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Special Order Cop Car: 1966 Ford Galaxie

You have to wonder who was working at some of the police departments that gave the OK to spec out a borderline hot rod as the official squad car. I mean, I’d like to shake their hand. This 1966 Ford Galaxie is a police-spec sedan equipped with the 428 and a 4-speed manual, along with bucket seats and all of the other heavy-duty upgrades cop cars received. Find it here on craigslist for $6,500 near Omaha.

Thanks to Barn Finds reader Ikey H. for the find. This Galaxie ended up at auction when its police duties were over, and it was acquired by a civilian who unfortunately covered up the gorgeous Wimbledon White paint with a crude brown paint job. Thankfully, most of the other details remain correct, including the spotlight on the mirror, transistorized ignition, heavy duty brakes, and 55 amp alternator.

The interior still looks reasonably tidy, and it should warm every gearhead’s heart to see a stick shift jutting through the floor of an otherwise plain-jane sedan. As you can see, the repaint was at least thorough, as they covered the door jams, too. The seller notes that the frame is solid but the floors and trunk both have rust issues. The other cosmetic concern is the right-front fender, where the Galaxie was damaged due to a work crew not taking the proper care when working around the property of others.

The seller says the engine is correct to the car but that it is stuck at the moment (a phenomenon I recently experienced with my junkyard rescue Isuzu Trooper project.) However, this engine should absolutely be rebuilt if it can’t be freed up given how few Galaxies were likely ever optioned like this. The asking price seems reasonable for a unique, possibly one-of-one, car like this cop-spec Galaxie, but that’s just one man’s opinion. What do you think this rare bird is worth?

Comments

  1. Avatar Steve R

    Truly unique and desirable in a landscape filled of pretenders. It’s rough, but worth restoring largely due to its drivetrain.

    The author wrote a clear and concise ad, direct and to the point including all of the pertinent information, he then paired it with good pictures and a reasonable asking price based on what the car is. I hope he gets his asking price.

    Steve R

    Like 22
  2. Avatar Ken

    Fix the driveline and rust, then…

    Greatest. Sleeper. Ever.

    Like 22
  3. Avatar TimS

    Come on out, “too many doors” crowd. And then go (rude suggestion). I’m not usually a Ford guy & can’t drive a stick, but after a spec restoration, I’d make a 60s cop movie just so this thing could star in it.

    Like 22
    • Avatar Mountainwoodie

      As a leader of the “Too Many Doors ” crowd, I will confer upon this vehicle the highly coveted and rarely given, “Too Many Door” Dispensation…….so say we all.
      At the same time we are putting out a contract on the house painter who drenched this vehicle in Brown.
      While I am not enamored of the mid sixties Fords, especially the sedans, I will allow that its provenance and build might make it worth saving and restoring.but quick before the mid century rat rodders get it.

      Like 20
    • Avatar Stillrunners

      Wow is that rare or what ?

      Like 9
  4. Avatar Kenneth Carney

    I’ve seen cars like this one, but they were all 428/C-6 automatic cars. I think that all Ford patrol cars were R coded: big-block V-8, HD automatic tranny, and HD rear
    axle. Used to see them all the time as my Dad was a police officer and this is the car that his department used as a patrol car. I recall Dad’s cruiser having the first
    gen Visibar light bars that had one revolving red light at each end with the PA
    speaker in the center. I can tell you first hand that these were menacing looking
    cars when in police trim. I also recall that Dad’s cruiser also had the first gen cage between the front and rear seats as well. Like this car, it too was painted ermine white as well and boy, did it look great with those Normal Police Department eagles on both sides. They also sat an inch or so lower than stock
    for better cornering at high speeds. If it were mine, I’d restore it to NPD spec or make an Andy Griffith Show clone out of it. Or, I could restore it to CCSO spec and really shake ‘am up at the local car shows every weekend. Mount a working
    police scanner in the glove box, patch it into the Motorola police radio, and really make it authentic! You could also make a pile of money renting it out to the movies as a period police car. Whatever you choose to do with it, you can’t go
    wrong with a car as rare as this one.

    Like 25
    • Avatar JOHN Member

      This car has pretty extensive documentation, and a Marti report, which is pretty much the gold standard for Fords.
      I worked in an Enco service station as a young kid (15-18 years old) in the north suburban Chicago area. The owner (my Boy Scout Leader a few years back) allowed me to work on various cars, one was a cop car for a small city of approximately 500 people, all very wealthy, all in an area less than 1/2 a square mile, the town speed limit is 20 MPH. They had a 1968 Biscayne police car with a 427 and a 4 speed, and it did have rear interior door handles and window cranks. I did tune ups, a brake job and other maintenance on that car and got to road test it several times. It was pretty quick for a full size car, and for a 17 year old, just to drive a police car, it didn’t get better than that! The station owner was a bit of a whacko, terrific mechanic, but a horrible businessman, but I owe him a great deal for allowing me to actually work as a “mechanic”. The first “job” I did, at 15, was to install a new slave cylinder on a 190 SL Mercedes. Anyway, this is a pretty cool car, it would be neat to find an old photo while it was in service and restore it.

