1966 Ford Galaxie...wtf have I done?
Discussion
So, I've owned a Monaro, or even 2 of them at one point, for nearly 8 years, my last one being a very well sorted LS1 VXR with a supercharger. It was almost perfect for me in every way, nice rumble to it from the exhaust, fitted the kids in no problem, easy-ish to look after. I then went on the Smokey and the Bandit run in 2018, and that, although unbeknown to me at the time, spelt the end for the Monaro under my ownership. I wanted a Trans-Am.
Fast forward to 2020, a house move just before the pandemic which included a garage that is nearly 70 square metres, the time felt right. Spoke to my wife, she wasn't sure, she thought I should keep the Monaro as it was my pride and joy. We then decided a side project was needed, so I bought a rather clean E39 BMW, and spent some time messing with that. There was still the nagging thought that I wanted to do something else though, I'd looked at a couple of Trans-Ams over the last couple of years, plus various other cars and decided in around October to try and sell the Monaro, if it doesn't sell then fine, but if it does, happy days. Wrote an ad on Facebook and it was sold within a week. That being said, it didn't go until last week, for various reasons that I won't go into.
I'd looked at some other 2nd car options, including an Alpina B10, M5, Merc AMG etc etc but in reality I wanted a slice of Americana and good Trans-Ams were getting more and more expensive. I then by chance saw a red Ford Galaxie for sale on Facebook and thought, yup, that's a bit of me.
I went and looked at it and had several chats with the owner, looked at a couple of others which helped me decide that this was the best I could get for my money, and so a deal was done.
The car arrived on the Sunday, having passed an MOT on the previous Friday. I then transferred a ridiculous amount of money to someone who I barely knew, then entrusted the keys to it to someone I didn't know, in order to get it home.
Delivery day was nervous for me. I'd bought my first classic car, I'd sold a good, solid known to me car and whilst I do know my way round a car ok, old American stuff was just not what I'd done before. To say it was a leap of faith was putting it mildy!
It turned up just as the snow was falling heavier and heavier and I nervously drove it round to my garage via the alleyway which felt about 10mm wider than the car itself. It's a big car to say the least. Any doubts went up in a cloud of petrol fumes as it started up to get it off the trailer.
I was both nervous and excited about this. I'd already got a plan about the things I wanted to do, but as always with these things, plans change due to unforeseen issues, and did I get some issues (more on this in the next update).
Once the car was in the garage, I had a good look around it under the LED lighting and to be fair, it needs some stuff doing, but I don't think it's too bad. Everything seems to be reasonably accessible. I've driven a total of around 100 yards (at best) by this point.
More to follow, enjoy the pics, some of which I've stolen from the original for sale advert....
Fast forward to 2020, a house move just before the pandemic which included a garage that is nearly 70 square metres, the time felt right. Spoke to my wife, she wasn't sure, she thought I should keep the Monaro as it was my pride and joy. We then decided a side project was needed, so I bought a rather clean E39 BMW, and spent some time messing with that. There was still the nagging thought that I wanted to do something else though, I'd looked at a couple of Trans-Ams over the last couple of years, plus various other cars and decided in around October to try and sell the Monaro, if it doesn't sell then fine, but if it does, happy days. Wrote an ad on Facebook and it was sold within a week. That being said, it didn't go until last week, for various reasons that I won't go into.
I'd looked at some other 2nd car options, including an Alpina B10, M5, Merc AMG etc etc but in reality I wanted a slice of Americana and good Trans-Ams were getting more and more expensive. I then by chance saw a red Ford Galaxie for sale on Facebook and thought, yup, that's a bit of me.
I went and looked at it and had several chats with the owner, looked at a couple of others which helped me decide that this was the best I could get for my money, and so a deal was done.
The car arrived on the Sunday, having passed an MOT on the previous Friday. I then transferred a ridiculous amount of money to someone who I barely knew, then entrusted the keys to it to someone I didn't know, in order to get it home.
Delivery day was nervous for me. I'd bought my first classic car, I'd sold a good, solid known to me car and whilst I do know my way round a car ok, old American stuff was just not what I'd done before. To say it was a leap of faith was putting it mildy!
It turned up just as the snow was falling heavier and heavier and I nervously drove it round to my garage via the alleyway which felt about 10mm wider than the car itself. It's a big car to say the least. Any doubts went up in a cloud of petrol fumes as it started up to get it off the trailer.
I was both nervous and excited about this. I'd already got a plan about the things I wanted to do, but as always with these things, plans change due to unforeseen issues, and did I get some issues (more on this in the next update).
