Pic is from a car show in Moab 2005

I bought the car in '99 from a friend who bought it from another friend who needed the money. I payed $750 for the car which is a steal. The car is a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL with a 390 Thunderbird V8 Z code, auto, A/C, P/S, P/B. I bought the car as a complete runner.

I bought the car with about 95k on it. The car was bought new in Salt Lake and was there until the late 90s right before I bought it. I have all the records from the car from the second owner (1979) on. The car has been through about 6 owners since then. The car was real clean for its age but it needed work. The motor smoked and the front suspension needed work. Also the interior and paint need done. The body is in real good shape except the rear quarters have rust and a dent.

I had the motor built by Larry Kisling Machine Shop in Grand Junction, CO. He balanced and blueprinted the motor, bored 60 over, and did a three way valve job with hardened seats. He put a Comp Cam 368 in the thing. I installed 750 cfm Holley street avenger carb and duel 2.5" exhaust out the side with glass-packs.

Next came the front end. I bought the full bushing kit and installed it all myself. Also installed all new tie rods etc. I did the brakes next. All new pads and hardware, the drums where still good I just had the turned.

I had the trans built next. The car came with a cruse-o-matic 3 speed auto when it was new. The friend of a friend that owned the car had a C6 installed. The shop that installed the trans actually welded the cross-member to the car so this made the trans impossible to remove. When I removed the trans to have it built, I had to cut the mounts off the frame which took a few weeks to get it all out. The trans was then built with a street/strip throttle body kit and a 2,500 rpm high stall converter.

I installed an edelbrock performer RPM cam and lifters with upgraded springs because I wanted a little more power and a car with a lope. Because of this, I needed a vacuum canister for power brakes.

The motor was running great untill one day when I was driving down the road and the rocker shaft snapped and bent the exhaust valve on cylinder 1. Because of that the motor now only runs on 7 cylinders. My plan is to start pulling the intake and 1 head out so I can fix this. Also I will be going back to the Comp Cam High Energy 268H.

I just got the car moved to Colorado Springs, it was being stored at my parents house in Grand Juntion, CO. It had to be stored outsite so mice and packrats got into the car and made a mess. I have a lot of cleaning ahead of me.

I have decided to do a full restoration on this car. When I first bought it I had planed on going restoromod but over the years I thought about it and decided to go the restoration route. One of the reasons for this is because I have an '83 Mazda RX-7 that I went the mod route with so I don't need two cars like that. Plus the Galaxie has a lot more value as a restoration even though I don't plan to sell it.

I also have a parts car that is complete. It is a '64 500XL 352 w/ p/s and is a real clean car with very little rust. No title though. All the chrome on this car is in great shape so I will be swapping it all over. I plan to take everything off this car that can be unbolted.