I've been looking for a Galaxie or a Fairlane to fit my family in for a while, and I may have finally found one. I'm looking at trading my 57 F100 for this 62 Galaxie. I've got nearly ten years, a lot of cash, and some blood, sweat, and tears into this truck, so I wanna be pretty sure about the Galaxie. Are there any spots I should definitely check out for rust that I typically wouldn't think of? It's been bagged; I've never seen an airbag system, if it looks hokey, I'll run, but if the set-up looks OK to the naked eye, is there anything I can do to test it, or anything special I should look for. Not that it's a whole lot to look at, but I'd really hate to trade away my truck with a very solid foundation for a pile. The truck The Galaxie
get some pictures of the set up and post them online. check the welds on the link bars and notches. figure out what the rear set up is, look at the plumbing and wiring to the compressor and tank. if that's done poorly, good bet everything else is. if you know any minitruckers or post pictures on their boards they'd be able to help a lot more with the bag system than most people on here who steer away from bags.
x2 on 29tx, Make sure any welds you can see look good, no bird poop like welds. Check the lines, make sure he used DOT air line, and not whatever Walmart had on sale that week. Look at the bags in the air down position, to ensure that they aren't pinching or binding anywhere. As far as rust, check the typical places, floors, rockers, and rear quarters. It is not a big deal, because you can get repopped panels for all those locations for a '62 Galaxie.
When i go to look at a car or truck i always take a small magnet and check for thick spots of bondo, from damage or rust spots.
If you are allowed ask him to putt off the door panel that will give you a hint of what is hidden throughout that vehicle. I would be weary of a flat black paint job... flat colors without gloss usually are bondo queens. typical quarter rust, above wheel well, and the trunk drop downs. a magnet is your friend
Cool, thanks for the tips. Would it be safe to jack the car up, put it on stands under the rear end and front end, and lower the bags to check for pinch points? I don' thave a lift. He says he hasn't owned it for long, which raises flags, but he also says that he put about 500 miles on it last week alone. Any more tips?
everyone says that they put 500 miles on it last week when their selling a car, I dont know how many times I've heard a seller say that to find out it's bullshit post picts of the air ride set up and get all the details on it(what brand/size bag, compressor,valves,airline..etc) also make sure he gives you a good reason to why he's getting rid of it if he hasent had it long
It seems like a good idea, but because I can't get my whole family in it and I'd rather spend time with my family than my truck, it sits alot more than it should. To tell you the truth, this Galaxie is going to have to be pretty special in order for me to make the deal.
since its a galaxie, it should be bolt in air ride... depending on how they did the back id be REALLY leary of body work just from that pic... but depends what ur tryin to do
I would be very suspicious of the iron cross mirrors and chain steering wheel these are in plain view, no telling what is hidden underneath
^^^and the skull on the front. Previous owner probably ran with the RAT ROD crowd. not saying all Rat Rods are junk, But Ive seen some scary shit at the rat rod shows
Gee, let me break this down. Iron cross mirror, chain steering wheel, do you want your wife to divorce you?
That stuff can be taken off. It has fender skirts on the back that look like crap too. I've got a few more pics, and have a pretty good list of thinkgs to check out just from looking at the pics. It does scream Rat Rod, but I'm hoping it's just superficial. I guess I should have stated, unfortunately, my truck screams Ratrod too, and it has bondo in it, I had planned on taking it apart and fixing all of that this spring, so if I have to do it to the Galaxie, I'm not really out anything. But if something major is wrong with it, I'll be stuck. I know where to check on a 57-60 F100 for rust and stuff, but I don't know what's typical on a 60's Galaxie.
trunk pan, floors, door sills, bottoms of doors, fenders, all the way around the back window, front windshield pillars, around windshield.. do a compression check on it and take it on a long long long test drive. seems to me like your truck is the better of the two. He is full of it if he said he drove it 500 miles last week. He has no documentation of that at all... he might as well said 1500 miles last week. I have a feeling you maybe disappointed.
That car was originally bagged in Indy by a local guy. He bought most of his suspension parts from Gauge store. I used to see the car just about every weekend out and about at local car shows. I never got a up close look at it but I can verify the car has some miles on that suspension.
Well, I went and looked at it. There was more bondo in it than the local Autozone. There was rust, one fender skirt was held on with wood screws. It smoked, I could here an air leak and the compressor never stopped running. As he drove up, he inflated and then deflated and then inflated the bags before finally deflating them and leaving it that way, he apparently didn't want me looking under the car. Needless to say, I passed. He was interested enough in my truck to say if he sold the Galaxie outright, he would still like to buy my truck. Who knows, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Thanks for all of the replies.
The Jalopy Journal
