My '65 Galaxie 500  A trip to remember! The morning after taking possession, we went to fill the tank and head over to get new tires. So, I fill the tank and went in to get a couple sodas. Some guy comes running in and says, "Sir, you'd better call the fire department cause your car has gas running out on the pavement." Huh?!? I run out and sure enough, it is just gushing out under the car, like a cow pissing on a flat rock! I pulled the car away from the pumps and went to call the fire dept. They came and dumped a lot of cat litter on the drive and called a tow truck to get it for me. (see attached photo). Ok, the guy is really helpful and he takes us to a place called CarTech. They take it right in and begin working on it. Turns out the guy who sold it to me who said it cost him $100 to fix the sending unit never told me he did the work himself and is a complete idiot! When they put it on the hoist and pulled the fuel tank float assembly, he just drilled through it and stuck the wires in without sealing anything! Gas was running right out around the wires he used! Ok, it gets better... They take the sending unit out and seal all the holes up because they couldn't get a replacement sending unit. Ok, that should be that and he's tightening the sending unit in place and BANG... A tiny pinhole forms at the bottom of the tank and gas is peeing right out! SHIT! He sticks his finger over the hole (yea, like he could ride there all the way to Iowa. Duh!) And it gets better!! He grabs a siphon hose and now they have to drain the entire tank to fix the hole. While he's rattling a thing around in the tank.. another hole springs open! Ok, this is on the rack for about 5 hours and they finally have the tank drained. There was more, but I'm tired of typing about how not very MacGyver these guys are. I finally get them to use sheet metal screws with rubber gaskets to seal these two holes. They went and got some Steel in a tube stuff to coat everything and I come out of the office about 4pm and asked if it was ready... No, instead of getting the "Fixed in 10 minutes" stuff, they put the fixed in 24 hours stuff on. We do have a better hotel tonight. Aaron and I went to the absolutely coolest mall where they had a theatre with 25 screens in it and Star Wars was running on 8 of them starting every 15 minutes or so. It was AWESOME! Back to the car... There is a bright side. While it was up on the rack, I got to see the underside and inspect it closely. I am really happy! There isn't a spot of rust on the frame or anywhere! Even the floor pans look absolutely brand new and have never been undercoated! You would say the car is about 5 years old. The sheet metal on the front needs work though... The interior looked greenish in the pictures, but it turns out to be a really nice shade of blue. The car runs good and with new tires (and the tank fixed) I'm sure we'll make it home. Ok, it is not a restored car, but it will work great as a daily driver while Aaron and I work on it. ---[ DAY 2 ]--- Yesterday went pretty smooth. In the morning, we went to pick up the car at CarTech and the tank was no longer leaking. I had them change the oil because it looked bad. It also has a new battery in it too. The old one looked like it fit a go-kart and was not clamped down because it was too small. So, it has the correct 24F and fully charged which will be good as you read on.. Did I mention that it has a good frame? Cool. We loaded up the luggage and were finally on the road about 10am. I drove straight to the Pep Boys and purchased 2 5-gallon gas containers for the road trip. I have no idea what kind of mileage this tank gets and the gas gauge is DOA, so better to be safe than sorry. Next stop, the car wash! This one proved to be more difficult because out here, it doesn't rain often and they don't wash their cars much. We found one a couple blocks down from the abandoned bowling alley across from CarTech. It took only dollars so I managed to get the first layer of crud off the paint. Ok, now to get rid of these weather checked bias ply tires that look like something my brother Don would have on his Harley. We went to a tire and wheel place and had some new radials and wheels put on. Man, what a difference that made! Cha-ching.. The car looks good! They broke down the old wheels and I kept the rims and the dog-dish hubcaps and then to the gas station. Ok, I cautiously filled the tank checking for the famous "running river" and none was found. Whoo hoo! We hooked up the laptop and headed for San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. It was way cool! We drove through the streets of SF. You know, the ones where the houses look like they are 45 degrees to the street? Going up them was cool, but coming down the other side got a little scary. 4 drums and no power brakes made for some very hot pads by the time we reached the bottom. No worries. Off to the bridge. We got some good views from it too. Could see Alcatraz island and other neat buildings. Once across the bridge, we headed up coast highway 1 to Stints Beach and then cut over on C105 to catch back up to highway 101. Wow! Highway 1 is not made for this car. That windy piece of road had us bobbing and weaving all along the coast. Good thing we had new tires! P245 60R15s. Nice and wide. Heard some groans from under the front end, but this car probably never ventured out of the community before. On this leg, we probably averaged 25 miles an hour for about 20 miles. We passed our turn to C105 twice before we took it. We had to double check the GPS! Sure enough, what looked like a farm driveway was the road. Wowzie! If highway 1 was bad, this took the cake! 1.5 cars wide, paved, but it was so full of 90 degree turns and elevation changes it looked more like a go-kart track! Now the car complained a bit with all the twisting on the corners. The upside was that it was absolutely beautiful. The trees and ferns, peaks and views, it was probably the prettiest stretch