1963 Phil Bonner Ford Galaxie 427 Lightweight: Muscle Car Of The Week Episode 261 V8TV

1963 Phil Bonner Ford Galaxie 427 Lightweight: Muscle Car Of The Week Episode 261 V8TV
This 1963 Ford Galaxie was built for racing, with lightweight fiberglass and aluminum components and a high-strung 427 for power. It was campaigned by Phil Bonner in the ‘63 NHRA Super Stock class, and is is basically the same today as it was in racing trim back in the day. Good for low 12’s in the quarter mile, these cars paved the way for the F/X and Funny Car classes in the heyday of 1960s drag racing and is one of several 1963 Galaxie lightweights in The Brothers Collection. Photos from The George Klass Collection: www.georgeklass...
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[@gary9426]

The old factory Superstocks were the coolest of the musclecars...awesome rides!

[@ericvonsiebenburg548]

I owned a 1962 Ford Custom sedan - police car. Three speed stick on the column, with a factory 4.11 and an overdrive pull-out knob on the dashboard. Ford said it had a "High performance" solid lifter 390 with an Isky E2 cam, and they rated the police model at 375 instead of the 335 of the publicly offered 390. Well, when we took the engine apart we found it to be a thinly disguised experimental factory 406. The 406 connecting rods were unmistakable even at first glance. The 4.11 rear was NOT traction-lok. The police were against rear lockers for some reason. It had a 11.75 compression ratio and green flames three feet long used to come out of the dual exhaust when it backfired. It idled at 1,200 rpm - and this was a plain Jane 4 door sedan, white in color. No power steering , no power brakes, no a/c, no radio. I put a 406 tri-power holley setup on it with an aluminum medium rise manifold. when we took that cast iron 390 intake manifold off, I swear it weighted 150 pounds. First gear took you to a SCREAMING 75 miles an hour and second would take you into a whole new stage of manhood.....never drove such an animalistic, fast, savage beast of a car again, and I've owned 90 high-performance cars since the 1960's.

[@jimstenlund6017]

eric von Siebenburg There’s no way first gear, with a 4.11 rear lasted until 75mph, how high did it rev?!

[@stratolestele7611]

PDs might have felt traction-locs caused them to spin out too easily chasing the bad guys on city streets? Just a theory.

[@peterichmond715]

Street raced a 62 Galaxy, 406, 3 deuces, 4 speed (young and dumb) in Phx in the late 60s. Buddy had one of those 63 1/2 fastback factory racers. Rode w/him several times and he bragged he only went fast enough to win, never saw him win by more than 1/2 a car or so. We raced one night and I told him to go all out, didn't want to hear that only enough to win crap. When I went into 3rd gear he already was about 3-4 cars in front of me. That sucker was FAST!

[@595shaker]

My dad gave my sister his 63 1/2 galaxies 390 4 speed for her graduation. I love that car!

[@chuckvenable6183]

1963 Ford Galaxie was one of the best lookn cars ever built, there was a guy from my home town that bought a 63 Ford Galaxie 427 dual quad 4 speed. Man that was the nicest car I'd ever seen Wow! Chuck

[@livewire2759]

Watch that last burnout closely, the front wheel stays locked up (he's riding the brake for a better burn) but the slicks still grip enough to push it across the pavement. That's a pretty cool Ford.

[@ALABAMAHEADHUNTER]

Had to go back and check it out ! Very cool Ford !

[@cobracharmer6178]

Live Wire; I'm amazed he's doing burnouts with gravel on the asphalt!

[@marcuskeys1048]

Is this the same Bill Bonner that worked as a Ford dealership salesman for a famous Ford dealership in Indiana? The story I saw on you tube is at a big drag race event he. Entered in with 23 other cars and he ended up being in the final against a Chevy impala that was undefeated and beat him after words nhra went thru the car and practically took it apart to try to find his secret! After this race he won the next 65 nhra races and was promoted to head Ford's factory drag team! Also was The man behind the thunderbolt!

[@marcuskeys1048]

Is there any drag historians out there who can verify this for me!

[@MrJett1971]

Marcus Keys if you listen, and actually look at the car, the name is clearly Phil Bonner.

