you will doubtless recall was my earlier mistake when I decided to cut off the excess first.

The net outcome is that it all looks a touch pikey at the moment but it is up and tacked in and wrinkle free so today I am spending all day basking in the glow of my overt manliness

Nothing to report

Since the debacle with the headliner, nothing much has happened. I was going to work a little on the car last weekend but on the day before someone organized a shoot on the adjacent property and that was too much temptation for me. I did clear out the trunk and install the side panels and the trunk mat which looks very sharp. My old buddy Red noticed that the jack hold down screw was incorrect but he has a spare. He really is a great guy. This week the replacement headliner arrived so I should be fitting that this weekend. I should but I won't because something else has turned up. For some time I have been looking for my next project and this week I found it, a 1963 Thunderbird. So this weekend I am off on a road trip to Atlanta to haul it back. I won't start restoring it until the Galaxie is completed but I am more than happy to have it sitting in the barn for a few weeks. Wanna see some pics? Of course you do.

Late Advice

Under the category of information that I could have done with yesterday I am reliably informed that you do not cut the headliner to fit. Rather you staple it and then roll up the excess which is hidden behind the trim. Well the new one is ordered so it is only a matter of time before I am once again Master of all I survey, although at $99.99 it was an expensive lesson to learn.



On a more positive note I have, for the longest time, been looking for a RAC badge for the Galaxie. (For the benefit of my colonial readers the Royal Automobile Club is the English equivalent of triple A but you have to admit Royal Automobile Club sounds far more classy). Finally I got one and I know that you will agree that it adds a certain Je ne seus quoi as we say in Serbo Croat.