1963 Galaxie light weight

[ShawnS]

Hi everyone.

I've never built a big American car before and as my display cabinet is packed wall to wall with 1980's/90's touring cars I figured it's time too diversify my building experience and go big.

The story of the light weight Galaxies is well known so I won't go into that here but wealthy Englishman Sir Gawaine Baillie bought his touring car spec version over to Australia to have a bit of fun with a view to sell the car off once the fun was over. As you would expect it was fast but brake failure was a common problem and it wasn't all that competitive. Local driver John Raeburn got to drive it in the Australian Touring Car Championship race at Sandown in 1965. He qualified on the front row but was only able to finish fifth. This is the version I decided to build.

Obviously it's the AMT kit with the Starliner chassis conversion and my own 3d printed interior (except for the dash). The front seats are a close enough representation of the racing seats used at the time, I designed and 3d printed them myself along with the door panels and window cranks, the rollcage , gear stick,pedals and the tacho. I added rear 1/4 side windows. I also made new tail light lenses to replace the very strange kit parts. Many other mods were made here and there. The chrome was redone with SMS hyperchrome. The paint is Tamiya racing white that I lightened with pure white. The decals are printed by custom hobby decals from my own artwork. I opted not to do the engine and glued the bonnet shut.

 

It was a bit of a challenge getting the slightly warped Starliner chassis to sit nicely under the equally warped Galaxie body but I got there in the end and I'm happy with the result.

Thanks

Cheers

ShawnS

 

[MarkJ]

Very interesting, Shawn. So, this was a really real stock car racer from the 60's. Excellent job replicating it. Surprised it actually ran as good as it did against the competition the owner chose to race against.

[bobss396]

I really like it, nicely done. Everything looks very accurate. They were heavy cars but they could move. Plus larger cars were harder to pass.

[Pierre Rivard]

Wonderful build and it's always fun to get the story of the real car this replica is based on. These were big performers on the NASCAR scene but it's hard to imagine it could compere in road racing. John Raeburn must have been a really good driver.

[Sledsel]

Great looking Galaxie! The interior is splendid. Considering the detail in this build I kinda wish you had done the engine.

[bondo bill]

sharp build

[ShawnS]

21 hours ago, MarkJ said:

Very interesting, Shawn. So, this was a really real stock car racer from the 60's. Excellent job replicating it. Surprised it actually ran as good as it did against the competition the owner chose to race against.

 

16 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Wonderful build and it's always fun to get the story of the real car this replica is based on. These were big performers on the NASCAR scene but it's hard to imagine it could compere in road racing. John Raeburn must have been a really good driver.

 

Thanks guys, The big Gals had some success in the UK so they definitely had potential but the nature of Australia's long straights/hard stops type of circuits meant that the brakes became mush after a couple of laps and the pure speed from all that horsepower ultimately came to nothing.   

[ChrisR]

Looks great!!

[bytownshaker]

Stunning build!!!

[Dave B]

That's a great build Shawn, pretty sure I saw this very car racing at Longford in Tassie

Dave B

[Bainford]

I love the big old Fords, and you nailed the look with this build. Very nice work. I really dig this one. 

[Yeah Nah]

Excellent job on this Shawn. Your interior mods turned out great!

[Ragtop Man]

Jaw. On. Floor.  This is great. The interior is a model unto itself! 

[Phildaupho]

Very nice Galaxie. I always enjoy watching the touring car race at the Goodwood Revival when their are American sedans entered. They look so incredible through the corners.

[Jim B]

Cool looking Galaxie.  Vary well done.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Did an outstanding job on that Ford. Looks great. Thanks for posting.

[slusher]

Super nice!  Was the light cars back seat delete?.

[ewetwo]

Wow. That is really nice.

[ea0863]

Awesome job Shawn! And how I envy your 3d printing abilities