Rusty But Trusty

1969 marked the first model year for the final generation of Ford Galaxie for North America. Bigger is better was still the watchword for Ford, and the new Galaxie was longer and had a larger top-spec engine with more power. Convertibles were still part of the lineup, along with sedans, 2- and 4-door hardtops, and wagons, and for 1969 they had concealed headlamps, a protruding center grill section, and a body-color bar stretching across the center of the grill. You can find this 1969 Ford Galaxie LTD XL convertible for sale for $2450 in El Cajon, CA.

The lack of headrests on this car suggests it’s an early 1969 car, built in late 1968. There are clearly some needs, foremost among them paint, but the car looks largely complete and is said to have a rebuilt engine that runs and drives well. The car is pleasantly free of any adornments or excessive badging, and looks to be largely dent-free.

The car is said to have been in storage for many years, and if the license number is anything to go by, it was last registered around the turn of the millennium. From this angle it also looks fairly straight, although with any convertible you’ll want to do a thorough structural check. It’s hard to tell from the pictures if the finish is just oxidized or whether it’s primer.

Here’s the rebuilt 390. This engine should have 265hp, although based on configuration, it could have up to 401hp. A lot can happen in 45 years, so you’ll want to ask the owner the specs on the car’s engine. It may not be worth mentioning, but this car did of course come with a column-shifted automatic (what large American car didn’t?). The engine compartment looks dusty, but not terribly grimy, so hopefully the rebuild claim is borne out by the engine’s performance.

Notice the first-year wrap-around cockpit, as well as the seats with no headrest. The interior is said to be complete and in need of a good cleaning, which looks reasonable based on the pictures. You’ll have to be willing to live with dash cracks or a cover, or of course a very expensive bill from Just Dashes. With the exception of the fake wood and strip speedometer, the driver interface actually looks pretty contemporary. The convertible top rams are said to have been rebuilt, so if the mechanism is in decent shape, you might even have a weather-tight boat for yourself and 3 amply-sized friends, or 9 emaciated super models.

Tags: american, convertible, Feature, ford, galaxie, xl

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