Galaxie Custom and Bonneville Salt Cruiser
December 2, 2009 by Hechtspeed
This 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 was easily one of my top 3 favorite cars from Speedweek 2009. I first noticed it in the pits then saw it again while Pikesan and I were cruising down the Long Course after the drivers meeting. We sort of cruised the rest of the Long Course along side Nick and his Gal’ then turned onto the Return Road back to the pits. Almost 7 miles from the start, we spied some pristine, undisturbed virgin salt and decided to make a detour for some salt-throwin’ pictures Craig’s ’27 T, Nick’s Galaxie and Nick’s buddy’s 5 window Coupe you see in this picture above.
Here’s some more shots of this Mild Custom!
I love this car! That red satin paint against the bright white salt is rockin’.
I dig the long lines. That stance is perfect with its Air Ride Technologies 4-way system with electronic controller.
I dig this shot with Pikesan’s roadster in the background.
From Nick: “This car has been a great driver for the past 4-1/2 years. It originally had a 390/auto and I decided to swap in a 302/T-5 and 3.70 gears last year. It’ss an absolute blast to drive and I wouldn’t hesitate to drive it anywhere. Come to think of it, during the 40,000 miles that I’ve put on it, I don’t recall ever being stranded.”
Here’s the specs on the Gal’
Engine:
Roller cam 302 (5.0), rebuilt .030 over, Trickflow Stage 1 cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, Edelbrock 650 carb., shorty Mustang headers
Exhaust:
2-1/2″ with H-pipe, 40-series Flowmaster mufflers, dumps just ahead of the rear bumper and sounds great.
Transmission:
Stock ’94 Mustang GT world class T-5 5-speed.
Rear suspension:
3.70 gears. Air-Over-Leaf ‘bag kit, 2 leaf springs remain, with 2″ lowering blocks added.
Front Suspension:
Ford Granada spindles, disc brakes, and (manual) master cylinder. ‘Cool Ride’ air bag kit installed with shocks relocated to rear of control arms.
Wheels/Tires:
15×7 with 225/70r15 Diamondback Classic tires. Chrome wheels – original centers with new 7″ wide rims by Rally America. Chrome Spider Caps.
Body:
Red primer and Silver flake / Red candy roof
Enjoy these pics from Nick.
This was taken in 2008 at Nick’s first Speedweek trip. He drove it all the way out from Nebraska. Crazy!
This Galaxie just has it all for me. Late model 302, a T-5 5 speed trans, air ride, white walls, Mild Custom look with great stance-NAILED!! Nice work Nick!
But Nick, despite his fond memories and long drives in the Gal’ moved on to another project. A 1929 Model A Roadster with traditional style to come, no doubt. I can’t wait for Model A’s debut. See you at Speedweek 2010?
See you on the Salt!
Hechtspeed
Wow, great write-up, Chris — Thanks alot!! I actually wasn’t sure if you were going to still do this article, since I sold it. Thanks for the kind comments. I just picked up a lowered ’64 F100 as a driver, too.
Stumbled across this piece. Nice job on the post, and nice car.
You might be interested in this…my car is the “World’s Fastest 1959 ‘Bonneville” Galaxie 292 Sedan” (unofficial, of course – but no one’s contested the title, nor can anyone I’ve talked to in the SCTA and USFRA even remember a 1959 Galaxie ever running at Bonneville).
I run in the USFRA September meet because I don’t qualify for the SCTA rules for the August meet. The SCTA rules really make it almost impossible to drive your car to the salt, race it, and drive it home. The USFRA has 2 classes that do allow you to “run what ya brung”. I drive 764 miles to Bonneville from LA, race it, and drive it home.
It was on the way to the junkyard when my wife and I bought it 4 years ago. We spent 2 years with it up on jack stands while we rebuilt the whole car from the ground up. We did all the work ourselves. I rebuilt the motor, trans, fuel system, everthing, including sanding the whole car down to bare metal, painting it, and applying a big custom flame job across the hood and all the way down the sides. My wife designed, fabricated, and installed a whole new interior, carpet to headliner.
I’m just putting the motor back together after installing the mods for this year’s Bonneville meet in September…looking for 130 mph+ this year.
Original 292 Y-block, now with 3/4 race Isky cam, headers, high rise intake, etc, etc.
If you’d like to see the car, email me and I’ll send you a pic.
By the way, “salt fever” is a bitch!
I’d been wanting to drive a car I built myself at Bonneville since 1960 (literally). Finally managed to do it for the first time last September (2010).
Andy