Not everybody's definition of a donor car is the same. Apparently to the guy from whom Bruce Bolen bought his '63 Galaxie 500, a car worthy of sacrificing to restore another has three pedals, four speeds, eight cylinders, and twice as many mechanical tappets. "She was all there-390, four-speed, all the interior including the console, all the chrome inside and out," Bruce recalled. "As I understand, he lost interest and put it up for sale. It was all there, but I just had to make it what I wanted it to be."
While it appears that stance and wheels are all it took to make Bruce's Galaxie what he wanted it to be, bear in mind that looks can be deceiving. Since he tuned the car to improve its manners rather than change it just for the sake of change, the modifications he did to the car don't voluntarily reveal themselves.
For example, you'd have to twist the key to hear the whooshing clatter of the solid-tappet cam and the bark of the 3-inch pipes. You'd have to lift the hood to discover the medium-rise intake manifold. You'd have to drive the car to understand how much tuning work Lyle Winter put into the two Holleys atop that manifold.
When you drove the car, you'd initially take delight in the limited-slip differential and the deep gears, but you'd take equal comfort in the overdrive Fifth gear. Speaking of comfort, you'd soon attribute that soft ride in the face of a low stance and even lower profile tires to dropped spindles and air springs. Ultimately, you'd find reassurance in the front axle's oversized disc brakes. To understand why the car seems so sensibly tweaked is to know a bit about Bruce. As a fifty-something with two generations of playing with cars under his belt, he's owned his share of hot cars. He indoctrinated his sons with musclecars of their own, and they, in turn, are doing the same for their kids. In fact, by bringing up a Galaxie languishing at a local paint shop, one sort of returned the favor. Bruce recalled. "The Galaxie was what I was looking for."
Just because an engine is...
Just because an engine is a hot number doesn't mean it has to announce it to the world. With its reproduction wiper-washer bag, conservative paint detail, and period-correct induction system-even though it's not original to the car-the engine looks for all the world like a restoration article. The Blue Thunder rocker covers, aluminum ignition wire looms, and Ford Racing plug wires, on the other hand, hint that the engine isn't stock (which it isn't ... by a long shot). The engine's lopey idle, rocker clatter, and crisp response-products of the COMP solid-tappet cam, Edelbrock heads, and high-compression pistons-prove it, too.
Paint, upholstery, and machine work withstanding, Bruce built the car himself. Since nobody offered an application-specific air-spring kit, he adapted one of Air Ride Technologies' kits for a same-year Impala. The suspension is largely stock, but he replaced the spindles with a pair of 2-inch-lower knuckles and the drums with a set of 11-inch discs, both examples of D.C. Enterprises' Drop 'em & Stop 'em line. Though the medium-rise manifold isn't original to the car, it was part of the deal that netted the car. Above that are those carburetors tuned by Lyle Winter ("about the best Holley guy around," Bruce acknowledged); below it is the 390 he assembled with a COMP cam and rockers and Edelbrock light-metal heads. Bruce credits Ford Motorsports' Stan Johnson for the engine information and the clutch parts required to link that engine to the Tremec TKO 600-series transmission. With that gearbox's overdrive, "It made the car a lot more freeway friendly," Bruce noted. Bruce turned over the car to Kurt Dickman for body and paint. Though he retained the door handles, he shaved the door locks (Bruce relies on a keyless entry system instead) and the nose and deck badges, also removing the hood spear and cleaning up the front and rear pans. Kurt finally applied a tri-coat PPG urethane, a system that required him to shoot about 10 test panels until everybody agreed on the color the car is now.
Before Bruce had Seattle's International Plating re-plate the bumpers, he shaved their bolts. Though he had the side trim brought back up to snuff, he forewent the black accents they originally came with.