[@johnny_6T8]

Something about full sized muscle of that era.. Pentastar guy here, but Damn this Ford!.. amazing piece!

[@ericvonsiebenburg548]

My 1969 Plymouth Fury 1 440 hooked to an A727 trans was the CHP's ALL-TIME favorite, fastest police car in history. It would do 145 mph all day every day - and they never blew.

[@jeremythompson9122]

@@ericvonsiebenburg548 With the 3.23 rear they had a really high top speed. My grandfather was a NYS Trooper and he always had 383 and 440 Plymouth's as his patrol cars when I was a young kid. We would take his squad car out on the back roads when he was off duty and he would do massive burnouts lol. Thats what first made me a Mopar fan as a kid lol. I remember at one time he also had a 68 or 69 Belvedere patrol car with the 383 Interceptor which was basically a 4 door Roadrunner. Even the late 70's 440 Fury's were fast. The late 70's 440 Police Interceptor was way more powerful than the regular production 440 that was being sold to the public from 1975-78

[@johnnytyler5685]

The 1963 1/2 and 1964 fastback Galaxies were the ONLY good-looking cars that Ford made in the 1960's outside of the Mustangs. I absolutely LOVE these things. I came extremely close to buying a 1963 1/2 fastback Galaxie about 12 years ago...red with a red bucket seat interior, 4-speed and a 390 (although it wasn't an original 390 car). The only thing that stopped me was someone on the Chevelle forums randomly posting an ad they had found for a 1969 Chevelle SS on Craigslist. The car just happened to be only 30 minutes from where I live and it was a factory Burnished Brown car with factory parchment (white) bucket seat interior, a 4-speed an NO center console...and it was a numbers-matching L34 car. I've always been primarily a "Chevelle guy" and when my idea of the perfect 1969 Chevelle SS just happened to pop up for sale very close to my house, I figured it was fate and I just had to have it. I still own that Chevelle today and out of all my Chevelles and GTOs, it's the ONE CAR I would NEVER part with. And because of that, I don't really regret passing on the Galaxie...although I haven't come across one near me since then that's really tickled my fancy. That said, I suspect I will eventually get around to owning one some day. They are just fantastic-looking cars in their fastback form and they are the only non-Mustang Ford product from this era that I have ANY interest in.

[@jayr8843]

I bought a 63 1/2 Galaxie ordered brand new and a 66 Fairlane GT brand new. Two of the best Fords ever built. I think the 66 Fairlane hardtop was just a little bit better looking. This is coming from a Ford Guy whose first car was a 55 Crown Victoria, pink & white. My high school days were a blast with this car.

[@dumpsterchicken6287]

Great car, great information.

[@mauricemcdaniel5790]

Our family still has grandpa’s 631/2 Gal just over 100k

[@johnkrag6]

The 427 Galaxie in NASCAR was where it really shined.

[@ericvonsiebenburg548]

yup - the 428 Super Cobra jet Ram Air was better on the street - and King.

[@jonathanbanta9456]

It was a Fairlane. Mario Andretti in his first American Stock Car race won the 67 Daytona 500 in a 427 Fairlane

[@sterlingprice5963]

I love old Fords! I always was a 390 fan, and had a '70 LTD 2DR at one time. I wish I had it back. Fold down head lights, beautiful red on the outside and white on the inside. I used to blow away modern cars from stop light to stop light every day. I love old Fords!

[@jacktietjen3125]

My friend had a Ford Falcon Sprint that he stuffed a 406 in. Talk about wheel hop. Fun to watch though.

[@SpatialDragon]

Definitely a piece of Ford racing history. Keep up the good work covering all the brands.

[@MuscleCarOfTheWeek]

Thank you!

[@ianfosbrook8406]

more old fords... many many more plz...🤘

[@jlo13800]

Nice car unfortunatly power by 4 joke stroke pos crap motor, Could it run tilted in any position with just oil injection with XD-100. boy i would love to try that and im good at destroying 4 joke strokes!

[@christopherblessing3868]

No Power Adders it's all under the valve covers! FORD BIG BLOCKS RULE!!!

