1963 Ford Galaxie, not mine.

[Xander Wildeisen]

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/880204153499693/?ref=browse_tab

[suchan]

$5000 must be the new $500.

[1957Birdman]

I guess you are paying extra for the “patina”.

Lew Bachman

1957 Thunderbird

[Xander Wildeisen]

5,000 does not go very far anymore when buying project cars. One of the reasons original patina finishes are so popular. Body and paint are very expensive to complete correctly and to a show level. 63 is my favorite Galaxie, I would look at this car if it was in my area.

[1912Staver]

3 minutes ago, suchan said:

$5000 must be the new $500.

In some ways it is. These are popular cars, and I can certainly see how a Galaxy fan in the rust belt would see something like this. You can either work on a local , say Michigan example and spend that $5000.00 on getting one rear 1/4 panel repaired. And still have a vast amount of rust repair remaining before the car hits the road again. Or buy something like this Galaxy. A Texas car that has a good chance of being a far more viable candidate for restoration than any North Eastern car despite its rough , sun baked appearance. Not every Texas or Arizona car has rust free sheet metal, but a substantial number do. You just need to do a careful in person inspection before purchase. 

 When you look at the cost of rust repair these days, a rust free or largely rust free body is worth its weight in gold.

[suchan]

2 minutes ago, 1912Staver said:

In some ways it is. These are popular cars, and I can certainly see how a Galaxy fan in the rust belt would see something like this. You can either work on a local , say Michigan example and spend that $5000.00 on getting one rear 1/4 panel repaired. And still have a vast amount of rust repair remaining before the car hits the road again. Or buy something like this Galaxy. A Texas car that has a good chance of being a far more viable candidate for restoration than any North Eastern car despite its rough , sun baked appearance. Not every Texas or Arizona car has rust free sheet metal, but a substantial number do. You just need to do a careful in person inspection before purchase. 

 When you look at the cost of rust repair these days, a rust free or largely rust free body is worth its weight in gold.

Good point. I guess I was showing my sunshine state bias.

Out here, where new cars aren't turned into rusty hulks in a few years, this car would be considered bargain basement. A rusty car has to be something extra special to avoid the crusher.

[EmTee]

I'd have to say that 'low mileage' is irrelevant when a car has sat outside undisturbed for 20 years... 

[Xander Wildeisen]

Low original miles😂

[B Jake Moran]

This is one of my favorite cars, a 63 Galaxie 500XL with a 390 automatic, console buckets.  I found one in Iowa 6 years ago and the crowd here said pass, you can find a better one at that price.  
 

Been crickets since.  Still, these kind of sellers p**s me off.  Dad’s car, no skin in the game, now wants $5k for a car his dad drug home for $500 20 years ago.  
 

I doubt he answers his questions promptly but facebook does have a lot of spam.  The cars a mess.  Patina?  No I can’t drive it like that.   

[auburnseeker]

Of course for around 20, maybe 15 G on the right day you could buy a pretty nice one.  I agree a 63 is on the bucket list so I watch them.  Seems converts and "fastbacks"  aren't a whole lot different in price.   I like the fastback look,  but I would probably end up with a rag top in the end.  Of course it won't be a tripower 406  or 427 car at that price but the 390's are pretty common as are the 289 cars.  Came super close to buying one,  then found out it went to another guy that ran in through his auction.  I didn't know the original owner was selling it as cheap as he was.  It was 7500 I think,  maybe 15 years ago.  Black with a red interior.  (fastback)  

 

I ended up going to the auction where it went for 12G after someone put a huge scratch almost dent all the way across the decklid. 

 

I wish the original owner would have told me it was for sale,  as he used to stop in my shop occasionally and shoot the breeze. 

 

I did buy a 63 Galaxie ragtop out of a back yard in about 1994 for $100.  I saw it when mowing the neighbors lawn and used to drool over it.  It had a really nice interior,  No floor rust,  but had some rust in the front of the quarters.  Original paint and chrome was even decent.  But it didn't have the engine.  Kind of a medium blue with black interior.  Bench seat car,  automatic.   I think I sold it for $700 a few years later.    It was up on blocks so the underneath was actually pretty good.

[rocketraider]

One of my favorite Fords. 63 was one of those years Ford got a lot right.

 

Agreed on rust. I used to wonder why people from Rust Belt areas would come here to southern Virginia and buy up cars we had written off as unrestorable. Then I went to the 1997 Oldsmobile Centennial in Michigan and saw 3 year old vehicles with rusted-out fenders flapping down the highway. That's when the light bulb went on...

 

Shame this one has deteriorated to its current condition but in the area it's in, the ugly might be just surface deep.

[EmTee]

I used to prefer the '64 over the '63, but now I like the '63 better.  The '63 appears svelte, whereas the '64 looks like "it needs to lose 25 pounds"...

[Fossil]

63 1/2 Galaxy's were one of my favorite if not my favorite cars when a kid. My neighbor had a red one with a white top and I would drool over it. I still like the looks but they are large. A Fairlane with these looks would be perfect. 

As far as the price goes if you want to play you gotta pay. They aren't going to make anymore of them and it seems they are really popular.  

