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Build Thread: G2, the Father/Son 1966 Galaxie 500 Hardtop

4K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  Galaxieman500 
#1 ·
Hello all,

Some may recognize the following pictures from the couple questions I have presented since getting the car, but here is the official build thread!

The car's name is "G2" kindly named as a Jr. of sorts to "G1" which was our first 66 Galaxie 500 (the blue one in pictures).

Specs:
Milage: I believe its around 80K. Will have to check again.
Engine: V8 352 4bbl
Body: "57B" 4 Dr. Galaxie 500 Fastback (Hardtop)
Color: "H" Saraha Beige
Trim: "5D" Parchment
Date: "14A" 14th of January
District Code: "62" Houston (but VIN says Dallas)
Axle: "1" 3.00:1
Transmission: "7" Cruise-o-matic FX

Long story short:
I (the son) bought G1 for my dad for father's day three years ago. Since then he has had a blast fixing it up and getting replacement interior and engine parts. Unfortunately, being the Galaxie beginners we were, we didn't check for substantial rust on the car when buying it. It was for sale for a good price and was only 15 min away from our home in Dallas. As the story goes, turns out the frame had cancerous rust and would sooner or later fail.

At that point, we knew we either had to find another 66 to do a frame swap or, if we found an all around solid car, use G1 for parts. The latter is what ended up happening.

Enter G2! I went to UT Austin and on one of the drives down there we took a detour and found a junkyard with purely 30+ year old cars. From the highway we could spot the characteristic stacked headlights and took the next exit. Turns out it was exactly what we were looking for and at a great price. The timing was great as well, just in time for Father's Day exactly 3 years later. We wanted A/C for G1 so that was just a cherry on the top. Best of all, the frame was in great shape for being a Texas car all its life (built in Dallas). The only problem it had was some rust on the door bottoms and cancer on the floor panels. Both of which are mild compared to replacing a frame.

Needless to say, we bought it and had it shipped home. We have begun the clean up process and our plans at the moment are to replace the rusty floors and panels, then swap over the blue interior from G1 as well as the 390 engine from G1 that we are currently rebuilding. We're excited for the journey and can't wait to see both cars live on in one.


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#3 ·
Looking forward to seeing progress on your new project! Glad to see you are doing a 4-door as few people even consider restoring one, which is a shame. One request...I assume you are getting rid of the 3 port holes on each front fender!
 
#7 ·
Thanks! Yeah we are four door people. The only non-four door cars we have are my mom's Mini and our Mexican VW Classic Beetle.

Those fake port holes were gone the first day :wink2:

Hello,

Can't wait to see how you come along. I look forward to your continued posting of pics.

One thing to keep in mind in switching interiors. I think (as in good chance) the front door cards will interchange. However the rears wont, so you'll probably have to have those made for the hardtop. As for the lower "B" post on the hardtop, it has a plastic injected cover that's coloured for that interior. You'll have to paint those to match your post car interior colour.

You should be able to find a specialty paint store that can mix a colour based on a sample you provide and then they can put that directly into an aerosol spray can for you. And it's interior paint that's designed to stick to vinyl, plastics, leather, etc, just clean it really good before spraying.

The store we use in ABQ is a NAPA paint supply only store. They do a pretty good job for odd paint jobs like this. Perhaps you can find something similar near you :)

Just thoughts to keep on the back burner :)
Thank you! We agree with you. When we were cleaning out the interior my dad noticed the difference in the rear cards. Which is actually a reason why were are still debating which one to restore (a bit late after starting this build thread but oh well, it's an important decision)

Whoops forgot to ask, but......

What the hell happened to that front seat in the hardtop? :eek:

Just scratching my head wondering how the back seat is more or less intact but the front seat, well, not so much....

Cheers :)

p.s. You might want to keep the rear seat frame back from the hardtop as it clips in at the top different than the post sedan. It may be a different frame, and if it is you might still be able to switch the covers (hog ringed on).

