"The 777" Tasca Ford '63 lightweight Galaxie

[customline]

3 hours ago, Brutalform said:

My dad was a big Ford nut, and when I started to drive, he used to bust my hump on liking Chevrolet. My very first car was a 73 LTD. Now I had a few wicked fast cars, that I used to race, and he was proud, and even used to come out and mess around under the hoods sometimes. But, as far back as I can remember, he had some really cool Fords. And I plan on building a few of them. 

I was just a little one when he had his red on red 62 Galaxie. 
And the list goes on. All two doors except one. 

62 Falcon

66 Fairlane 390 ( I remember this car being really super fast, would plant you seriously in the seat)

69 Galaxie Sports Roof 302

71 Ford custom 4 door

72 Ford Galaxie Brougham

Then he started driving those big boat, four door Mopars. I learned to drive on a 74 Chrysler Newport. I sure wish I had one or two of those cars today.

 

Consider yourself fortunate on your first car. Mine was a '61 Rambler American wagon. Not cool. A flathead six that burned oil. After that, it was a '60 American inverted bathtub. When the clutch went south, this $90 wonder was replaced by a fairly decent $25 '56 Ford custom sedan with a snappy 272 with automatic transmission. It too had an oil loss issue that ended its life on I-95 in Providence one fine day. Following that one was a nice dark blue '62 Ford Sunliner. 352 auto. There was also a '62 Ford long-roof for a short time.... I could go on.....it doesn't get better, though. There was one car that would be somewhat desirable today; a '66 Comet, stick-six 2 door post coupe. Burgundy with a black roof. Of course I screwed that one up. ? 

[Kenmojr]

On 5/26/2024 at 4:43 PM, LennyB said:

I understand exactly what you mean by wasting a body.  I have so many projects I would like to upgrade with a better chassis but then what do you do with the rest of the kit you steal the parts from? I used to have mixed feelings about these sellers on eBay who break down kits into pieces and sell off the components.   Potentially selling a kit for 10 times what it’s worth, if they can sell each bit that is.  But I have surrendered and bought a few chassis that way. Also bought a bunch of junkers for the same reason.  Maybe 3D printing can fill this void in the future with upgraded components for some of these vintage kits.

There I go rambling again, think I’ve been out in the sun too long?

How about resin casting some of those chassis and other parts?

[customline]

On 6/16/2024 at 10:51 AM, Kenmojr said:

How about resin casting some of those chassis and other parts?

That's a great idea, Ken, it could be a very lucrative enterprise. Let us know when you have the first run ready to ship ?. I figure about 40 bucks per kit.....right?

[customline]

I'm at the point in final assembly where bad things happen. As much as I try, there's always some things that I forget (or discover that I already forgot.) And that will inevitably happen after I kick the CA. There's the usual windshield / dash issue, no different here but the kit bashing on this one provides some extra elements to deal with. The firewall placement is critical because it must meet the floor pan cleanly.  I wish I had had a heads-up on that - it may be the root of my problems. It's interesting how everything looks great in a mock-up but after the glue is applied....SURPRISE!   ?.

SO IF ANYONE IS GOING TO DO THIS, MAKE CERTAIN YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FIREWALL AND THE FLOOR PAN AND HOW YOU SHORTEN THE PAN AND THE FRAME.  I MAY HAVE GOOFED HERE AND IM SURE IM NOT THE FIRST ?

The '60 firewall is not a nice, easy swap. It must be altered to fit the '63 and be in such position to consider engine room space. Very important. It's tight!  Spend a lot of time playing with how you are going to make everything work. I am no engineer. I am a gaffer. The way I have done this was experimental at best. Just be aware of how all of these alterations must make the wheels end up centered in the wheel openings. Here's what you could encounter on final assembly (below) ? WHAT HAPPENED?

I have a good idea what went wrong here but ( I cut it three times and it's still too short) I had to add some material back to the shortened '60 floor pan to compensate; I'm not willing to make a proper fix at this point so....hopefully, it won't be too obvious.....our little secret ?.

I found there was an NHRA rule about seat belts for Stock classes so I made mine from, you guessed it....masking tape!  I learned that trick on this very forum! ?  Neither kit furnished me with a tachometer so a piece of appropriately sized plated sprue provided the raw material.  The face came from an unknown source (it may not be a tach face but who can tell?)  The shifter is a stand-in. I gotta hunt for a proper looking unit. In my research photos,  it looks like the shifter is intended for a bench seat. It seems too long and has a weird bend.

Got more to do here. I should get back to work ?.

Edited June 21, 2024 by customline

[Brutalform]

I don’t remember ever encountering any of the problems you specified in your build. I’ve built many Galaxies and never ran into the fire wall problem. I mean just some minor trimming around the edges of the fire wall, and very slightly shortening the floor pan, but nothing major. Here are a few pics of some of my Galaxie WIPs. By the way your interior, and the mods you put into it are fantastic. The overall car looks fantastic also. 

Edited June 21, 2024 by Brutalform

[Brutalform]

Ignore the last one. My bad. 

[customline]

On 6/21/2024 at 12:27 PM, Brutalform said:

I don’t remember ever encountering any of the problems you specified in your build. I’ve built many Galaxies and never ran into the fire wall problem. I mean just some minor trimming around the edges of the fire wall, and very slightly shortening the floor pan, but nothing major. Here are a few pics of some of my Galaxie WIPs. By the way your interior, and the mods you put into it are fantastic. The overall car looks fantastic also. 

