So earlier today I read a blog about my friend Steve’s cool 60 model F-100 and it inspired me to write this blog. So let us begin shall we? This one is about my 1967 Galaxie. Is it a 500, 500 xl you might ask? I don’t know and frankly don’t care. For the past several years I have been buying engine parts and receiving old cars and trucks that did not run. I had a 1947 international that I was doing a ground up restoration on but just lost the time and interest. I was down in the dumps cause until the point of purchase of the Galaxie, I have not had a cool vehicle since High School. It was a 1971 F100 ranger. It was cool man had it all decked out with late model ford chrome wheels off of a bronco, dressed up the engine with all fomoco parts and finished off later with a tach in the hood. But back to the galaxie. I was working a job that kept me out of town a lot but left me with good chunks of money in my bank account. My friend Dustin Mills was about to buy another car and after seeing his collection I decided to buy a cool car. In my search for this cool car, I had come across dead ends and dumbassery(sorry steve had to borrow that). The dumbassery was from guys that thought they had a gold mine but it was just a rust bucket. But anyways, I did all my searching in Texas from a hotel room in southern Pennsylvania . After running through all the mid to late 50s and early 60s ford searches it was looking pretty bleak that I was not going to have a cool Ford vehicle. I was getting discouraged and angry. After a couple of days of not searching I went back to the hotel and searched “67 Ford” and wouldn’t you know my car was at the top of the list. I clicked it open and even with the mediocre camera phone pictures, the car looked amazing. I had to have this car but it was priced 2000 over my budget. Then I thought this car was made for me I was made for this car the price will go down. Two weeks go by and boom, the price dropped to 2 grand. I called in a favor to my dad to go look at the car. I was nearly 2000 miles away from home. Dad said he would kick my ass if did not buy that car. He said” you already lost one cool truck, don’t let this one go.” So the deal was set, the guy holds the car I get home a week later and collect my prize so to speak.
Here comes the fun part. I want to thank Dustin Mills and Mills Hot Rods for loaning me the trailer to get the car home. I went to pick up the car and I looked it over one last time before the exchange of cash. I am here to tell you, on the outside I was cool and composed but on the inside I was like a kid kicking his legs waiting for his pot pie to come out of the oven. The car is exactly what I was looking for. The body was in great shape the interior while at first I was leery about really grew on me. The interior is black vinyl with a spider web pattern on all the seats and back dash. Cash exchanged and lets load this bitch it s time to take her home. I was so excited another cool car only my second one ever and I was gonna do this one right. Well we get the car loaded and unload it back at Mills’ Hot Rods . The first thing I notice was the ignition switch was finicky and was troublesome to start the car it had a sweet spot. Now any normal person would change that, not me, that means someone has to really know how to start this car, it is really a theft deterrent system 43 years in the making. Then we noticed there was no push button for the passenger outside door handle. Buy a new one I say now. So my buddy Dustin fixed it with a carriage bolt and 2 nuts with a lock washer. Yea little hill billy but it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. But all in all the car was solid just a little bit of unique things that I liked about it. Now the week after I bought it there was a big gathering at Murray’s Kustoms in Fort Worth and I thought of no better way to show it off than to take it there. Well middle of July was not a kid idea. The night before I went out there I installed a 3 gauge set because all the car had was Idiot lights. Well needless to say, I found out quick that the motor in the car was not long for this world. It ran at a steady 215 degrees with a dip up to 225 and 7psi of oil pressure.
Well after all these years of collecting engine parts it finally paid off. Who is stupid now Dad? So at this point I built a motor and I rushed it . Because of that, I know burn as much oil as gas thanks to slipping a scrapper ring. No big E though, I have my old 351W motor I started building when I was 18 . Now I have taken this thing to a few car shows and just drove it around really. It has been a fun ride, and it is only going to get better. I am really happy with what I bought because it is not a camaro, mustang, shoe box ford or 53 chevy. This car is not what you see everyday and it shows when people ask me about it. People tell me I need to rat it out or lower it or bag it. Those are al good suggestions but what I do with it will not be something you are seeing done in the magazines or on TV.