      Like 27
    • Avatar John R Graham

      NEVER rent it out to a movie maker. They have a different idea of “normal wear and tear”. If you do rent it out at least be on site and have language written into the contract allowing you to terminate the usage for ANY reason.

      Like 12
  5. HoA Howard A Member

    Mmm, I’m calling possible baloney on this one. Just because it has a spotlight, doesn’t mean it’s a cop car. I’ve seen a lot of cop cars, and been in a few, and I never saw a cop car like this. 1st of all, one didn’t see many ’66 Ford cop cars and never with bucket seats and a 4 speed. Fact is, I don’t ever remember a 4 door Ford equipped like this either. Column shift, I’ve seen, and cop cars don’t have rear door handles or window cranks. Besides, the car is toast anyway.

    Like 10
    • Avatar Steve R

      The ad states there is a Marti report, a look at that will prove or disprove what the seller claims. Since any potential buyer will ask to see it, my guess is the report will back up the story in the ad.

      Steve R

      Like 24
      • HoA Howard A Member

        I saw that and I guess it is possible, I’m not familiar with Marti reports, but anything can be fudged. Are we even sure it’s a 428 ( no callouts on the lower fender or air cleaner, is there any other way to tell?) and the buckets seats seem added later, along with the floor shifter. The column looks fiddled with, and this could have been a 390, column shift 3 speed, that somewhere along the line, someone put a 4 speed, bucket seats and shifter in. I suppose it could be a cop car, just I’ve never seen one equipped like this.

        Like 3
      • Avatar Superdessucke

        Surprised he didn’t post the Marti report in his ad. Very neat find if it’s as represented. I have a thing for old cop cars but they’re very hard to find in any condition.

        Like 3
      • Avatar Fitz

        I’d like to see the “Marti” report on this one. Fire at Ford headquarters destroyed records prior to 1967. The Marti website states that no records are available for ‘66 and prior…

        Like 4
    • Avatar CanuckCarGuy

      This was perhaps ordered and driven by someone such as the Sherriff himself, as opposed to being a regular patrol car. I’m inclined to think there’d be some leeway on which boxes could be checked, in that case.

      Like 11
  6. Avatar Lmath

    Montevallo, Alabama PD had one of these, bench but no buckets. It was only a few weeks old when a young new officer decided to wind it up in second gear through a local sub division and lost it into a parked car. The city decided the 4 speed may not be the best thing and didn’t repair it. It was sold immediately and one of my friends bought and repaired it and had one of the quickest cars at school. I rode with him several times and it had the spotlight also.

    Like 14
  7. Avatar LARRY

    Ex police or not..this is one that could be a heckuva street sleeper…428 with a 4 speed and a heavy duty rear!!! Seriously if I hadn’t just bought a mustang this beast would be mine all mine!! I just hope it goes to someone who will bring it back to life and drive it

    Like 10
  8. Avatar JoeNYWF64

    Because the above seats are not fixed, unlike a bench seat, what’s to prevent a crook in the back seat from just leaning forward violently & doing a number on the driver’s back, chest & head(no collapsible steering wheel either!)? Or even head butting him, since there are no headrests! lol
    I don’t believe bucket seats in ’66 cars had mandatory buttons to release them to bend forward either.
    I’d MUCH rather see a 2 door police car for sale, like a clone of the interceptor in “Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry”, or Broderick Crawford’s 2 door cop car on the tv show, “Highway Patrol”.
    Maybe the crooks were much better behaved in those days once captured? On the above old cop cars, there’s no barrier above the front seats either, let alone ones covering the rear side windows, like on today’s cramped as hell inside cop cars.

    Like 3
    • Avatar Superdessucke

      I would imagine you would install a full shield between the driver and rear passenger compartment if you were going to be using this as an actual police car? As someone said above it’s possible someone just ordered this through the police department for civilian use? The fact that it has a 4-speed leads me to believe that could be possible here.

      Like 4
    • Avatar ninja3000

      Some police cars are made for chasing and catching. There are other vehicles for transporting the perps. At least that’s what my cop friends tell me. (The local staties here had a Camaro for chasing, but no room in the backseat area at all for transporting.)

