1965 Ford Galaxie 500XL

Color is Cinnmon Pearl it's bee nosed decked and shaved. Was featured in Hot Rod Magazine November 2000. It currently has a stroked 390 (445ci 500HP 500Ft/Lbs) Edelbrock CJ heads, Performer RPM intake with a Mighty Demon 825 Carb. Comp 294S Cam with Harland Sharp Rocker, FPA Headers and 3" exhaust. TCI C-6 with 3500 stall and a Cheeta SSC Shifter, Currie 9" rear with 31 spline 3.70 gear/Trac Loc Dif and Forged Axles. Power Front Discs, Lowered with custom springs and ADDCO Sway Bars Front & Rear.

Pyrex Glass Head Light Covers Unique to the 1965 Galaxie. They were standard equipment on cars euipped with the 427 and were available over the counter. Very Rare.

This was the first engine I built for it back in 1999 when the car was finished. It's a 428CJ short block with Edelbrock 427 heads, a Comp 282S cam and a 427 Low Rised 8V induction system.

The is the 445CI Stoker I built when after 9 years and 10K miles the 428CJ broke a rod and windowed the block.

This is the engine stand I built to run in the new engine before it went into the car.

This is the 445 installed

This is what I started with. A one owner 105K mile 390 XL with origional paint and excellent interior. It was an arrow strait Georgia car that had been kept under a car port all it's life so no rust out in the usual places

And the process begines. Although the body and interior were in great shape it was very tired mechanicially

I had a small warehouse space accross the street from my apartment where I stored the car. I did allot of the work there and in front of my place thanks to a very forgiving landlord and supportive neighbors. All of the real heavy work was done at my friends well equipped home shop that's to die for. Without his help and facilities this car would never have been done to this level.

With all the body work done it's off to paint. Although there was no rust repair I had significant bodywork to do when I decided to remove all the factory badging. We welded up almost 50 trim holes. And every one of those holes left a dimple in the panel that needed to be made flat but it was worth the effort

All the hard work paid off when it returned from paint

Time for a MasterPower Power Front Disc Brake conversion, new custom lowering springs and a total front & rear suspension/steering and rear end rebuild

I left the engine/transmision upgrade to last. Here we are pulling the tired 390 and Cruse-O-Matic out. That's my youngest son on the left and my good friend Dale in the center who's excellent shop and facilities made this and other heavy mechanical work a breeze.

Magic Time. The new 428CJ and C-6 is going in. There are my two son's who also contributed allot of hard work and hours to this project

And here it is in the infield at Daytona for the 1999 Turkey Rod Run. This was a week after the new engine and trans was installed and it ran flawlessly on during the 500 mile round trip. Popular Hot Rodding spied the car and included it in their coverage of the event. It was in the April 2000 issue. Later in February 2000 we took it to Moroso MotorSports Part for a show put on by Hot Rod magazine. The editor fell in love with it and they did a photo shoot that day. A 3 page feature was included in the November 2000 issue. I could not believe the reaction to what we had built.