Once the car was in the garage, I had a good look around it under the LED lighting and to be fair, it needs some stuff doing, but I don't think it's too bad. Everything seems to be reasonably accessible. I've driven a total of around 100 yards (at best) by this point.
More to follow, enjoy the pics, some of which I've stolen from the original for sale advert....
Thank you for all the comments above.
So, a little more detail about the car.... It's a 1966 Ford Galaxie 2 door, 352 cubic inches, or 5.8l in units I understand. It claims to have around 250bhp and 350 ft lb or torque, so quite a bit of power for 1966. It does weigh around 1700kg though! Also has a 3 speed cruise-o-matic auto with column change. It's the Ford FE engine, it's the smallest of the big block units available at the time, the 7 litre is the one to have but they are considerably more expensive and rarer too. To be fair I didn't buy it to do track days in.
Also, unassisted drum brakes all round too. Car was made in the Mahwah plant which I learnt from decoding the VIN. There seems to be a lot of the older shape Galaxies around and not too many from the mid 60s, I actually liked them all but the shape of this version had more appeal. Some also have smaller engines which although would be fine day to day, I did really want the big block...
The car was imported to the UK in around 2014, by someone who lives not far from me. When it arrived it had a full bare metal respray and then looks to have had some other new parts too, like door cards and a few other bits and pieces. It then was sold to the person I bought it from, who added the wheels and a few other bits and took it to a few shows. It's got American Racing wheels 15 inch diameter and 275 section tyres on the back! Also an aftermarket steering wheel as the original had started to crack, and the modifications suit it well I think (I'm not planning to be totally attentive to the originality of it to be fair). The car didn't cover many miles and the owner I bought it from lost his storage space (it needs a lot of space) hence the sale.
Now when I looked through the paperwork for the car I saw it was owned and imported by someone from near me and by chance is a good friend of my Dad's. He also has a business restoring this type of car and looking on his Facebook page, there was my car, albeit with different wheels on. I already knew it needed some paint here and there to remove some rust but this was a really good coincidence! After my Dad contacted him he confirmed all was good, I'd previously contacted his business Facebook page to ask about getting some repairs on it and so it all now made more sense.
So, a little more detail about the car.... It's a 1966 Ford Galaxie 2 door, 352 cubic inches, or 5.8l in units I understand. It claims to have around 250bhp and 350 ft lb or torque, so quite a bit of power for 1966. It does weigh around 1700kg though! Also has a 3 speed cruise-o-matic auto with column change. It's the Ford FE engine, it's the smallest of the big block units available at the time, the 7 litre is the one to have but they are considerably more expensive and rarer too. To be fair I didn't buy it to do track days in.
Also, unassisted drum brakes all round too. Car was made in the Mahwah plant which I learnt from decoding the VIN. There seems to be a lot of the older shape Galaxies around and not too many from the mid 60s, I actually liked them all but the shape of this version had more appeal. Some also have smaller engines which although would be fine day to day, I did really want the big block... The car was imported to the UK in around 2014, by someone who lives not far from me. When it arrived it had a full bare metal respray and then looks to have had some other new parts too, like door cards and a few other bits and pieces. It then was sold to the person I bought it from, who added the wheels and a few other bits and took it to a few shows. It's got American Racing wheels 15 inch diameter and 275 section tyres on the back! Also an aftermarket steering wheel as the original had started to crack, and the modifications suit it well I think (I'm not planning to be totally attentive to the originality of it to be fair). The car didn't cover many miles and the owner I bought it from lost his storage space (it needs a lot of space) hence the sale.
Now when I looked through the paperwork for the car I saw it was owned and imported by someone from near me and by chance is a good friend of my Dad's. He also has a business restoring this type of car and looking on his Facebook page, there was my car, albeit with different wheels on. I already knew it needed some paint here and there to remove some rust but this was a really good coincidence! After my Dad contacted him he confirmed all was good, I'd previously contacted his business Facebook page to ask about getting some repairs on it and so it all now made more sense.
Like it a lot.
Be interesting to hear more about the transmission - what is v max in each gear & does it have an overdrive
With a classic like this what is the engine Rev range like? What is amber/red on the revs. I’m assuming max power low 4,000 with redline 5k or less?
The burble from what must be straight pipes would bring a smile to any petrol head.
Be interesting to hear more about the transmission - what is v max in each gear & does it have an overdrive
With a classic like this what is the engine Rev range like? What is amber/red on the revs. I’m assuming max power low 4,000 with redline 5k or less?
The burble from what must be straight pipes would bring a smile to any petrol head.
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