1175 HP
February 18, 2024
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THE AUTO BUILDER
Featured
DRASTIC SUBTLETY
Picking out a car seems so simple, whether it’s at the dealership or sketching lines in the drawing room, or at least that’s the way it looks from the outside. It’s easy to have designs on what’s come before or some version of that, but coming up with something unique that is also appealing continually challenges the imagination of every creative force. Anything but simple, even describing this eclectic process can test the understanding of all but a few gifted visionaries.
Inferno
Builders Joe Keenum and Dan Ehle are best friends and business partners. Initially drawn together by their love for classic cars and trucks, the two have created a number of super rods and classic trucks over the years out of their shop in Leighton, Alabama. Keenum and Company has built trucks that compete with the best of the top-name builders in the country. Producing upwards of a dozen custom vehicles a year, the duo decided it was time to go it a bit further and build a radical shop truck that would showcase the expert craftsmanship the shop is capable of producing.
After running across this 1972 Chevrolet 1/2-ton pickup in early 2006, they felt this was the classic truck that would make the ideal candidate for the project they had in mind. 0nce Keenum and Ehle acquired the truck, they began the extensive build. The truck was a nice driver, and the previous owner performed a rather simple hot rod restoration, leaving the truck on the frame and updating a few of the components here and there. However, Keenum and Company had other plans for this classic.
TOUR DE CENTERFORCE
When it comes to enhancing the performance and reliability of performance cars, it seems as if enough is never enough, regardless of the vehicle, drivetrain or chassis. Then again, when you consider the problems that often cripple our cars despite the inherent strengths or improvements upon them, it’s often the driver that has the most detrimental effect on everything above the pavement.
Spotlighter
BIG ON STYLE
This ’66 Galaxie Convertible Defines Cool
Although there is no set list or solid criteria we look for when choosing a feature car, we typically know the instant we’ve found one. Sometimes it’s a flawless paint job and subtle body mods that draw us in; other times, it’s a fully built motor loping angrily. Other times, though, we come across a car that is just plain cool—not the fastest, or even highly modified, but the kind of car you just look at and say, “Wow, check out that...” So it was at Goodguys Charlotte this year: sitting proudly in the mist and drizzle was Doug Wayne’s ’66 Galaxie convertible. At Auto Builder, we have a soft spot for large vehicles, and, realistically, Ford is not known for making many great small cars. Even small Fords are big, and if you don’t believe us, stick an early Falcon next to a Scion. But few companies do big as well as Ford, and even from a distance, we knew this Galaxie was as cool as it is long.
Author
Will Smith
Story & Photography
A list of the previous and current vehicles in Doug Wayne’s garage sounds suspiciously like a Johnny Cash song; he’s owned the following automobiles: ’35, ’37, ’38, ’39, two ’40s, ’48 and ’63-1/2. His current stable is all Ford, and without a doubt its largest member is this ’66 Galaxie convertible. Wayne bought the car at the Goodguys Charlotte swap meet in 2004, and he says that at the time it was in fair condition. But, obviously, the car you see here is better than fair, meaning quite a bit happened between now and then.
Underneath its skin, the Galaxie remains fairly stock, but by 1966, Ford’s big car was actually a pretty good-driving machine, if not particularly sporty by today’s standards. Still, Wayne rebuilt the factory suspension, adding Monroe gas shocks to support the 9-inch rearend. That axle turns tall 3.00 gears to coax a little more mileage out of the non-overdrive transmission. The rear leaf springs and drum brakes remain to original specifications, but were rebuilt for better performance. But the wheels and tires are definitely not stock—a set of 18×8-inch American Racing Torq-Thrusts and 235/50ZR18 BFGoodrich tires help turn this big convertible from stock to hot rod.
The front end is similarly original, with rebuilt suspension components and drum brakes at this end of the car as well. Though the owner says he hasn’t lowered the big Ford, the 17×7-inch Americans and 245/45ZR17 BFGs really fill the wheel arches nicely and give the car a nice stance.
Wayne’s next order of business was restoring the body, and here, too, he left the car primarily as Ford intended. He performed his own bodywork, replacing the trunk pan and straightening a few dents in the body. And given how long this body is, getting it truly straight became even more important when the owner decided he wanted his Galaxie to be black. Once he was satisfied with his work, he took the car to Matt Truby in Mooresville, North Carolina, who painted it a basic DuPont black. Once Truby had done so, the quality of Wayne’s body prep really stood out—all 17-1/2 feet of it. Tri City Plating in Elizabethton, North Carolina, rechromed the Galaxie’s original bumpers, and black Mercedes convertible material replaces the original Ford fabric.
When it came time to build the engine, the owner followed the same basic theme he had used throughout the car so far: make the most of what’s already there. Though the original 390 still powers the Ford, it’s been bored 0.030-inch over to net 395 cid and fitted with 9:1 TRW pistons. The rest of the long block makes use of stock-style parts, though a Holley 4-bbl carb improves performance and reliability. Dress-up items take the form of chrome Ford Racing valve covers and a wrinkle-black oval air cleaner.
An absolute essential for a fun convertible is a great interior, and in that regard, this Ford doesn’t disappoint. While the seats and most of the interior panels are the stock items, Mickey’s Trim Shop in Denver, North Carolina, reupholstered the cavernous interior in red synthetic leather. And we mean bright red, too—the color stands out all the more against the black exterior. Billet door handles and window cranks provide a bit of shine and a modern touch, a contrast against the stock steering wheel and dash. The wheel, column and most portions of the dash not upholstered are painted to match the upholstery. Even the original radio is still present, complete with the rear-seat speaker that dips down in the middle of the rear bench.
Doug Wayne and friend Matt Truby finished the Galaxie in only four months, and since its completion in September 2005, he’s done little more than drive it. He says it’s an exceptionally good driver, and he regularly takes it to cruise-ins around Mooresville, North Wilkesboro and Concord, North Carolina. And although we saw the car in late October, we can’t imagine many Fords we’d rather have when it’s spring and nice weather returns. With a car like this, as the top goes down, the fun goes up.
