Reader Jason V is thinning the herd and this 1963.5 Ford Galaxie 500 Fastback Lowrider is on the list of cars that need to go, so he’s offering it here as a BF Auction. It’s a 390 V8 4-speed manual car, so it’s a fairly desirable model that is in good running and driving condition. It’s been garaged for most of its life and is solid, so whether you leave it custom or return it back to stock, it’s a great starting point. You can bid on this Galaxie below!
Partway through 1963, Ford released a new semi-fastback version of the Galaxie. With the racing craze really taking over, Ford needed a car that could be more competitive at the drag strip and on the NASCAR circuit. So, they built a small handful of lightweight Galaxies with the 427 V8. Due to their success, Ford sold lots of normal Galaxies. This one didn’t receive the 406 or 427, but it did receive the 390 V8 and it is paired to a 4-speed. The VIN decodes this as being the 300 horsepower version, but Jason doesn’t know if it’s the original or if it’s received any internal upgrades. Whether it’s stock or not, this thing should be able to lay down some impressive burnouts.
For the most part, the interior looks clean and in good shape. There are a few small custom features, primarily the switch panel for the hydraulics. If you are into lowriders or customization in general, you might want to leave things as they are or you might want to get more radical with it. While I have a real appreciation for lowriders and what goes into building a nice one, I think this Ford would be better served if it was returned to its stock configuration or turned into a period-style hot rod. These cars were fairly popular with racers back in the ’60s and that’s probably were most of the interest is these days. Thankfully, nothing has been modified to the extent that it couldn’t be undone, it’s just a matter of expense. If you aren’t too worried about originality or period-correct modifications, it looks perfectly usable as is and even comes with some nice fuzzy dice!
To really be a lowrider, you need to have the means to drop the car to the ground. Jason made sure to provide photos of the hydraulics system, as well as the underside. If you’ve never seen a lowrider up close, you might be unsure as to what you are looking at here. The acrylic shield makes it difficult to tell the exact configuration, but it appears to be a dual pump setup, one for the front and one for the rear, with two deep cycle batteries per pump. Depending on what components were used, this car might be capable of hopping, but it would require a closer inspection to know if it’s up to that task. Jason states that it currently works as it’s supposed to without any issues. Depending on how the system is installed and the level of customization, it might be simple to remove, or it might require some repairs if you’d like to return it to original.
Jason believes the car received the custom paint job about 15 years ago and appears to have held up. The previous owner was the one who customized the car, Jason has information as well as the two other previous owners. It would be fun to track them down to get more of the car’s history, so hopefully, he has enough information that you can to track them down. It would also be interesting to know who did the paint job and if any of the original parts are still floating around.
Someone spent a lot of time and a ton of money building this car. The work looks well done and it’s held up well. Returning it back to the stock condition could get expensive, so going the custom route will likely be the best option for most of us. At least it isn’t a rusty mess, so you can focus your resources on making it into the kind of driver that you will enjoy. So would you keep the exhaust flame throwers, hydraulics, and other custom features or would you return this one back as close to original as possible? And if you have any questions about it, please leave them in the comments and Jason will do his best to answer them!
- Location: Milford, CT
- Title: Clean
- Engine: 39 cui V8
- Transmission: Manual
Bid On This Auction
Sco3racyn bid $12,100.00 2019-11-12 18:49:49
VINSTER48 bid $2,100.00 2019-11-12 17:11:54
Crj bid $2,000.00 2019-11-12 16:31:14
Owenwa bid $1,600.00 2019-11-12 15:55:38- Crj bid $1,500.00 2019-11-12 14:44:48
- VINSTER48 bid $1,200.00 2019-11-12 11:14:22
Greenhornet bid $1,100.00 2019-11-10 22:36:02- Crj bid $1,000.00 2019-11-09 09:00:56
- VINSTER48 bid $555.00 2019-11-09 08:49:35
- Crj bid $455.00 2019-11-09 08:15:39
- VINSTER48 bid $355.00 2019-11-08 15:28:29
- Crj bid $220.00 2019-11-08 11:56:30
Glwilletts bid $120.00 2019-11-07 14:42:17
Auction your car here on Barn Finds for only $99!
Hey Cheech, Who ate all the Bolognie man
The person that did all the stuff to that car should be 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥👹🔥🔥🔥
Maybe it is seller, there is custom builder, just saying…
custom builds, is a Question About taste hate / love….