[@stevenmurphy3053]

YES SIR

[@juju-rt8ek]

That's an impressive car. Looks like a lot of fun. I think back at my 196 cubic inch bmw m3 sedan 3.2 inline 6 that turned mid 11's. I love muscle cars too. Should have kept my 1940 Ford coup. crate 283 High Performance ..Muncie, 4-11 . more than 55 years ago!! Ram Induction for a while.

[@shade98765]

When I was a kid, I remember a 63 similer to this coming to the house on a lot of Sundays and loading up with my Dads hard work for that week, but it just had one bucket seat in it, found out later it was always going to Atlanta that was 100 miles south of home, I always thought the 63's and 64's were the mans ride in that day and time, They are still my two favs! Thanks for sharing.

[@josephryan1576]

Beautiful survivor with an awesome history to boot.

[@jessepainter3745]

brings back the old days. had one 427 white with red int.. not a light weight but still turned high 12s

[@funone8716]

What a satisfying video, and I'm a Chevy guy. Neat old Ford!

[@johnwilkerson2138]

I owned a 63' Galaxy XL 352 hiph performance in high school

[@sluggob5534]

Wonderful video Kevin, great research, these early cars always are minus head rests, my neck hurts just watching, dual holleys, solid lifters, wow!! I wish I could get a tour of the collection. These guys really know their cars and what's special and what's not worth collecting.

[@billfeld5883]

I love the burnouts!!!

[@fordfairlane662dr]

A truly great car of the past!

[@roystubenrauch5625]

I had one in 1970. It was a true screamer. Boy I'd love to still have it.

[@gregorytimmons4777]

I lean toward Chevy's because i know them best and have built a 396 '67 Malibu SS but i must say i would take this any day over a '63 409 Impala. Not even Chevy's "Bubble Top" could tempt me.

[@leterguyschroeder4919]

Great cars from the 60's, love em all.

[@gregorytimmons4777]

Fond memories of a 64 Falcon Sprint. Economy muscle.

[@philjerome9795]

I love old muscle cars. Especially Fords.

[@markbudd9061]

My first car was a ’63 1/2 XL with a 390. Still my favorite car .

[@rjwintl]

koolische , got a '64 Galaxie 500!! ... my Mom outran the police one dark night in a '64 with her lights off !!!

[@ericvonsiebenburg548]

I did likewise with my '62 Galaxie - and I was a cop!

[@forrestwyman2136]

Hahaha 👍 go mom lol

[@stevenmurphy3053]

LOVE IT

[@jacktietjen3125]

Must of been from Pasadena?

[@georgeshadrick3990]

Thank you my dad had one not a 4/27 he has a 352 peace out bro thank you Merry Christmas

[@ianfraser2153]

we have these old beasts racing here in australia.... great stuff

[@christiansoldier1968]

I really like the gold painted steel wheels against the red paint.

[@ajnunya5518]

Beautiful car! Absolutely beautiful! The narration is pretty decent too 👍

[@shanefeeney9630]

I love old fords

[@jonhall9752]

Me too

[@bigjer2899]

Listen to that 427....makes my heart go "potter patter"

[@steves4639]

It just sounded wicked as he came idling up to the stop before the last burnout. Scares the kids and makes the cows go dry.

[@ericvonsiebenburg548]

They had to put strong wire mesh over the carburetors to keep them from sucking in birds and small animals when at full throttle opening.....

[@Nancoman]

I owned a 63.5 Sport Hardtop, with a 390, and someone put a 4 speed top loader in it, before me. It was a handful! P.S. Lots of tickets before I sold it off!

[@NickedBlade]

Love it! Makes me miss my old 63 4 door

[@Gooseo2000]

Im a 70s pontiac guy.....but if I could get any 60s car I wanted it would be that Galaxie

[@ericdebisz9458]

The Ford galaxies don't get enough recognition. You may see one nice one around. Trunk pan rots out and goes back to mother Earth along with inner and outer quarters behind rear wheels.

[@petergiannaros9037]

Absolutely love these cars!

[@panamared354]

My dream car

[@WmArthur]

Love it! I've still got a 1964 FE block in my 73 Ford Short bed factory Highboy, lol. (high nickel)

[@jeffnorbert1871]

These and the 421SD Pontiacs are IT!