This is my first Galaxie, Tom.  I'm immortalizing my tribulations. And I figured I would give a heads-up to those brave souls who might dare to follow. Nothing I did with modifications was a problem while I was doing it. But something definitely went wrong during final assembly and I suspect it had to do with how I determined how to shorten the '60 chassis/pan I must have done it with no firewall in place...a sequence misstep. I've been over the whole thread and it's not there. I must have done the shortening too soon. I figure a heads up to the next guy.

Edit: I just read the first few posts on page 1 again and my suspicion is validated.  I shortened the chassis before the firewall was in place.  that's a NO NO! The firewall determines where the floor goes and so on....

Edited June 23, 2024 by customline

[Brutalform]

I hear ya, the first and even the second can be a learning experience. You did a really nice job of making that interior look correct. I don’t think I could have done what you did. I had the luxury of using the resin interiors for some of mine. Now it’s time to move on to another fabulous Ford Lightweight. 

[customline]

12 hours ago, Brutalform said:

I hear ya, the first and even the second can be a learning experience. You did a really nice job of making that interior look correct. I don’t think I could have done what you did. I had the luxury of using the resin interiors for some of mine. Now it’s time to move on to another fabulous Ford Lightweight. 

I'm running into some things that always turn up downstream of the kind of mods I have made. Almost there though. I figured I would down-shift and play with something else to keep me having fun. Starting a new project is always "happy time" for me.?

Thanks for hangin', Tom.  I'll wrap this one up in a week or so.

[Brutalform]

10 hours ago, customline said:

I'm running into some things that always turn up downstream of the kind of mods I have made. Almost there though. I figured I would down-shift and play with something else to keep me having fun. Starting a new project is always "happy time" for me.?

Thanks for hangin', Tom.  I'll wrap this one up in a week or so.

Don’t forget to post the final pics. Do you have any other S/S cars planned? 
I know what you mean with the new project though. I’m diving into a JR Salvinos Kyle Larson 2024 NASCAR Camaro kit for my brother in law. I normally don’t build any NASCAR, but I have to admit it’s nice to get involved in something different. I’m enjoying the build. I put it on hold though, as I had to make a paint run. 

[customline]

6 hours ago, Brutalform said:

Don’t forget to post the final pics. Do you have any other S/S cars planned? 
 

The Tasca T-bolt is planned ( I built it once but gave it to my son ) and one of the mustangs if I can score one of those kits

The kit was built box-stock but the next one will sit higher. A lot higher

 

And the roof will be a better color match ?

[Brutalform]

Looks good to me. I should get better decals for mine. I don’t like the way they laid down. I had Cady decals for approximately 10 Thunderbolts, so I built 14. That including the kit supplied decal cars. 

[customline]

On 6/23/2024 at 7:42 PM, Brutalform said:

Looks good to me. I should get better decals for mine. I don’t like the way they laid down. I had Cady decals for approximately 10 Thunderbolts, so I built 14. That including the kit supplied decal cars. 

Notice the hubs and their relationship to the rocker panel on the 1:1 and then on the models.

Big difference. Got to get 'er up higher. That'll be my priority. Can't wait to start it (a big problem for me ?)

[Tony Coomer]

The interior, chassis, and mufflers look great. The buckets turned sweet, and the bottom of the chassis looks so realistic. Great work indeed…

[Brutalform]

21 hours ago, customline said:

Notice the hubs and their relationship to the rocker panel on the 1:1 and then on the models.

Big difference. Got to get 'er up higher. That'll be my priority. Can't wait to start it (a big problem for me ?)

Not sure if the 1:1 really sure that high in the front. Looks like it’s lifting upon the launch. 

[customline]

1 hour ago, Brutalform said:

Not sure if the 1:1 really sure that high in the front. Looks like it’s lifting upon the launch. 

I thought that also, Tom, but his front wheels are exactly on a line. My guess is that he is staged. If he had launched, that line (if it's the staging line and I think it is) should be behind those front wheels, no? And nothing appears to be moving. No blur on the wheels but I suppose that a professional photographer would know how to do that. I don't think I can get that kit as high as the car in the photo but if I can, I'll put a driver in it. ?

[customline]

14 hours ago, Tony Coomer said:

The interior, chassis, and mufflers look great. The buckets turned sweet, and the bottom of the chassis looks so realistic. Great work indeed…

Thank you, Tony. You may have been looking at Tom's chassis. Mine has a crooked rear cross member in the photo. I have since fixed it. Great fun. Got it all together and now I discover that I forgot to install rear side glass. ?. Typical.

[customline]

Calling it done. Just need another plate on the back. There's probably some other stuff that I can't remember but I'm done here and I thank you all for your help and encouragement. It's been.....uh.....OK, fun ?

[dwc43]

Good looking car. Well done. 

[Brutalform]

Superb build. You put a lot of work into this build. And it shows. Now to move on to another lightweight. 

[customline]

3 hours ago, dwc43 said:

Good looking car. Well done. 

Thanks, DW, it was a learning experience. 

2 hours ago, Brutalform said:

Superb build. You put a lot of work into this build. And it shows. Now to move on to another lightweight. 

Yeah.....soon. not another Galaxie, though. Too expensive.  I have four cars waiting for batteries and radiator hoses and then there's five waiting for final assembly and.....oh yeah...the '57 T-Bird.....and a half-built '56 custom Chevy and the black '56 Chrysler and....you get the idea ? ...a yellow Mustang.....the Nomad....I won't live long enough. Thanks,Tom, it was kinda fun.

Edited June 30, 2024 by customline

[Scott Eriksen]

That came out great!

[customline]

14 hours ago, Scott Eriksen said:

That came out great!

Thank you, Scott! ?