Survivor: 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 LTD

This beautiful, all original > 70K mile 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 sat at the back of our lot for a whole lot of years — but it didn’t belong to us.

We’d asked about it, wanted to flip it. But we didn’t even look very closely at the car, as it was “not for sale”. 

Eventually, the owner finally announced (after many, many contrary announcements) that he’d be putting the car up for sale…

When we heard his price, our advice to the owner was of course not to sell the car as is, but to get it running and driving again.

Initially, we took on the job of freshening everything from fluids to belts and hoses, breaks, full tune-up, etc…

But when we discovered how nicely this car had survived, essentially rust free and unmolested, one of our own, the shop foreman had to make this car his own, and made a deal shortly thereafter.

About the Ford Galaxie 500

The Ford Galaxie is a full-sized car that was built in the United States of America by Ford for model years 1959 through to 1974. The name was used for the top models in Ford’s full-size range from 1958 until 1961, in a marketing attempt to appeal to the excitement surrounding the Space Race.

The Galaxie 500/LTD was introduced for 1965 followed by the Galaxie 500 7-Litre for 1966. The Galaxie 500 prefix was dropped from the LTD in 1966, and from the XL in 1967; however the basic series structuring levels were maintained.

The “regular” Galaxie 500 continued below the LTD as Ford’s mid-level full-size model from 1965 until its demise at the end of the 1974 model year.

The Galaxie was the competitor to the high-volume full sized Chevrolet Impala.