johnwitzke

Dick Brannan sent me this photo of the three original Ford Drag Team members. Dick, Gas, and Les.

Any photo's from the show?

Very sorry to hear of your loss Alan. My sincere condolences to you and your family

Council Bluffs

Thanks Tom

Sad to learn of Mr. Ronda's passing. A true gentlemen racer. He along with Les Ritchey and Dick Brannan were the original three Ford Drag Team members. Mr. Ritchey lost his life in 1966 from a racing accident.

I have built Dick Brannan's 63 lightweight. See attached photo. My build was approved by Mr. Brannan as I consulted with him during my build. His pre-production lightweight #823 with beige interior was the first Ford with set a NHRA National record. He accumulated 65 wins and set 22 track records in this car. The red interior car #824 was one of the 200 lightweights built that year and was his backup car. Only the first five pre-production lightweights had beige interior.

Hi Ron, the hood is from MCW. I have MCW's kit in addition to the Motor City kit.

Thanks Tom. I used Tamyia TS-84 Metallic Gold Spray

1963 saw the birth of Ford's Total Performance. Using their 427 cu.in. 425 HP engine during 1963, Ford created some of the most competitive Super Stock cars on the drag strip. These cars also make great modeling subject. What I have planned for 2018 in addition to the two pre-production 63 lightweight Galaxies's, Gas Ronda and Les Ritchey, will be Tasca's 1963 427 Fairlane (test bed for the 1964 Thunderbolt) and the 1963 F100 XL 427. At some point I will build all five of the pre-production lightweight Galaxie's These will make a great collection of Ford's 1963 Total Performance

Oops, sorry about the F-100 XL 427 photo. Not sure how that got in there. Could this be a future project? Stay tune, you just never know.

Update on body work. All door and trunk seams have been scribed a little deeper, imperfections, mold lines, etc., have been removed and is now in primer status. Tamyia white prime lays down a flawless finish. Simply the best primer. Moving closer to exterior finish. I will be using MCW # 6233 Viking Blue lacquer.

Rangoon Red with Red interior. It was a 406, with 2-4bbls. This is one of the 10 or 11 lightweights

Update on engine build. Making progress, but a lot still left to do. The wiring will be per original firing order. Next photo will be of the completed engine. Until then, here is what I have done so far. The oil filter is a true red and has the correct Rotunda marking on it. Thanks all for your feedback

I plan to be there next year with my '63 Lightweight Galaxie driven by Les Ritchey. You can see the build under Drag Racing.

An update on Les Ritchey's '63 Galaxie Lightweight. Since the hoods on the '63 lightweights were fiberglass, the underside was rough and unfinished. To replicate, I removed the bracing detail so that I had a smooth surface, then I used Scale Motorsports textured spray paint, followed by primer, then body color. Additionally, I added the black hose that connects between the two carbs

Since building my first '63 lightweight Galaxie, Brannan's car, I learned a lot about how I would improve upon my next build. With that said, I have started another 1963 lightweight Galaxie. This one will be Les Ritchey's Viking Blue/Beige interior car. I figured this time I would put more detail into the engine, specifically the intake and carb areas. So I ordered resin carburetors, Holley 4160 from Fireball Modelworks. These carburetors have excellent detail and really make the engine look real. I highly recommend them. I have added addition detail making the intake and carb as close to factory correct as I can. I will be adding to this topic as the build goes along. Enjoy and thanks for looking.....John

Really nice work on that T-Bolt!

Tasca's car was not one of the 5 preproduction cars. It was a lightweight car and had red interior like the other 200 or so cars. The 5 preproduction lightweight cars were as follows. All had code 24 beige interior and black steering wheels Romy Hammes - Dick Brannan - Corinthian White / Beige Interior - The very first 63 lightweight Bob Ford - Len Richter- Raven Black / Beige Interior Downtown Ford - Gas Ronda - Heritage Burgundy / Beige Interior (according to sources, car was originally Viking Blue the same as Les Ritchey car but repainted Heritage Burgundy) Vels Ford Sales - Les Ritchey - Viking Blue / Beige Interior (later sponsor was Downtown Ford same as Gas Ronda's car) Ed Martin Ford - Rangoon Red / Beige Interior

Great photo, Thank you. The decals are available from Jack Smith -Top End Decals.

Sorry but no color photo exist at this time. Will be able to show decals based on what is known about the car soon. It was Viking Blue with beige interior. All five pre production '63 lightweight interiors were beige.

Sneak Peek. Two more 1963 Galaxie Lightweight bodies are being prepped. These two will take me longer as I am focusing on a WingNuts Wings 1/32 scale Sopwith Camel. I will building these two along side the plane. These will become Ronda's (Vintage Burgundy) and Ritchey's (Viking Blue) lightweights. I will provide updates as I move along Harry....I will provide step by step photos for making the Bostrom seats once I get to that step.

Placed third in documented replica class at the 2017 IMPS National Convention.

Wow, beautiful builds!

Thanks all. As mainly an airplane builder (I still like the weathered look), I learned a lot building this one, the ups and downs. Paint for one thing (airplanes are more forgiving due to flat paint). I know what I will do differently to make the next two even better. A plane is my next build (WingNuts 1/32 scale WWI Sopwith Camel). I will however be building Gas Ronda's and Les Ritchey's pre-production 63 Galaxie lightweights along side the plane. I already have purchased the correct colors for the next two from MCW. I will post up my progress on the next two, however, the updates will be spread out over a longer period of time. Thanks again for all of the comments.