[JamesR]

In my opinion, probably the best looking full sized American car of the early '60's.

 

As they say in the bullion market, the rising prices may not reflect an increasing value of the item as much as a decreasing value of the dollar. I looked at a similarly "highly patina" finished example at a local dealer 6 or 7 years ago. It ran good and drove ok, but only had a 289.  Upholstery rough, as I recall. They wanted 10 grand, which I thought was obscene at the time. I wouldn't think it obscene today, but I still wouldn't be in the market at that price. As I said, these have beautiful styling, but project cars are less popular nowadays.

[B Jake Moran]

SOLD.   
 

I understand these full on project cars are almost always described as "parts cars" but every year they get a little bit rarer.  

[theconvertibleguy]

Really finding that the 62-66's are starting to go the way Impala's did years ago. Two years ago you could find 390 convertibles for 25k in pristine condition, now it's hard to find even 352's like that.

[B Jake Moran]

1 hour ago, theconvertibleguy said:

Really finding that the 62-66's are starting to go the way Impala's did years ago. Two years ago you could find 390 convertibles for 25k in pristine condition, now it's hard to find even 352's like that.

Yes, the ubiquitous 62-64 Chevys with 283, 327 were hotter to own, sell, buy as projects - then the 62-64 Fords.  Ridiculous!  This 63 Ford has a BB 390, the 327 couldn't compare to it.  

[Xander Wildeisen]

On 4/6/2024 at 8:06 AM, B Jake Moran said:

This is one of my favorite cars, a 63 Galaxie 500XL with a 390 automatic, console buckets.  I found one in Iowa 6 years ago and the crowd here said pass, you can find a better one at that price.  
 

Been crickets since.  Still, these kind of sellers p**s me off.  Dad’s car, no skin in the game, now wants $5k for a car his dad drug home for $500 20 years ago.  
 

I doubt he answers his questions promptly but facebook does have a lot of spam.  The cars a mess.  Patina?  No I can’t drive it like that.   

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/430333292876777/?ref=browse_tab

[auburnseeker]

Price might or might not be a little strong but this would be one to get. 

63 Galaxie Convertible ,  red on red 406 Tripower 4 speed.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/622776973391524/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_general&referral_story_type=general&tracking={"qid"%3A"-2174479196823078892"%2C"mf_story_key"%3A"9027640868459960184"%2C"top_level_post_id"%3A"9027640868459960184"%2C"commerce_rank_obj"%3A"{\"target_id\"%3A9027640868459960184%2C\"target_type\"%3A6%2C\"primary_position\"%3A11%2C\"ranking_signature\"%3A7611434742381441337%2C\"commerce_channel\"%3A501%2C\"value\"%3A0.00010478009895577%2C\"upsell_type\"%3A100%2C\"candidate_retrieval_source_map\"%3A{\"5939977382753817\"%3A604%2C\"6287471371358194\"%3A604%2C\"6532516000193925\"%3A604%2C\"6643919649058349\"%3A659%2C\"6777681155629379\"%3A604}%2C\"grouping_info\"%3Anull}"%2C"lightning_feed_qid"%3A"-2174491566505825905"%2C"lightning_feed_ranking_signature"%3A"2937240214984722936"%2C"ftmd_400706"%3A"111112l"}

 

 

[Xander Wildeisen]

These cars are one of just a few where the roof line of the hard top, looks better than the roof line of the convertible top. But a convertible is a convertible.

[auburnseeker]

Yeah the box tops just don't work.  Hands down a convertible over that,  but the "fastback" has really nice lines.

[BobinVirginia]

Hard to go wrong with a 60-64 Galaxie sharp cars

Edited April 15 by BobinVirginia (see edit history)

[theconvertibleguy]

23 hours ago, auburnseeker said:

Price might or might not be a little strong but this would be one to get. 

63 Galaxie Convertible ,  red on red 406 Tripower 4 speed.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/622776973391524/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_general&referral_story_type=general&tracking={"qid"%3A"-2174479196823078892"%2C"mf_story_key"%3A"9027640868459960184"%2C"top_level_post_id"%3A"9027640868459960184"%2C"commerce_rank_obj"%3A"{\"target_id\"%3A9027640868459960184%2C\"target_type\"%3A6%2C\"primary_position\"%3A11%2C\"ranking_signature\"%3A7611434742381441337%2C\"commerce_channel\"%3A501%2C\"value\"%3A0.00010478009895577%2C\"upsell_type\"%3A100%2C\"candidate_retrieval_source_map\"%3A{\"5939977382753817\"%3A604%2C\"6287471371358194\"%3A604%2C\"6532516000193925\"%3A604%2C\"6643919649058349\"%3A659%2C\"6777681155629379\"%3A604}%2C\"grouping_info\"%3Anull}"%2C"lightning_feed_qid"%3A"-2174491566505825905"%2C"lightning_feed_ranking_signature"%3A"2937240214984722936"%2C"ftmd_400706"%3A"111112l"}

 

 

If it was an original engine that would be better. And wish they were that cheap up here. Keep seeing Galaxies going for 30 to 50k for stuff that's half the price down south.