[@richardtabloff1773]

I had a new 1962 Ford 390/375 H.P. 411 open gear, 408 dual quad Chevies could not beat me. My car was a 3 speed, Chevy’s where 4 speeds. The guys driving Chevies where schocked

[@geebopbaluba1591]

My step dad had a 63 Chevy bel air light weight with the 409 4 speed and 4:11 rear gears and it was just scary to a young kid. That was me.

[@chriswilliams8484]

My dad owned the 1963 Ed Martin Ford car.

[@petealves9978]

I miss the old days.

[@OnTheHighWatch]

Fun collection. Every one of them is nice to see.

[@luisponce5047]

This is a very good episode, the lightweight muscle cars make more interesting the show because there are more rare. Thanks for the show

[@MuscleCarOfTheWeek]

Thank you Luis!

[@johnhilton8414]

i saw that car when it was new run at thunderbolt raceway-oh the memories

[@forestlawrencegrading9154]

I had a 64 with a little 260 but I ended up putting in a 302 still was a great handling car it had the early power assist steering it was a manual box with a power assist cylinder on the pitman arm even with it completely disabled it's still handled good for a large barge

[@stevehillman7648]

Yes please please share more information and details about these old Fords because the history of these cars is not widely documented

[@peterkay2406]

10 people giving thumbs down must have been the ones wounded by one of these cars

[@kenjett2434]

No more likely someone who had one of the stock Galaxy 500 not this special designed factory racer. This one is made to run on the short track not the Oval like in NASCAR. Being light would be a big problem on the Oval once you hit speeds upward of 140. My stock 68 Galaxy would run flat out 140/150.then it would start getting loose and start floating because of the air pressure building under the chassis. This one being lighter would suffer this fate at a lesser speed I expect the 120 mentioned was about as fast as this car could run safe.

[@gmc1284]

@@kenjett2434 your right I had a 57 chevy it would get to 145 mph and wanted to get light due to wind lift.

[@lonnyself3920]

drove one my best friend 427 try pack superstock cope brother prepared it was wicked fast even in 1975 last time I seen he traded it for a 1957 chevy cameo 327 auto with less that 200 miles on it

[@repairman2540]

We had some "Bad- Machines" running in the Valley in 1968 but nothing like that!

[@garyboros-v4f]

WOW 😎

[@bluesharp59]

Nice Car, Happy Holidays and a thumbs up liked.

[@StevenJeNova]

Amazing! I love it.

[@suzannemorrow9987]

I still have and always will, my 1967 Ford Galaxie , 2 dr. . My first car , 2nd owner. I love my car. It is stock and I would love to lighten her load. Worth my $$, to cherry?

[@greengrass4ya151]

Car is awesome!

[@brocluno01]

Nice remembrance - good video. Back in the day we got a home made light weight '61 406 down to 12.90's at Baylands (Fremont). Getting weight out of a Galaxie was a huge job ... Do the Brothers have a '61 ?

[@Requiredfields2]

They nailed the look of the car in 1963. It didn't look as good before or after, imho.

[@jefjaeger]

Awesome car...

[@mrazoz5538]

What a beast

[@ericmeechglobalnetwork2273]

Rad!

[@michaelgrubbs1618]

The Chryslers of a little bit later. With aluminum and steel were 10 plus second cars

[@bgh70]

Love it! How about those Hurst slicks!!!

[@rrmech11]

Awesome

[@hansgruber650]

Luv Super Stock!

[@tomswinburn1778]

Started my sophomore year in high school in '63 and cars like that were and would remain out of my league. Our local Ford dealer apparently didn't have the stroke to get the brass to send one to my hometown to ogle, but Dodge brought a seriously lightened Dart to my hometown in an effort to drive some sales. It worked, as a 440 six pack was sold shortly thereafter. It seems to me that Ford and Chrysler owned the drag strip at that time, with Chevrolet gaining the upper hand shortly thereafter. It didn't matter which of the big three you were a fan of, wait a bit and they'd be on top. From the early 60s thru 1970 I lived cars. Working a part time job that kind of iron was out of my reach, but I drooled several gallons of saliva looking forward to the day I could own one. I wish now I'd stuck with the car bug instead of turning my attention to women. Oh well. My hot rods stayed of the home built variety, and couldn't hang with the factory built drag strip dominators. But at my advanced age I look at this Galaxie and STILL drool.

