The car show across the street from me...

[Archae]

They made up for the past couple weeks of not much of anything.

[auntAgonist]

1. nice! Thanks for the great photos. n/t

[flvegan]

2. Some sweet looking rides there!

[Gold Metal Flake]

3. Nice '68 Galaxie.

Love the late 30's Chevy. always wanted one to put a Ford engine in. }(

[Archae]

4. I love the black Chevy too.

Nice, solid car.

[Gold Metal Flake]

5. The sort I would love to restore stock.

I love those sedans.

[HopeHoops]

7. I've got a '68 Galaxie hard top in storage. My grandfather bought her new.

She's only got 150K on her, but unfortunately the transmission has a ripple in it. It went "KER-CHUNK" at about 70mph going up a hill. I was still able to driver her home from about 80 miles away at 50mph, but she didn't like it. I'm going to restore her when I can afford it.

As for the Ford engine, go with a '31-'33 engine. Bootleggers loved them - and they also brought us NASCAR.

[Gold Metal Flake]

10. Hi, Hope Hoops!

I am a looooong time Ford gearhead. I've built many Ford engines and a few transmissions. If you can look at the tag on the driver's door jamb of your Galaxie and give me the TRANS code I can tell you which model of transmission you have which will make it easier to talk to the repair man when you get around to it. Also, the fifth character of the VIN, the vehicle identification number, is the code for the engine. It should be a letter. Gimme that as well. Got pix of that beast?

[HopeHoops]

12. It is a 390 2bbl and I think the trans is a C4 (sucked that out of some deep gray matter)

I haven't been to the storage area in a while and probably won't get there for a while (back injury). The engine runs like a top. As for the transmission, I think someone told me it was a C4, but that was a LOOOOOOOng time ago.

My grandfather was a Ford mechanic for most of his life. I suppose that's where I got my love for them. My first car was a '70 Maverick and I took the damn thing everywhere - including corn fields in the middle of the night. I rebuilt the carb in about three hours (and that was with not having a fucking clue what I was doing). Changing the water pump took 15 minutes start to finish. The designed the Maverick to be easy to work on and it sure was. Today's cars - no way.

When I worked on the Galaxie, I'd sit on the radiator with my feet on either side of the engine. Again, today's cars - no way. I just commented to my wife this morning that older cars could be in a pretty severe accident and you'd just pull out the fenders, paint it, and nobody would ever know. Today's cars are as disposable as a fast food wrapper - 20 mph accident and the insurance company will call it totaled.

We bought a '91 Escort wagon (new) and it served us well until we tried to fit two booster seats and a car seat in the back (two car seats and one booster fit). It was about 2" short of working. My father-in-law had a '93 Sable wagon and he gave it to us about that time because he was moving into an assisted living facility. That's basically an Escort inflated by a foot or two in all dimensions. The profiles are almost identical. We sold the Escort to a family friend (it had 160K on it) and they're still using it - over 300K now and still going strong. The Sable is at around 130K.

On a humorous note, I had to take off the serpentine belt on the Sable to get at the screw for a cooling hose clamp. Putting it back on was a challenge because the tension wheel had the box socket on the back side. I dug around in the mechanics toolbox my grandfather left to me (along with his Ford mechanic's tools) and came up with this LONG rod with a swivel socket on the end. Hmm. I tried it and the damn thing fit. That tool has to be at least 50 years old and at least as of '93 Ford was still basing the tension-wheel on it.

[Gold Metal Flake]

14. Great post!

I have two Focus wagons. Great cars and plenty of room inside. 30mpg on my commute. I also have a '58 Ford Custom 300 and a 1969 MG Midget. I sold our 1968 Cougar last year having owned it since 1994.

Anyways, it would be unusual that the trans is a C4. The C4 is a fantastic trans but it was designed for smaller engines. The C4 with an FE series (390, 427, 428) bell housing is a bit of a legend. The two transmission types most often used with the FE in the 1960s-1970s are the Cruisomatic/FMX (two versions of same basic transmission) and the C6. I found codes online:

Transmission Codes
Code......Type
1........3-Speed Manual
5........4-Speed Manual
W........Automatic (XP3) (this is the C4)
U........Automatic (XPL) (this is the C6)
Y........Automatic (MX) (Cruisomatic)
X........Automatic (FMX) (improved Cruisomatic)
Z........Automatic (XPL Special) (this is a fortified C6 with vitamins)

http://www.mercurystuff.com/1968-ford-mercury-vehicle-identification.html

I'll wager that you have an FMX. But if it's the C4, you may have an item of interest to drag racers in stock classes. Make a not of this and my username in case this turns out to be true and maybe you can send me the casting numbers of the bell housing when it gets pulled for repair.

[HopeHoops]

15. Then it would we the C6. I know it is a C something or another.

It is a 3-speed automatic and, when I was younger and into such things, it could blow the doors (and other body parts) off of damn near anything. The owners manual (I still have it) states not to go more than 70 mph in 1st gear (manually shifting). I used to run it up to nearly 80 before shifting into 2nd and damn near took my neck off doing it a few times. I'm amazed that the transmission didn't drop out and explode. My driving calmed down with age and parenthood (eldest of my 3 girls is 19 now).

Still, I'll check the code the next time I'm over at the storage area and let you know.

[Gold Metal Flake]

6. That Catalina is a surprise.

That is the full-size Pontiac for 1970. Throw some trim at it and you had a Bonneville. But stripped it looks almost mid-sized. Good looking car and a great photograph. Very nice paint, really picks up the sun.

[trof]

8. Anybody remember where the gas filler cap was on '56 Chevy?

It was cleverly hid behind one of the tail lights.
(Left one?)
You pushed a button and the tail light popped up.
I think that's the only year they did that.

Was it Ford that had it behind the rear licenses plate holder for a while?

[Gold Metal Flake]

11. Yes, left hand.

It was a vertical piece of trim just above the light lens. You rotate it and then pull down. In 1957 it was hidden behind one of the pieces of chrome trim at the rear of the fin, almost in the same place as the '56. Fun stuff, huh? You know the designers had all sorts of excuses and sales terms for the idea but were actually thinking of the smiles on their kid's faces when they drew that up!

[guitar man]

9. Love that Pontiac

You just know there's a 400 or 455 lurking under the hood :evilgrin:

[mwb970]

13. Wow, gorgeous!

And I'm not even a car buff!

[Old Troop]

16. Cars I grew up with "sigh"