      Like 6
  9. Avatar bobhess Member

    Ran into a ’54 plain jane Ford interceptor police special that you could order without the police package at a weekend car show years ago. Big overhead valve V8, solid lifters, big clutch, 3 on the tree,etc. Being a stripped 2 door sedan kept it light meaning it was fast. Can’t imagine the “Highway Patrol” Buicks could touch the Fords head to head. The bought for police work cars were 4 doors.

    Like 2
  10. Avatar Nevadahalfrack Member

    In the more rural areas out our way, we didn’t see cages in the local patrol cars until the ‘80’s, and the back window bars came a few years afterwards. Special Pursuit cars had buckets seats and 4 speeds, but the regular “radio car” or “prowler” had autos with bench seats (and everyone flipped the air cleaner lid upside down).
    Before the cage was the hot ticket (no pun intended) an unruly individual might be hogtied, laid across the transmission hump on the rear floor and the front seat pushed back enough to sandwich “the perp” between the seats!
    Saw some unusual driving tactics when the transport officer was, ahem, “inseam challenged” and sitting on the edge of the drivers seat as he was driving the suspect to the station to be booked!

    Like 11
  11. Avatar Will Fox

    Providing this is a numbers matching car, it deserves nothing short of a full frame-off restoration. Hopefully there’s a build sheet still stuck under the rear seat cushion springs to verify with, but something tells me not to hold my breath on that, although the Marti report makes up for that. I can tell by the vinyl pattern that the buckets installed are one in the same that the 7.0L Galaxie 500 XL’s had; probably all that was available to use. This was a Sheriff’s car, not intended to haul perps. Strings and clout were used to order this, and to get it by the state’s accountants or we wouldn’t be looking at it. I can only hope it doesn’t fall into the hands of some punk who destroys what this is. I’d get word to the right Ford club members who can do this car serious justice. I wish I had the resources to do just that myself.

    Like 8
  12. Avatar gbvette62

    For those us old guys in our 60’s, this car isn’t all that odd. Unlike today, where you have no choice of engine or transmission, in the 60’s you could order any engine/trans combination you wanted.

    Four doors with 4 speeds, weren’t all that rare either. I’ve seen a documented four door post 62 Impala, with a 2x4bbl 409/409 and a 4 speed. A family friend had a 68 four door Malibu with a 327/325, 4 speed. Plenty of wagons were built with 4 speeds too. 4 speeds were popular for towing.

    A lot of crazy cop cars were built too. A friend of mine has a 63 police package Chevrolet Biscayne, 2 door post with a 409/340, Powerglide, calibrated speedometer and the harness for a roof light still in the headliner. It was a Virginia State Police unmarked car, that he found in a junk yard years ago, and restored. In 68 or 69, our local police department had orange, 2 door Dodge Coronets with 383’s.

    My cousin worked for a Chevrolet dealer in the 60’s, and one of the local police departments wanted 4 door Biscayne’s with buckets. Chevrolet wouldn’t build them, but Ford would, so they bought Fords.

    Like 7
  13. Avatar TimM

    I have a mint 65 galaxy convertible 289 with automatic transmission!! I would love to have the motor and trans out of this one!!! What a car!!!!

    Like 1
    • Avatar DAVID

      😄i have a 67 q code😎

      Like 0
  14. Avatar scottymac

    You guys have seen pictures of my red ’66 Galaxie 500, so I won’t bore you again, but something in the ad didn’t sound right. This copied from Kevin Marti’s site: “We are the privileged licensee (contract #5012) to Ford Motor Company’s entire production database for the 1967-2017 model years. We can tell you everything about any Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury made in the United States or Canada during 1967-2017.” Ford changed their computer records in 1967, supposedly nothing before that model year is available, unless something has changed recently. The Q in the serial number does denote factory 428, but have to wonder why seller didn’t include a photo of the door warranty tag to corroborate the four speed and bucket seats? I’ll pass until I see more proof. Love the red ’66 convertible in the background of the Craig’s List photos.

    Echo what gbvette62 said about cars today. Last vehicle I was able to order to my specs was a ’94 Explorer; two wheel drive, five speed manual, traction lok 3.55:1 axle, trailer towing package, sunroof, and luggage rack delete. Had to trade in a ’89 Mustang GT because of kids, this was my four door version of one.

    Like 7
    • Avatar Alexander Member

      In 1994 my wife and I looked across all local Ford dealership’s inventory for a manual transmission Explorer. Finally found one that catered to the Park System for fleet vehicles. On the lot were a dozen or so new Explorer Sports (2 doors) in white, with 5 speed manual and NO other fancy options other than AC.