that day. Oh, and we averaged about 15 MPH here too... When we finally got back to 101, the traffic was stop and go. Once we got to interstate 80, it began to pick up and the car just floated down the road. Those new tires were just what the doctor ordered. We got close to where we needed fuel and we found an In-N-Out Burger place, so we parked the car and went in to eat and rest. About an hour later, we head back out and I notice a trail of something that looked like it was running from the car into the lot. I looked and figured it was just a little anti-freeze from the heat. I hit the key and the car grinds over and over and over and over and over and over and over.. and will not start. I noticed what looked like white smoke coming from under the hood. Hmmm, that's not right... I pop the hood and... F I R E ! ! ! The air cleaner and intake has a nice fire going with flame coming out the snorkel. I start swatting it with a rag t-shirt and it just keeps burning. A guy in a Jeep runs up with a CO2 extinguisher and POOF, the fire is out and everything looks white. Sigh. Ok, that was not good. Turns out the carb bubbles gas out the secondary vent tubes when it is hot and must have just dumped it out and onto the intake and the ground. We did get the car started and found that the accelerator linkage has slipped in the bracket and I couldn't open the carb fully to clean out the flooded condition. I had Aaron start it while I ran the carb outside. Good, finally running and we head off to find a gas station. Its dark out and about 9PM. While looking for cheap gas away from the interstate, we passed two auto parts places. I told Aaron I need to get another carburetor before we leave cause I don't want to melt any more stuff under the hood. I see the Kragen Performance store still looks open so I turn around at the light and.. Yep, it dies in the middle of a 4 lane intersection. I had just enough speed to slowly coast to the other side and stop at the curb. Ok, no flames, but no go either. Aaron is now driving and I'm pushing to get it into the NAPA parking lot. We lock the car and walk up the hill to the Kragen cause there were lights on. Oh, it closed 20 minutes ago too. So, we go a hunting for a phone and phonebook to see where we can find to stay for the night. As we walk by this run-down Garage with a lot of crappy used cars in it, I see someone still working inside. He is nice enough to loan me a half-inch wrench so I can tighten the accelerator cable back in place and get it running again. That fixed the stalling and it now runs. Aaron asked if we could go get marshmallows for tomorrows bonfire... Ha ha ha. We drive to the Holiday Inn next to the In-N-Out and will go to the parts store tomorrow and get a good carb, air cleaner (not like the melted one), some new plug wires (again, not like the melted ones) and some tools for the road. ---[ DAY 3 ]--- Time to get Aaron up and head out! It's a great morning. We're both up, checked out and the bags in the car. It fires [sic] right up and off we go to Kragen to get the parts. Nice store! We don't have anything like this in Iowa... Every high performance part is on display and in stock. I pick up a new air cleaner and filter, new plug wires, a took kit, oh and a fire extinguisher. I skipped the new carb because all of the original bent steel tubes are on this and I don't want to wreck any of them trying to get an aftermarket carb hooked up. This will have to do. I spend the next hour replacing all the burnt stuff and must have made 2 extra trips in the store for stuff I forgot. They were all very nice at the counter and symathetic to my needs. Again, a pleasant surprise for California. I hit the key and everything works like a charm! I head to the nearest gas station, fill 'er up and off we go. The car is now averaging about 14 mpg and we haven't had to use any of the gas in the trunk. We cruise through Salt Lake City, and through Montana. Very pretty. That afternoon when I stopped for gas, the car started chugging and missing and was acting up again. I pull into the gas station and steam is pouring out from under the hood. Aaron sees this and immediately dives for the fire extinguisher thinking it's time to roast those marshmallows. No, it's just steam.... I cool the radiator off with a hose that the girl at the station was using to fill the bug buckets and checked. Yep, out of water. I filled the radiator and the gas tank and off we go. Now, I start noticing water spots on the windshield as I drive.. Odd, there aren't any clouds in the sky (yet.. That is coming...) Sure enough, it's overheating while driving and spraying out on the windshield. This time we make it to Kearney NE to stop for the night. Next morning, I buy two gallons of Anti-freeze at $6.60/gal. I asked the lady at the counter if it came with a tube of Vaseline but she didn't see the humor in that. Could be that people from NE are just slow.. You know, where they have the signs that say "slow children" in their streets. Ok, that cures the boil over problem and we make it home! Turns out, everything but the gas tank could have been avoided if I would have checked the radiator with the hygrometer before leaving Oakland. I did talk the gentleman I purchased the car from and he has offered to refund the money for the repairs he made. In all, this will be a story my son can tell his kids about some day and have a really good laugh. Thanks for reading! john

Showing the fat 245 60R15 dunlops on 15x8 American Racing Torq Thrust II's Perfect 9-inch 4.11 gears and a real Detroit Locker with 28 splines for the Galaxie. A real bargain for only $200! A sweet intake for the Galaxie. It's a low-riser 427 piece that will go in soon! A go-fast air compressor for the garage. It has to go fast with all those decals! Engine after the fire. New plug wires, air cleaner, pcv, Mallory Unilite and Hooker Super Comp headers. I need the idler and bracket for the air conditioning belt... Do you have one? Please?