Sixties Swap: 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 Fastback – SOLD!

November 18, 2022, Update – We confirmed the seller of this “Classifind” deleted their listing, so we’re now able to call this one “SOLD!” While this one got away, please reach out either by email or call us directly if you’d like to be informed when we come across something similar.

November 11, 2022 Update – The seller prefers replacing their ads frequently.  The seller’s latest listing also lowered their asking price to $17,000.

October 30, 2022 Update – The seller prefers replacing their ads every five days.  The seller’s latest listing also lowered their asking price to $18,000.

October 26, 2022 Update – The seller replaced their original Craigslist ad with a fresh listing.  In it, they lowered their asking price by another one thousand to land at the current $18,500.

October 23, 2022, Update – We confirmed the seller of this “Classifind” deleted their short-lived listing and replaced it with a revised Craigslist ad. They reduced the original asking price of $22,500 to $19,500.

Race on Sunday, sell on Monday. Before the look-alike, safety-sell jelly beans now forced on its dwindling fan base, NASCAR was better known as stock car racing.  Actual production cars received conversions to race, so it wasn’t uncommon for domestic manufacturers to offer special body styles designed to go faster on racetracks. One example was Ford’s fastback roofline launched on the 1963 1/2 Galaxie 500.

This 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie 500 Fastback, originally listed in October 2022 on Craigslist in Dallas, Texas, received a complete restoration seven years ago that appears to have aged well.  The seller reports their Galaxie 500 received the larger and more desirable 390 cubic inch big block in a 1960s swap. While some may scoff at the car not having a numbers-matching engine, we like the period-correct engine upgrade that many of these Galaxies likely received as these cars trickled down to hot rodders on the used car market.

Once offered for $17,000 or the best offer (the original ask was $22,500), Classic.com, the analytics and search engine for the collector car market, confirms the ask is well below the one-year rolling average of this guide’s summary for second-generation Ford Galaxie 500s produced between 1960 and 1964.  By clicking on the green dots in the graph below, you can navigate to each comparable car sold as a way to help you evaluate the price of the fastback featured here:

As a second data point, the  Collector Car Market Review Online Tool reveals the seller’s ask falls between this guide’s #2 Very Good” estimate of $16,700 and its #1 “Excellent” appraisal of $27,600.

Ford Motor Company produced the full-size Galaxie across several generations between 1959 and 1974.  The name was first 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 1963 model was unchanged save for some freshening and added trim; windshields were reshaped, and a four-door hardtop 500/XL was added. A lower, fastback roofline was added mid-year to improve looks and make the big cars more competitive on the NASCAR tracks with less drag and reduced aerodynamic lift at high speed. This 1963½ model, the industry’s first official “½ year” model, was called the “sports hardtop” or “fastback” (it shared this feature with the 1963½ Falcon).   Galaxie buyers showed their preference as the new sports hardtop models handily outsold the “boxtop” square-roof models. The sports hardtop was available in Galaxie 500 and Galaxie 500/XL trim. Mercury also received the new roofline (under the Marauder badge) in Monterey, Montclair, and Park Lane models.  The “Swing-away” steering wheel became optional.

The Cars & Stripes YouTube Channel features this 1963 Ford Galaxie commercial:

The seven-year-old restoration on this 1963 Ford Galaxie appears to be very presentable. The wrinkled upholstery is typical of restored seats with reproduction kits.  The first thing we would change is the aftermarket billet-and-wood steering wheel which is a mismatch for what appears to be an otherwise stock interior.

Here’s the seller’s description:

Show or go: What would you do with this restored 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 Fastback?  Please comment below and let us know!