• Seller: Thomas L abuszewski (Contact)
• Location: Centennial, Colorado
• Mileage: 71,457 Shown
• Chassis #: 4G65X131666
• Title Status: Clean
• Engine: 390 cui V8 with 4 bbl
• Transmission: 4-Speed Manual Borg Warner

The current owner of this 1964 Galaxie 500 Convertible has had a long journey with his car since he bought it in Long Beach, California, back in 1984. He’s the third owner, but with a caveat: The second owner had it for a mere month. It spent the first 20 years of its life in the high California desert north of Edwards Air Force Base before finding its way to Long Beach, and today, there’s hardly a part on the car that hasn’t been personalized to meet the owner’s tastes. We here at Barn Finds Auctions think you’ll like it, too. It’s being listed in Centennial, Colorado, where the seller is remodeling his house and no longer has a garage space in which to park the big, red Ford. Maybe you’d like to park it in yours.

Originally an X-Code 352 two-barrel car with a Cruise-O-Matic, the seller installed a rebuilt four-barrel 390 with a Borg-Warner four speed (the steering column was changed, too, so there’s no evidence that the car once had an automatic). It has a Holley carburetor, an electric fuel pump, Pertronix ignition, and a set of cast-iron 406 exhaust manifolds (which were basically headers), but the seller has never gotten it to run quite right; it is “hard to start,” in his words. The engine only has 500 miles on the rebuild, and he did have it professionally tuned and dyno tested: the outcome was 190 horsepower and 290 lb.-ft. of torque (at the rear wheels, certainly). I would say there’s a little more to be had if you know your way around an FE. If you like things more original, the original carburetor and a trunkload of parts will come with the car.

If you look around the engine compartment (there are plenty of pictures posted below), you’ll also notice that the Galaxie has power steering, power brakes (which are all new, with a dual circuit master cylinder), and a new radiator. The seller points out that this car was built in late 1963 and has a generator.

The car was given a cosmetic and mechanical restoration in 2001 (and has had a lot of work done since then), and the interior has been treated to new SMS upholstery, new door panels, power-coated bezels, refurbished dash knobs, and a new convertible top (the hydraulics were rebuilt more recently, in 2019). The only problems inside? The clock doesn’t work, and the radio has added some static to your favorite station since the antenna was replaced.

The undercarriage was not restored when the car was gone through back in 2001, so it has the grit, grime, and surface rust that you’d expect from 61 years on the road. You can’t see it in this picture, but there’s a new gas tank, and the exhaust looks like it was just installed; I’ll bet it sounds great. You may have noticed the rocker panels; that may be evidence of the original paint color, Wimbledon White. The owner decided that he liked Rangoon Red better and chose that paint color instead. For good measure, the bumpers were rechromed when the paint work was done.

You’ll want to change the tires once you get the big 390 running the way it should, as they are Cokers that are flat-spotted from sitting, and there are a few scuffs and scrapes on the driver’s side where the owner’s sons bumped their bikes into it on more than one occasion. But as you can see, a lot of good work has been done on this good-looking Galaxie, and it probably just needs a home mechanic who can work out the bugs and simply drive the thing. If working the bugs out of cars that have been sitting too long is your hobby, make a bid on this nice ’64.

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