I dislike, no, I hate flames on a car. Huge turn off.
Looks cool, and pretty nicely done, but it’s odd they chose such a high-performance car to do it to. It’s probably just what they had to work with.
I agree with Josh, I think it makes the most sense to leave the cosmetics alone and remove the hydraulics to turn it into a more speed-oriented hot rod. I don’t know enough about these hydraulic conversions to have a sense of how big a job that might be.
390 Galaxies were never hi-po cars even with a 4 speed to heavy that’s why the factory built light weight Galaxies and put 427’s in them there a beautiful body style but just to heavy never lost to one at the stoplight Gran Prix with a 63 Impala 250 HP 327/4speed
ugg!!!
F
Bob
ly
Exhausts to short.
No provenance that Janis Joplin supervised the Mods
Going to pass
Again someone’s idea of what cool is!!! While I’m all for customizing your ride by putting wheels and tires and go fast parts!!! I’m not for total redesign of the body!! Put the original grill back in and paint it to make the car appealing!! Well to each his own!!!
I would love to have this car in stock form. The 390 and 4- speed are a little hard to find. This car is not bad looking at all, and will get attention where ever it’s at. Good luck to the seller.
oh, dear lord.
A nice car for what it is and it seems the mods were very well done. The problem with a custom like this is that it will probably only appeal to a few; either you like it or you don’t. Most of these Galaxies still around today appear stock though some will be resto-mods, the wild custom look won’t be for everybody.
Very cool. I built plastic models like this as a kid. IDK, for a recent comeback, some of you folks sure easily find fault with someone’s pride and joy. It’s one of the reasons why I left the previous 4 times. I think this car is really cool. No, it shouldn’t be returned to stock anything, someone did a super job on this, be a shame to undo any of it. Can I afford it? Of course not, but I certainly won’t demean the car. Don’t forget, these people are paying to display their car here, something I’ve come to respect BF’s for, and if you don’t like the car, do what I do now, I keep my big mouth shut.
Freedom of speech is prototypically American, Howard. Opinions are expected on Barn Finds. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Automobile punditry is like ‘politics’ & ‘religion’, man.
K-cars truly suck too.
:|’
Bob
Take off the skirts, shorten the tail pipes so you don’t trip over them, get two more ’55 Olds repo hub caps and drive it.
Leave the lowrider stuff for the similar year Impalas. Ha!
Too much of a niche market for these, guys like to do their own customizing when it come to the low rider clubs. Maybe I’m wrong.
Torque thrusts, solid dark green paint, tear drop thunderbolt hood scoop, and lots of nasty sounds from under the hood and exhaust dumps. Stickers in the windows too. Early Galaxies just have that racy vibe, for me anyways.
No amount of paint will ever save that car.
The car was made and the builder was about ten years late when this was built! It is a pretty good bet he grew up in the late 40’s or the 50’s.
I’m with tim M..not my coup of tea, but lots of work in it. To me, to mess with a 63 galaxie that has such inherent good looks is just plain wrong. Hopefully someone will find it suits their taste!
Cheers
GPC
Nice car.
But never get Crusty the Clown to do the paint
i really like the 63.5 galaxies, i had a few thru the years.. the guy with the 327 inpala NEVER met me in a street race that is not hard to tell.. dont like the style of custom work but do like the quality in which it was done.. i would have to make it my style if i were to buy it..:)
😲i have a 427 from a 631/2
galaxy😎
c3ae-h
To each his own….really not a bad custom but funny they kept the 4 speed.
Good luck with it……
Its a cool old style sad part it wont probably meet the reserve on it
Any pictures wWithout the fender skirts
So what just happened
well… Since I know the builder of this 63 1/2 Fastback I cannot be too critical especially knowing what he started with. The gentleman who built this F.O.R.D. built it when everyone who is cool put flames on the rest of the body and flame throwers out back. Suffice it to say, as almost everyone has pointed out, customizing is the taste of the builder at the time! I ran into the guy who bought it from my friend at a cruise night,and he was bragging about how much time he took to build this Galaxy! He was surrounded by a crowd of very intent listeners, but I could not let is pass and called him out! When I was through he packed up his car and left. Never try to pass of someone else’s work as your own!!!!