'59 Ford Galaxie

[Brian Conn]

...Picked this one up at a garage sale for $5.00 a few years ago.....figured I would use the frame, engine and few other parts for other builds.
 
  Late in 2016 I decided to go ahead and build this into a stock car that would have competed locally on the dirt tracks circa 1969.  Since I don't have any rules from this year and referencing what I could locally was nearly impossible I turned to researching on the internet....as I found out there just isn't whole lot out there picture wise as far as what would have been found under the sheet metal for a dirt track stock car.  I asked a lot of questions and got the answers I needed...Lefturns75 with his knowledge of this era of dirt cars was a huge help...it was important to me to make this as period correct as possible.


  I am not a big fan of this roof....so I made the decision to use a '57 Galaxie roof and also make it removable so as to be a convertible as well.

 
  This was my first time for this type of body were everything is in sections...removed what wasn't needed and managed to get all of the pieces together to resemble a body.  Added a resin cast basic gauge panel that fit in the place of the original instrument panel.  The body was slightly channeled...3-4 inches (1:1 scale)



'57 Ford Galaxie trunk lid and surrounding area grafted to a 1959 Ford Galaxie Skyliner


The kit engine provided enough of a foundation to build a plausible 427 F.E ...the Cruise-O-Matic transmission was removed and replaced w/ a Toploader 4-speed. Used the kit provided bell housing. There was not a whole lot out there as far as what these Late Model engines looked like. Building a period and class correct engine was some what of a challenge.
Scratch built Zoomie weed burner headers, added material to the oil pan to make it a deep sump, higher oil capacity oil pan. Removed the molded in distributer and scratch built a distributer and used floral wire painted Black for the plug wires. Removed the molded in oil filler stem and cap and scratch built a better looking oil filler stem and cap. Opened up the back half of the air cleaner cover to expose the air cleaner for more air flow to the carb.
  Pro Tech PTMC 49 open element oil breathers from Teds Modeling Market Place. Resin cast Ford Toploader 4 speed trans, shifter levels scratch built from floral wire. Floral wire used for fuel line from the fuel pump to carb. Removed the molded in oil filter and scratch built a better looking one.


With channeling the body, the stock radiator would no longer fit...it was now too tall. I did some research and discovered that a 1969 Lincoln Continental w/ the 460 big block had a cross flow radiator, as opposed to the '59 Galaxie's down flow which meant that the Lincolns radiator is shorter, but wider than the Galaxies....cut some out of the radiator cowl and it fit perfect.
Found the 1:1 dimensions of the '69 Lincoln Continental big block radiator and scratch built one in 1:25.


  Used the Mid 60's Holman/Moody competition cage as a starting point for the cage...I didn't want to build some rinky dink 4 point cage and from what I was able to find in research, this style of cage was seen in more and more dirt cars in the late 60's

This is the cage out of an AMT/ERTL 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 kit. The cage, in its original configuration, did not fit this build. Even with channeling the '59 Galaxies body, the cage out of the '65 Galaxie was still too short.


  Took the AMT/ERTL 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 kit cage and added height to the main four point cage also added front to rear length to the halo. Drilled thru the floor pan on the Left side and floor pan and frame on the Right side to set the right height of the main cage....I had to do it this way since the frames are of a different configuration between the '66 and '59. The way that the Left side of the cage is tied into the frame,as pictured,is also done in the 1:1 world to stay with in the "cage must be welded to the frame" rule. I had to shift the cage to the Left to make room for the seat and to keep the front down tube from being in the way of the pedals.  I added more to the cage....front hoop, door bars, dash bar and diagonal bars to make it a six point roll cage....using the Holman/Moody cage as a guide.
Bucket seat from the spare parts box and the fuel tank is from the Revell '57 Ford Custom kit....added a "Black pipe and cap" to the tank to replace the stock filler neck.


Scratch built seat belts and shoulder harnesses, resin cast Hurst "T" shifter,fire extinguisher and pedal set...aftermarket Marine style battery box w/ computer mouse wires for battery cables.


Big Donkey Resin wheels, tires and #WB-1 wheel back & brake drums. Removed the center section from the kit rear end replaced it with a period correct Halibrand quick change from the parts box. Shocks from the spare parts box. Used 22 gauge floral wire for the fuel line from the tank.
Lefturns75 offered up the advise on how the quick change rear ends and shocks where done back then...I think it really made a difference with this build.


  Big Donkey Tires and Wheels...did my own decals.

  Straight up 1960's...  The Beatles,Batman and fins







   

[Greg Birky]

Now that is so very cool, Brian!!!  You pulled off a near miracle considering what you started with.  I've heard some horror stories about those old multi piece bodies.  Very nice work throughout this build, great details!!!😎👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😎🏁

[sentsat71]

VERY COOL Build!!!!

[Brian Conn]

  Thanks for the responses....much appreciated!
  This era of build, circa 1969, is about 7 or 8 years out of my comfort zone....I like building the dirt cars starting around 1976 thru the mid to late 80's.  I like for my builds to be challenging and this one fit the bill perfectly mostly due to the lack in true reference material available for this type of car during this era.   

[Dr. Kerry]

That looks awesome Brian!!! Like the removable top on it too!