Original Paint
Back in my last year of high school my dad was working on location in Minnesota. He gave me a call one night and said to go get his Ford book out of the garage and find a 1966 Galaxie. When I finally managed to find the picture he asked me what I thought. “It’s beautiful,” I told him. “Any reason I’m looking at this?” He explained that he had found one in front of a house while driving to work and if I liked it he would go offer the guy cash for it and see if he’d bite. It wasn’t even for sale.
A week or so later I woke up to tapping at my window to find my dad outside grinning. He had the Galaxie idling in the moonlit driveway with the top down. It was definitely love at first sight, even though the car was pretty rough around the edges. The original owner hadn’t wanted to sell it at first but when my dad offered him a grand in cash he changed his tune pretty quickly. After a little meatball surgery my dad got the car running and when his job in Minnesota was done he canceled his plane ticket and drove the Galaxie back to California himself.
Pictured is the car shortly after I got her, parked outside of the Aerojet ordnance facility (the local submarine race stands), in her original springtime yellow paint. Later on we would paint the car vintage burgundy in our own garage, but that spring/summer she was in her original paint.
June 11, 2011 at 3:06 am
Great story, Great Dad! My 66 Sedan had its original paint up until about 5 months ago. Mine was purchased by my parents from the lady next door in 1982 for $500 with 17k miles. My parents drove the car and I was 11 or so when they purchased it but loved the car. It became mine in 1994 but even while still their car, I drove it and paid for storage when they really wanted to sell it.
June 11, 2011 at 5:24 am
Nothing beats driving a car with some history behind it. 17k miles, that’s awesome. I’m pretty sure my ’66 had flipped 100k when I first got behind the wheel, haha.
June 24, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Also, the original owner and her sister kept a little notebook in the glove box and documented every fill-up with whom put the gas in it, miles, and the cost. Starts back with New Galaxie 62 and about every 2 to 3 pages is a new Galaxie with 1966 being the last one. Also have the original registration.
June 24, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Wow, the original owner must have been an accountant or something–that’s really cool. I have the original owner’s manual for my Galaxie, but that’s about it. I don’t know much about the first owner unfortunately, other than what I can remember my dad telling me. It’s something I’d like to look into one of these days.