[@ericvonsiebenburg548]

Chevy NEVER had the upper hand on the drag strip in the '60's - all Mopar and some radical big block Fords

[@Jkush463]

we have a 63 1/2, and a 66 7 litre

[@markwegner6100]

Nice, Kevin!

[@buff6637]

Old School full size 3 pedals!!!

[@greghughey9738]

Hell ya!!!!!!

[@brucejordan9073]

"GLORY DAYS "

[@jeremyg7975]

a beast

[@thebavarianmusclecarhaven8501]

Maybe the Brothers Collection could swap this 427 or the 427 from the Fairlane Thunderbold with my 390 ??? ;))) regards from Munich. Keep on Posting! 😎🐰 🐴💨

[@jerrycasey1635]

I'll take it...

[@timothynelson1052]

perfect

[@raginroadrunner]

It should have fiberglass bucket seat.

[@jeffrobodine1850]

NOW PUT TWIN TURBOS ON IT AND YOU HAVE A 9 SECOND QUARTER MILE CAR 💯💯👍👍😎

[@raginroadrunner]

T10 was replaced with the Ford top loader.

[@d35martin1]

Nice presentation ! Just a quick comment and correction. 1963 did not have Medium Riser 427's. Those did not arrive until mid 1965. 1963 had Low Riser and high Riser. That particular example had Low Riser installed. I would have thought it should have the High Riser. Otherwise nice job !

[@chriswilliams8484]

Hi riser came out in 64

[@MikeTrent-ps6ds]

Does anyone know what color this car was? Very striking.

[@steveham2622]

did anyone notice on the last burnout the left front tire was locked up and being pushed?

[@cobracharmer6178]

1965 altered wheelbase Falcon.

[@daviddennison4287]

That guy looks forward to going to work every day

[@kimmorrison9169]

Too bad he didn’t state the actual weight of this particular full size ‘63. I would be curious. Ford, Chevy and Pontiac had their hands more than full vs the lighter weight 426 inch Plymouth Savoys and Dodge Darts (the B body mopars) on the early 60’s strips.

[@matrox]

Its got vintage slicks yet still can't lockup. Add some modern tires it might hit 11s.

[@timhammett2302]

Check out F.A.S.T.* racing or Factory Stock racing. They all have to use factory type tires (bias Belted) of the time and many of the stock ones have run 10.00's with some FAST cars in the 9.00's. (*Factory Appearing Stock Tire)

[@bobcole7898]

Bad ass

[@DavidPietersen]

I just spent 20 minutes trying to figure out why they would make the doors and deck lid out of glass... and how dangerous that would be! Of course I now realise that he meant *fibre*glass :-)

[@dukeman7595]

Wow

[@ZEZERBING]

David Pietersen ya, "glass" is the slang term.

[@MichaelSmith-nd4rr]

WTF,S wrong with you?

[@DavidPietersen]

@@MichaelSmith-nd4rr My only excuse is that this comes out at, like, 5:00am on a Sunday morning where I am... and I always watch it immediately. Or did you mean WTF is wrong with me for admitting it? For that I have no excuse whatsoever.

[@jamestubman2016]

DOPE

[@malamri424]

This thing's faster than my Jeep SRT

[@raginroadrunner]

Ford offered one cam, Chevrolet had two pages of them ..all legal..

[@christopherblessing3868]

4D power all the way!!!

[@johnjohnsn7633]

Phil Bonner's 1965 car was a Falcon ... not a "Fairlane".

[@christiansoldier1968]

It looks like the nose is leaning a little towards the passenger side. Is this a collapsed bushing or spring, or is it designed that way so that the car is level when launching?

[@DoudD]

Non-expert disclosure here but I'm pretty sure it was a modification to improve launch characteristics

[@christiansoldier1968]

it sounds like as good an explanation as any, lol. Beautiful car,...and I'm not a Ford guy.

[@kevinvaughn1203]

Bad Ass

[@kenjett2434]

This one was a great short track dragster but was no good on the Oval because it was too light for the speed. My stock 68 Galaxy could have out did it on the oval. I could run 140/150 flat out but on the short track yeah this one could get out faster than mine.