Our Barn Finds reader Michael has referred a car to us that appears to not only be a great car, but one very lucky strike. Thank you, Michael, for that. This 1963 Ford Galaxie Convertible is for sale here on Craigslist. Located on the Washington coast about an hour and a half from Olympia, it comes with a clean title. The seller has set the price at $10,000.
Let’s set the scene: You’re buying a new house and there’s shed that is full of boxes and other assorted junk. You begin the long and arduous task of removing said junk when suddenly you unearth our feature car lurking among the debris. Has today just become one of the best days of your life? Well, that’s how the current owner came into possession of this grand old lady. It was so buried that when they initially discovered it they couldn’t even tell what sort of car it was. Once it was identified then the rest of the story began to unfold. Apparently, the car has been parked since 1990. At that stage, it had a claimed 38,000 miles on the clock. There was a registration in the glove compartment that showed that when it was licensed in 1981 it had 31,000 showing. They also located a 1963 license plate under the seat which may have belonged to the car. As the seller states in the ad, this car is going to need a complete restoration. The photos show rust in a few places, but none of it appears to be so horrible that you’d want to run in the opposite direction. There’s some in the rockers, some below the windshield and a bit poking its head out from below the side trims, but that’s the worst of what’s visible. Most of the external trim appears to be intact, but the bumpers will definitely need a fresh hit of chrome. The top is also going to require replacement, but the owner states that the electric operation works perfectly. Unfortunately, there are no shots of the underside of the car. Of course, with convertibles (like so many classic cars) it’s not the rust that you can see that you need to worry about, but it’s the stuff that is lurking there waiting to give you a really nasty surprise.
Guess what? It’s alive! The owner has gotten this old girl running. The generator isn’t charging, but they state that not only does this Galaxie run, but that it sounds really good. The 390ci V8 is backed by an automatic transmission. The owner has also done some work on the brakes and states that they now work quite well. They considered repairing the generator but have elected not to because they believe that the new owner may prefer to convert the car to an alternator.
The interior is going to need a bit of elbow grease, and probably an injection of greenbacks as well. The dash appears to be in pretty reasonable condition, but the pad has me confused. I can’t decide whether there is a crack in it, or if it’s a shadow. The wheel has one of those dreaded wraps on it and the horn ring appears to be missing. The door cards appear to be in quite good repair, so it is possible that a new set of covers on the seats and a new set of carpet will have it looking all spic-n-span in there.
This one is a tough call and not one that I would like to make. The seller is on the money when they state that these are commanding prices of around $35,000 in good condition. However, I have found one that is of “daily driver” standard for sale for $16,000. That makes analyzing the seller’s price quite difficult. Rather than do that, I’ve been pondering a few questions. How many of us have dreamed of that moment where we make a discovery like this? How would you feel if it was you that made this discovery? How many of you would stumble across something like this and then decide to sell it? Sell it? Not likely!
Yeah…. got to love the old “we know what it is worth so no lowball offers”. Then they price it $3,000-$5,000 more than it is worth.
At that point James, all you can do is thank them for their time & leave. People with that “I know what its worth” attitude refuse to listen to anyone, because they “Know it all”.
Here is one on ebay running, driving, much better condition AND the “XL” version with the desirable buckets and console in red no less. It had 33 bids and only hit $8000. So he is WAY off on the value he claims to “know” so well.
There is almost zero chance that the car has only 38,000 miles; more likely 138,000 which would have been about 8000 a year for first 18 years
If it indeed had 31,000 miles in 1981, I don’t find it a stretch that it may have had 38,000 when it was parked in 1990. Condition of the car depends on how and where it was stored at that point.
It had 31,000 reading on the odometer. Nobody knows how many times it had gone around at that point. The car was almost 20 years old at that time.
Lets see,10gs for the car,30gs to fix it up.i can break even or not.
Those cars don’t bring over $30k fixed up unless they are super clean with every option, 4spd, nice colors, never wrecked or rusty and sporting a 427. They are usually in low 20’s for really nice cars. A baby blue bench seat car is never going to be even a $25,000 car no matter how much you put in it.
The cost of making a daily driver out of it would be more then purchasing a good example that’s ready to drive now. The price on some of these cars is a sellers dream. Like the Boss Mustang none original everything and asking 37500 for a 8000 dollar car. This Galaxie is worth tops 5-6 thousand.
Barett-Jackson Effect strikes again. He saw an optioned-out example in similar condition needing a total resto and figured his must be worth at least that much since it’s a convertible.
The guy had better check a price guide.
Maybe he thinks this is a Chevrolet.
Only 38,000 miles. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight
$10K. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
The engine was seized but we got it running. No chance the rusty rings are etching the cylinders. Have a registration but no one to legally sign it over. And we want lots of money because some one sold one of these in original pristine condition for 3.5 times as much as we want you to buy it for. Call me crazy but I pass
Lets see…. he gets the car for free then ask 10K Hmmmmmmm He is going too have it along time. Might as well put it back in garage.
He knows what it’s worth but it’s worth-less
Hahahahahahaha….
There are a couple of sweet Galaxies for sale in my area, in fantastic restored condition for under 20K. So yes, 10K is dreaming. 5K and count yourself lucky.
The distance between its present condition and “pristine”, is a long one. you probably have at least 2k just to get the bumpers redone. Being a ragtop you don’t know what kind of condition the floors etc, are in . These were notorious for rust in the trunk floor. IHMO, if I was him better take an offer that is if he really wants to sell. Found money.
I believe the line on the dash top is part of the embedded speaker grill. Padded dash was an option. This is the best Galaxie 500.
Yep same old song and dance just the words have been changed to protect the non innocent LOL yes I would definitely say it’s 138k, and how does he get a title for such a vehicle? No mention of that he seems to know an awful lot about the car and getting it running after having sat for so long. As a mechanic for over 35 years you don’t just pour some gas in it and turn it over to start. I am sure in all honesty it was a quote barn find with a Different Twist.
seems to be the new in thing these days everything’s a barn find and everything’s worth triple what they really think it is. It’s a bummer the young guys can’t seem to catch a break to get a classic car to work on anymore
Registration? That means nothing without that oh so valuable TITLE!
I once knew a guy in new yorkistan that had bought some property with some barns and sheds on it. As he was going around and cleaning out the junk, he came across a Toyota pickup. Took the vin to the dmv, they looked up previous owner. Turns out it was the old guy who used to live on the property. Turns out the heirs to the estate didn’t bother to investigate the entire property, they just wanted to sell and get some money. Because the vehicle was on his property, he was able to get a title issued in his name, as it was considered abandoned on his property…
Good Luck getting a title in Washington State… It used to be easy.. however…now not so much…they are not interested in helping the public with this kind of problem.. I finally had to go to a very small town where people still have a bit of common sense… and yes, I did thank them..
I think the really sad thing for the collector car/motorcycle market has been all these tv/internet shows. Now anyone who was channel surfing and saw 1970 W-30 sell for $45 grand thinks their grandma’s 4-door 1970 cutlass/gutless, with a 350 2 barrel is worth $20 grand… even though it needs a full restoration.
People who have NO interest in cars but need to pay off bad decisions, i.e. credit cards, gambling and just a general lack of reality are ruining the world of collecting and preserving cars and or bikes.
Neil