I mean fellas... you can get fiberglass fenders, hood, and deck lid pretty easily... all ya gotta do is source some aluminum bumpers and you are good to go... Personally, I'd hide some disc brakes behind those wheels and I might go a little crazier on the motor... From there, it's just strip everything off the car that doesn't matter... What are we waiting for?
I always preferred the 64 model over the rest, they look shorter overall than 63’s. Galaxie lightweight, wouldn’t that be called an oxymoron?
"The Corvette, their supposed racing champion, was like a heavyweight boxer trying to tap dance – too damn heavy, too damn undercooked to tango with the likes of Ferrari, Porsche, and Jaguar on the performance stage." This may very well be my most favorite thing that I have ever read.
A few years ago, I traded for a 63 Galaxie. I wanted an Impala, but I ended up with a the Galaxie. I thought it would be around for 6 months or so, but here it is 6 years later and the girl is still around. It has become part of the family. Every time I think of shedding it, I fall in love with it again. I picked up a glass teardrop hood a few weeks ago. I think I'm gonna add a few inches to the suspension, and throw the hood on it. I have been wanting to give it a lightweight look. This write up just adds to the desire.
The only problem I see is finding a piece of the track wide enough to get the car through to pass. I can't imagine a Mini-Cooper getting past a 427 Ford in the straights. I have heard of the Galaxy lightweights before, but I never knew they were racing them against small European cars. Truly awesome to see!
[QUOTE="Spooky, post: 14985754, member: 44"]Just look at this SOB. As subtle as Mamie Van Doren at a bridge club meeting. The '63 1/2 Galaxie is one of the most bad ass looking cars ever designed and is my favourite besides the Starliners. View attachment 5839650 [/QUOTE] Hello, This 63 ½ Galaxie was the car our friend bought, but it was not a 427. Those were hard to find. The 406 motor had plenty of power and he immediately put on a tow hitch for his 18 foot Howard inboard ski boat. The motor was also a new 406 Ford. He really wanted a 427, but like us wanting a z-11 427 Chevy sedan, that was a moon shot, unless you knew someone, who knew someone…etc. That 406 motor 1963 ½ Ford Galaxie was a very nice car. There were 4 of us towing the 18 foot Howard Hull to the Colorado River at the Parker Dam location. Today, it is awful as to what has been done to the whole area on the lower side of the Parker Dam area, since we used to go there to campout and water ski. No more wide open shoreline with the desert scrub coming right to the water as if it was a wild river flowing down stream. There was once open land on both sides of the river, a nice river flowing South and it was clear blue skies with lots of cool to cold water activities along the shoreline. Water skiing being the most favorite for us. Then after water skiing all day, a late afternoon float on inner tubes down river with the current, until someone came to pick us up to take us back to the Parker Dam area. One side of the river was California Pacific time and the Arizona side was Mountain time. We liked the Arizona side as it was less crowded and we got to see the sunset every day from the shoreline, across the water. Jnaki The conversation about “bubble top” hardtop sedans was proven to us back then. Although we did not call any cars Bubble Tops at the time. (then or now...) The skinny roof supports, the big glass and the thin curving rooftop all played a part when we were going top speed on the darkened highways leading to and from the Colorado River. We encountered the surprising thing that happened, getting to the river from Long Beach. The highways were littered with huge diesel trucks and trailers like moving boxes pushing the windy forces ahead of them. When we approached the first time, the four of us were awake, but the driver had all of the windows down for cooling. When the big diesel truck/trailer was coming on the other side, as it passed, a phenomenon we had never experienced before struck with lightening speed. The passing force of the truck/trailer sucked out the air inside of the hardtop and we saw the dome of the roof being sucked down towards our heads. It happened so fast we were surprised. Thunk… We stopped and the two in the front and two in the back pushed the slightly caved in top back into place with a thump and all was good. We all agreed that despite the windows being down, the driver had to tell everyone to raise the windows when a large truck/trailer was headed our way. With the glass rolled up and nothing to suck out by the passing truck/trailer, it was just a push of the outside wind from the effects. No more sucked in roof top. It would not have happened with my 58 Impala with all of the windows rolled down as the rear roof support is larger and structurally more sound. YRMV Bubble top, indeed!
How about these ?? After all weren't those Ford Galaxies light weights built by Holman and Moody ?? View attachment 5860319 Please note Drag race legend "Dyno" Don Nicholson "tuned" for Rex White and I bet a few more NASCAR boys !!!
I’ve told this before, but I had an Uncle with a 63 1/2, 390 3 speed, all red bench seat car. My Aunt crashed it into some idiot that ran a red light. My Uncle bought a black 63 1/2 bucket seat 4 speed 427 car that had been hit hard in the rear, swapped the 427 in his but kept the 3 speed and bench seat because he didn’t like the black interior of the donor car. Had the front clip repainted and it looked like it always had, except under the hood. That big long air cleaner hiding the two fours, or was it a tri power? I dunno now, I always thought it was two fours, but now I’m not sure, been over 50 years ago. I do know after I got married and moved to the other side of the county, he sold it to his brother, who later sold it to his brother in law, who became my brother in law for a few years, but by then the car was long gone and never seen again. I have tried for 30 years to find it and possibly buy it, but the trail went cold so I guess I’ll never see it again.
The Jalopy Journal
