The paint shop contacted me today–I should have the Galaxie back in another 2 days. Here’s one more photo of her way back when the restoration began:
Parting Shot
Posted in Galaxie with tags 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible, restoration on January 19, 2011 by SpiralboundPre-restoration
Posted in Galaxie with tags 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible on January 12, 2011 by SpiralboundAccording to the paint shop owner the final coat of vintage burgundy has been applied and the clear coat application has begun. It’s been about a month now and it’s definitely getting harder and hard to wait patiently, as I really want to be behind the wheel of the Galaxie again. The rainy and uncharacteristically cold weather lately has at least taken the edge off of my impatience.
I have a brand new convertible top motor and well liner ready to install, so the first order of business when I get the Galaxie back will be to get her ready to drop the top, as I haven’t even put the top down once since getting the new vinyl installed. I am also planning on getting new tires and may buy them on the way back from the paint shop.
Hopefully the next time I make a post it will be full of beautiful wine-red automobile photographs, but for now here’s a picture of my car at the absolute beginning of the restoration last year when she was being loaded onto the tow truck on her way to the mechanic.
Here’s one after the new top was put on but before the new paint job:
Key to the Galaxie
Posted in Galaxie with tags 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible, key on January 8, 2011 by Spiralbound
Prime time
Posted in Galaxie with tags '66, 500, body, convertible, Galaxie, paint, primer on December 19, 2010 by Spiralbound
I dropped off a set of the door/fender mouldings today and snapped a few pictures of the bodywork progress. The rear and quarter panel sections appear to be done and primered up, although not much has been done on the front fenders/hood. Still, everything looks like it’s on track for the new year.
Battle scars
Posted in Galaxie with tags '66, 1966, 500, body, bondo, convertible, Galaxie, paint on December 15, 2010 by SpiralboundThe previous layers of paint are being stripped down to the metallic bone and old bodywork is being revealed. The gray patches indicate old bodywork, so you can see that the original owner showed no hesitation in his liberal application of Bondo, the automotive body panacea.
In addition to over 40 years of dings and dents the rear end has a nice piece of wrinkled metal that will need to be pulled out and straightened. At some point the original owner was rear-ended and he opted to slap a Bondo band aid on it rather than take care of it correctly.
The car should be back from the shop just in time for the new year. I feel like a high school kid, corsage in hand, waiting for his prom date to make her appearance at the top of the staircase, all gussied up for the dance. Only in this case my date is having huge chunks of Bondo pulled out of her and having her skin sanded down to the bone.
Bad, bad analogy…
Prep work
Posted in Galaxie with tags '66, 1966, 500, body, convertible, Galaxie, paint on December 15, 2010 by Spiralbound
Hubcaps
Posted in Galaxie with tags '66, 1966, 500, convertible, Galaxie, hubcaps on December 11, 2010 by Spiralbound
I found a cheap set of original hubcaps on ebay which I am currently in the process of cleaning/re-painting, although the chrome finish on one of them is at the point where a replacement is most likely going to be necessary. Reproductions of these are available in the Dearborn catalog but I’m hesitant to buy anything nice until I see how well these things actually stay on my wheels. Back in high school I would launch these things off the wheels with astounding regularity. I actually saw one go sailing off while heading down the 60 freeway, but recovery proved impossible without playing human Frogger across 4 lanes of traffic. That thing was gone.
Low beam headlights are replaced along with one of the split retaining rings and the brake lights are once again functional. The gas gauge is working perfectly for the first time in the 18 years I’ve owned the car. I can’t express the peace of mind one has not having to obsessively track odometer readings or use my butt to nudge a 3,677 lb vehicle in order to determine if the sloshing noise I hear is indicative of sufficient gasoline to get me to my next destination.
At this point most of the things remaining to be done are cosmetic. SMS Auto Fabrics sells the interior vinyl by the yard that I need to repair the front bench seat and I will be looking into that shortly. I still need to locate a dash cap replacement but that is proving to be difficult as reproductions are not currently being made. There is no shortage of dash cap covers being made, but not only do I not like how these look but they require a decent dash cap underneath in order to be properly installed.
The original trim is almost complete as well. After looking at a picture of the car back in high school I realized I am missing the hood lip trim, but I have found a couple of people with some decent quality replacements. If I can get a hold of that then I am down to missing one rear passenger wheel well moulding and a single die cast letter L for the quarter panel. I was also able to buy the original hood ornament which makes me inexpressibly happy as for a long time that has been the hardest thing to find in decent shape. The one I bought I was able to get for only $30 dollars shipped and is practically flawless.
Heads or tails
Posted in Galaxie with tags '66, 1966, 500, convertible, Galaxie, headlights, taillights on December 11, 2010 by Spiralbound
The stacked headlight array of the ’66 Galaxie does a perfect job of summing up the personality of the car and is one of my favorite features of the vehicle. It just looks mean.
While not as rocketship-like as those on the ’64, the taillights of the ’66 still manage to have the same retro-future appeal. Fun-fact: the ’66 Galaxie actually consumes twice the amount of fuel as a space shuttle launch just getting out of the garage.
Fender moulding emblems
Posted in Galaxie with tags '66, 1966, 500, convertible, emblems, fender, Galaxie on November 25, 2010 by Spiralbound
Rainproof
Posted in Galaxie with tags '66, 1966, 500, convertible, Galaxie, top on November 18, 2010 by Spiralbound
The new top and glass window are installed, which is a good thing with rain in the forecast for this weekend. The Galaxie is currently having the clutch adjusted after having the new motor dropped in as it wasn’t engaging until more than three quarters of the way up. It was getting to the point that my knee was touching my chest before I could feel it begin to catch.
Done:
New engine installed
Brakes fixed
Gas tank removed, cleaned and reinstalled
Carburetor rebuilt
Convertible top/rear window replaced
Gas gauge fixed (accidentally fixed this when I plugged a loose wire in under the dash)
There are still some electrical things that need to be cleared up, but for the most part the remaining issues are mostly cosmetic. Some of the stuff on my list:
Replace headlights
Replace material on front bench seat
Replace or restore dash cap
Get AM/FM radio working
I also need to order some reproduction stock hub caps and of course get the body and paint done. My entire apartment is currently littered with parts that are waiting to be reattached after the paint job is taken care of.
Here’s a parting shot of how shredded the old top was before its replacement:
