Throughout the center Nineteen Sixties, the reasonably priced full-size automobile was king of Detroit. Chevrolet alone moved properly previous 1,000,000 Biscaynes, Bel Airs and Impalas yearly then, whereas Ford wasn’t far behind in gross sales from its line of massive, snug rides. In 1966, the full-sized Ford line in america had the stripped-down Customized and Customized 500 on the backside, with the Galaxie 500 a step increased and the snazzy LTD sitting on the very prime of the massive Ford pyramid. The Galaxie 500 was the most important vendor of the 4, with gross sales about evenly cut up between the rakish two-door fastback and the wise four-door put up sedan. Here is a type of sedans, spied just lately in a self-service yard simply south of Denver.
This family-owned yard has an off-limits-to-public storage lot subsequent door to the pull-parts-yourself space, stuffed with attention-grabbing previous vehicles. To make room for extra attention-grabbing stuff, they often public sale off extra stock from their private-reserve space (which regularly get bought by different junkyards and put in their components inventories). Different occasions, they’re going to simply transfer among the particular vehicles into the common parts-yanking yard. dozen of them simply appeared there, together with the Mustang II and Mercury Montego MX Brougham you see flanking at the moment’s Junkyard Gem within the above photograph, plus a 1959 Studebaker Lark VIII, a 1965 Chevy Biscayne with six-cylinder and three-on-the-tree guide, a big-block ’71 Impala coupe and another vehicles I am going to share later.
Record worth on this automobile began at $2,784, which quantities to one thing like $26,425 in 2023 {dollars}. This specific instance is filled with expensive choices, as you may see, so its out-the-door worth was possible so much increased.
Initially, there’s this 352-cubic-inch (5.8-liter) big-block “Interceptor” V8 engine, rated at 250 horsepower. This engine is a member of the fabled FE household, which included the better-known 390, 427 and 428 engines that went into the wilder Mustangs and muscle vehicles.
The 352 had been round since 1958 and was final utilized in 1967 F-Collection vans. Sure, I purchased this emblem for my storage wall.
The bottom engine in all however the ritziest 1966 full-size Fords was a 240-cubic-inch straight-six rated at 140 horsepower, however Dearborn had you properly coated in the event you wished to pay for extra energy that yr. There have been V8s of 289, 390, 427 and 428 cubic inches accessible, with energy scores going all the way in which as much as 425 horsepower (that twin-four-barrel 427 Cobra had insane-for-the-time 11.1:1 compression and a drag-race-grade lumpy cam and proved to be a stalling, overheating nightmare in strange stop-and-go driving).
This automobile has the elective three-speed automated transmission as properly, which added $184 to the price ($1,746 at the moment). The bottom transmission within the decrease trim ranges of Galaxie 500 (e.g. this automobile) was a conventional three-speed column-shift guide. To get a four-on-the-floor guide transmission in a ’66 Galaxie, you had to purchase the 315-horse 390 or higher with it (although in actuality, a pleasant supplier in all probability might have organized a particular order with any engine/transmission mixture Ford made).
Manufacturing unit air-con value $353 further ($3,351 after inflation), however this automobile seems to have been fitted with a Montgomery Ward Riverside “Supreme” A/C unit.
The construct tag tells us that this automobile was assembled on April Idiot’s Day of 1966 on the Los Angeles Meeting plant in Pico Rivera, then offered by way of the Denver gross sales workplace. The colour is Medium Sage Gold Metallic and the inside is Gold. Curiously, Northrop purchased Los Angeles Meeting in 1982 and (in secret) used it for the event of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber; at the moment, the positioning is a shopping center.
It seems to have spent at the very least a few many years sitting outdoors within the Excessive Plains parts. The inside is ruined, whereas the physique is banged up however not hopelessly rusty.
The issue with vehicles sitting outdoor for years round right here is that rodents transfer in and proceed to chew the upholstery into nesting materials after which deposit inches-thick layers of their hantavirus-hazard poop. I’ve seen a lot worse, however this automobile is nasty inside.
The rat poison did not final lengthy.
The critters even chewed on the unique proprietor’s guide.
