Talk about a sweet car for Grandma to drive, I wish my Grandma drove a V8 powered 2 door Ford Galaxie! Reader Dale D has known this car much of his life, as it belonged to a neighbor when he was going up. It was Grandma’s driver for a while, until she gave it to her son to drive to work. It was passed down to her grandson and eventually made its way to her great grandson! When they decided to part ways with it, Dale snatched it up and got straight to work getting it back on the road. It’s now running and driving, but he’s decided to sell it. You can find it in Stanton, California with a $4,500 asking price. So if you are interested in giving it a good home, be sure to contact Dale via the form below.
From Dale – This one may be a little rough but it has decent bones. It was L.A. built, sold and kept local until it went to Seattle a few years back. Until it came to me, it was a one family car. It actually belonged to my neighbors and I’ve known it most of my life. It belonged to Grandma, then the dad drove it to work (Western Airlines parking sticker still on windshield), where he worked as a line foreman. It eventually passed to his son, before making it’s way to the grandson and then finally to me. It comes with complete records from original purchase to now.
The body is actually in excellent shape. It does show some prior paint work to the driver door when Grandma got a little to close to something. There is minor rust at the driver’s side C pillar. Take a look at the rear quarter though, we decided to see if the paint might polish out and it’s coming back amazingly well!
The drivetrain is in excellent condition. It’s sporting a Motorsport crate 289, plus original 2V 289 is still with it. Fresh transmission and exhaust as well. It runs great, but we are changing the water pump out. I assume that will fix what appears to be a coolant leak on the back of the water pump.
Inside, the seats need redone. It could also use a new headliner and carpets.
It might not be in perfection condition, but this Galaxie has lots of potential. I’m curious why the original 289 was removed, but having a new crate motor isn’t all bad, plus the original comes with it for those that would want to keep it as original as possible. As long as there isn’t any serious rust holes, I think I would just finish polishing it up, install a new seat cover and drive it as is! What about you?
Our thanks to Dale for listing this Galaxie with us! Hopefully it goes to a good home where it will be enjoyed and that the next owner will keep us updated on its progress. If you happen to have a project sitting in your driveway or barn that you are ready to let go of, please consider listing it here on Barn Finds!
My first car was a ’65 Galaxie 2-door hardtop, in white with the aqua interior. 250hp 352, 4V, and dual exhausts were far more than a 16-year-old kid ever needed.
I’ve never heard of it referred to as a fastback before, though. Ford referred to it as a “2-door Hardtop”.
Opps! I forgot to change that before publishing. They did build a Galaxie Fastback, but it had a much longer roof line that this hardtop. My apologies for the mistake!
No, they didn’t build a Galaxie ‘fastback’ in ’65. This is the 2 door hardtop with no post between the door and the rear 1/4 glass and is the sleekest looking of the ’65 full size Fords.
Sorry, I keep getting my years mixed up. I was thinking of the later Galaxie. I want to say it’s the ’67 I’m thinking of, but my brain is a bit scattered today.
Yeah that threw me too. I think the first time I heard “fastback” was the Mustang.
I’m always amazed at these cars listed for whatever price compared to ones I owned long ago and bought / sold for $200 or $50 or whatever. Like the 65 LTD I bought, rust free but very tired paint, needed lots of TLC but was far better than this. Had the gold police pursuit engine, 390 4bbl I think, and would light the tires. Sold it for $75 because it had a small gas leak. The guy who bought it (and knew about the leak) accidentally left it in a bad place and it burned up. Oh well.
Is the term Fastback correct? I have never heard of a Galaxie fastback. To me, a fastback is where the roof line slopes to near the tail of the car. Of course their marketing department could call it whatever they thought would sell cars.
There’s never actually been a fastback Galaxie. At midyear 63, Ford reintroduced the sweptback roof line. Most car guys refere to them as the 631/2 fastback as a way to distinguish them from early 63s. “Semi”fastback is a more accurate term
I think it would be fair to say it was the “begining” of the fastback. ford called them fastbacks. No, they look like a 69 mustang fastback,but then again, one could say the 71 to 73 mustangs were moreso “fastbacks” than 69 to 70s are. I just purchased a 65 Galaxie 500. Body code is 63 B. decodes as a 2 door fastback.
My Dad bought one new in 65, with the 352 engine. It was the most quiet car we had ever had, As a 10 year old, I loved watching the “Blue engine cold” light waiting for it to turn off, so Dad could turn the heat on.Ours had an awful starter solenoid issue, that would sometimes take 10 minutes to get the starter to engage. Unless of course it was at the dealer, then it would operate flawlessly. It was a really nice car, but Dad gave up on fighting the starter issues, and traded it in on our 66 Toronado,
Ours (a wagon) was medium metallic blue. Dad was proud of the fact that it was a Country Sedan with a Squire interior. The advertising that year was, “Quieter than a Rolls Royce”. Never rode in a Rolls, but the Ford was very quiet.
Priced way too high for what it is. But if the seller gets it, good for him.
Anytime a “family” car changes engines I want to know what cousin “IT” did to it. Grandma does not save stock engine’s, parts. Just my thought.
No indication as to when said engine was swapped out.
I had one and so did my Brother, mine was the standard 352 w 4bbl , my Brothers as the XL model with bucket seats and a/c . These cars had frame rot issues under the doors , Ford didn’t put the drain holes in the right spot and the frame would rot from the inside out.
Confused why some are concerned about the engine swap? I can’t think of any 52 year old car that has been driven, that doesn’t need an overhaul. I would also buy a crate engine for this car. I think “numbers matching” would not be a huge priority on these. Mustang, yes keep it numbers matching. 65 Galaxie, not sure why it would be so important. I could be wrong though.
This car brings back memories. I grew up in a small town that had 5 of these and four were marked police cars with the lights and sirens. One just like this but with the cheapest hubcaps was the only unmarked car the police had.
The needn’t have bothered for it was the only black 2 door like this in town and all the local kids knew it. But that is life in a small town back in the 50’s and 60’s
Always liked the grill on the 65’s. Turn signals were behind it. First year of the floating gas peddle, the two sided keys and the two way tailgate on the wagons.
Hi Josh I think what you are referring to as a fastback was available in 1968. I had one of those, it came with hidden headlamps and I think was one of the best looking Galaxies ever produced. If my memory is correct Ford built it from 1968 to 1970 then it disappeared with the 71 restyle. This is a nice car though.
I liked the look of this one when I saw the first pictures of the outside. The body styling on these years of Galaxie is just really clean and imposing, what I’d call handsome.
Then I saw the interior…and that kind of ruined it. These still aren’t hugely collectable or valuable cars (unless maybe original 427 and 4-speed spec) and although the restoration parts for these cars are generally available, the cost of getting it back into shape would probably be uneconomical. I’d also prefer a big-block motor in a car this size? The 289 is a good engine in its own right, but these are heavy cars and the torque of the 390 would make life more relaxed.
Whoa! Way too high, money pit, never get it back. Sorry.