      Like 0
      • Avatar scottymac

        Alex, Hope you had better luck with that Mazda built p.o.s. 5 speed than I did, first one lost second gear completely about 95,000 miles. At 190,000, second rebuilt tranny had a roll pin back out and lock the transmission in third gear. By then the rocker panels were showing rust (Indiana road salt), so I parted it out. 4.0 liter OHV V-6 was a champ, though, so I saved that. Hope to put it in my ’76 Capri someday.

        Like 0
  15. Avatar Troy s

    Cop car with a top loader, huh? What, is it a race car or a police car, especially with the 428. She’s no Cobra Jet, man., Nor is it a high winding 427…Hahaha! Uphold the law power shifting that low revver through town, get outta here. Ya fired!

    Like 0
  16. Avatar r s

    I keep seeing these cars that I bought and sold for next to nothing, in far worse shape and selling way up in the thousands…
    In 1978 I bought a 65 Ford with the police interceptor motor – not sure if it was a 390 or 428 – and as I recall it had very little or no rust. I paid $50 for it and sold it for $75, and it ran like a top. It was an automatic though, not a stick. Even so… under $100

    Like 3
    • Avatar Del

      I am with Howard A.

      Sketchy

      Engine original. Tranny and seats added later….

      Like 0
  17. Avatar Miguel

    What gives this car $6500 worth of value?

    Is it that it used to be a police car or that it is a 4 door with a big engine?

    Neither of those excuse the current condition.

    Like 1
  18. Avatar McQ

    That FE engine is NOT a 1966 P code 428. The ‘66 Police 428 had a solid lifter camshaft. To accommodate the required adjustable rocker arms the P code 428 had much taller valve covers similar to the 427 High Performance FE. Another important feature of the ‘66 P 428 was an aluminum intake manifold. The State Patrol of my state of Washington were using mostly Fords in the sixties. For ‘67 Ford changed to a hydraulic (same cam as the 390GT) for the P 428. The aluminum manifold remained for that year though. This featured ‘66 Ford is truly odd. But it’s not a genuine Police 428.

    Like 4
  19. Avatar scottymac

    OK, thought the shop in the background looked familiar. Mike Patek, has bought and sold some of the nicest (and rarest) Galaxies (and other Fords) in the country.

    https://mikesclassiccars.net/

    Still would love to see the door warranty tag, but Mike knows his stuff.

    Like 4
  20. Avatar Morley Brown Member

    I agree, way too many doors. This is mine and it ain’t no cop car

    Like 8
    • Avatar Chris M.

      Stunning Ford! Nice and just the way I like them from the era. Nothing beats steel wheels and dog dish caps. 427?

      Like 1
  21. Avatar JagManBill

    I had a 66 4 door from 75 till 83. It had buckets and an XL console. Well…it did after I put them in from a 7 liter coupe I found in a junk yard that was the same color as my 4 door….

    Like 1
  22. Avatar Tom M

    My Dad had a good friend who was a police officer. Back in 1966 I turned 13. Most of the police cars in my area were Fords. All of them were Ford Custom’s not the higher trim Galaxie. None I saw had an AM radio like this one. None had a 4 speed. There should be a 428 Engine badge on the lower right and left front fenders. The 352, 390, and 428 big block engines all looked the same, except the 428 usually had a chrome air cleaner as I remember.

    Like 0
  23. Avatar Kenny

    When I was a kid, my Dad came home from the Government Auction with his new purchase (mom wasn’t thrilled)— a ‘66 Ford Police Interceptor. White with blue interior, rubber plug in the roof where the gum ball machine was, and the spotlight right there on the windshield post. Screw holes where the “Perp. Protector” was in the back seat. Yes, it was a 428, heavy duty everything, and C-6 on the column. Would flat out haul ass. If you could keep from frying the tires, which we did as often as we could get away with it… the speedometer said “Certified Calibration” on it. I wonder if this one does?

    Like 4
  24. Avatar Ken Pawlus

    This configuration of bucket seats,4speed stick and 4 doors for a police cruiser was also done in 64 using the Olds 442! While not a big block, the Olds was powered by a 310hp 330V8. Only 10 were believed to have been put in service. I think this Ford is a legitimate find that saw police duty. Pretty cool. I would restore it and I’m not even a Ford guy!

    Like 0
  25. Avatar Jon Roderick

    I dont know about this one. The buckets dont even look right. But if the drive train is correct its gotta be rare. I guy in my hometown bought a 64 galaxy 427 side oiler 4 spd, and 4 doors too. It was loaded on a freight train that happened to be pulled off on a siding in town and he went to the local ford dealer and said to get him that car. After some legwork and a bunch of phone calls they made it happen. It was apparently destined for a small town police chief in oregon. The car was one of the fastest cars in town throughout the 60’s.

    Like 0

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