Again, just thoughts....
Who knows!! It was ALL kinds of messed up. Good thing the interior of G1 is good. I think we might be able to swap the rear back seat vinyl and keep the hardtop frame like you say if we ultimately decide to keep the hardtop.

if any of the sedan int is even fair, id hold onto it all...welting/b pillar covers, armrests, aluminum/stainless trim (and screws/clips!!!) etc may interchange... or may not- i bought a nice gas filler door from a 4 door sedan, would you believe its 3/8" longer than the hardtops?
anyways, parts are getting more scarce- i threw out a set of red door panels when we moved(off my extra doors) as no where to store, ten yrs later, think, hmm...someone coulda used those :(

the 4 door hardtops are kinda neat- with all the windows down, gets a lot of odd looks from the younger crowd thats never seen one :) if the sedan has the flow thru vent(?) suggest saving the molded rubber drain tube if intact- think its about impossible to find- do NOT blow air thru to clean leaves out, heard many popped that way... i see you have some rear window recess rust to deal with- i had a hard time finding trim clips for ours, think there was a variation in assembly plants, pulled some higher ones out of another rusty car to replace our lowers- careful with that rear glass- i broke ours, had one shipped from maine to ohio, was the only one i could find- that was 12 yrs ago...sadly not many 4 doors left in the boneyards.

i had found a old advert with a married couple, a couple weeks ago, the grand daughter of my friend that left me the car got married, and took a vaguely similar pic... these are kinda stately old cars :)
Nice! Yeah these cars are getting harder and harder to find. Once we decide which one to keep (G1 v. G2) then we will start buying the restoration parts.
 
#4 ·
Hello,

Can't wait to see how you come along. I look forward to your continued posting of pics.

One thing to keep in mind in switching interiors. I think (as in good chance) the front door cards will interchange. However the rears wont, so you'll probably have to have those made for the hardtop. As for the lower "B" post on the hardtop, it has a plastic injected cover that's coloured for that interior. You'll have to paint those to match your post car interior colour.

You should be able to find a specialty paint store that can mix a colour based on a sample you provide and then they can put that directly into an aerosol spray can for you. And it's interior paint that's designed to stick to vinyl, plastics, leather, etc, just clean it really good before spraying.

The store we use in ABQ is a NAPA paint supply only store. They do a pretty good job for odd paint jobs like this. Perhaps you can find something similar near you :)

Just thoughts to keep on the back burner :)
 
#5 ·
Whoops forgot to ask, but......

What the hell happened to that front seat in the hardtop? :eek:

Just scratching my head wondering how the back seat is more or less intact but the front seat, well, not so much....

Cheers :)

p.s. You might want to keep the rear seat frame back from the hardtop as it clips in at the top different than the post sedan. It may be a different frame, and if it is you might still be able to switch the covers (hog ringed on).

Again, just thoughts....
 
#6 ·
if any of the sedan int is even fair, id hold onto it all...welting/b pillar covers, armrests, aluminum/stainless trim (and screws/clips!!!) etc may interchange... or may not- i bought a nice gas filler door from a 4 door sedan, would you believe its 3/8" longer than the hardtops?
anyways, parts are getting more scarce- i threw out a set of red door panels when we moved(off my extra doors) as no where to store, ten yrs later, think, hmm...someone coulda used those :(

the 4 door hardtops are kinda neat- with all the windows down, gets a lot of odd looks from the younger crowd thats never seen one :) if the sedan has the flow thru vent(?) suggest saving the molded rubber drain tube if intact- think its about impossible to find- do NOT blow air thru to clean leaves out, heard many popped that way... i see you have some rear window recess rust to deal with- i had a hard time finding trim clips for ours, think there was a variation in assembly plants, pulled some higher ones out of another rusty car to replace our lowers- careful with that rear glass- i broke ours, had one shipped from maine to ohio, was the only one i could find- that was 12 yrs ago...sadly not many 4 doors left in the boneyards.

i had found a old advert with a married couple, a couple weeks ago, the grand daughter of my friend that left me the car got married, and took a vaguely similar pic... these are kinda stately old cars :)
 

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#8 ·
Day 2: Cleaned out the trunk. Turns out is as rusted if not worse than the floors. Looks like all new panels all around. Here's a pic of the floor, and this is a "good" section. *yikes*


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In other news, I got to work refinishing engine parts for the 390 that we will be putting in decided upon car. Setup my little Walnut blasting station:


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