Just as you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t judge a used car dealer by its front row.
Even though the Virginia dealership had shiny, late model cars up front, a shed in the back of the lot hid at least one desirable treasure.
Ace Ford barn-finder Lars Ekberg had heard about a 1963 1/2 R-Code fastback at the Virginia car dealer. It was out of sight, stored in a shed with several other older cars. The dealer had purchased the car in 1977 from the original owner in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ekberg was told it had been frequently street-raced “back in the day.”
The Galaxy sat in the dealer shed for at least 20 years. This car was particularly desirable because it was an R-Code, meaning that it had built with Ford’s 427 cubic-inch engine; very powerful and very rare. The car also came equipped with a four-speed gearbox, XL trim, and had only 77,000 original miles.
The original owner replaced the 427 emblems with 390 cubic-inch emblems, probably to fool potential street-racing competitors. Eventually, he blew the 427 engine and replaced it with a less-powerful 352 engine, but the car wound up sitting in a field behind the owner’s home.
Lars Ekberg followed up leads about this 1963 1/2 R-Code Galaxy sitting in a shed at a Virginia used car dealership. LARS EKBERG
Ekberg successfully purchased the car with the intention of restoring it to original, but eventually he had to sell it to a Virginia enthusiast who lived just 20 miles from the car dealership where it sat for so many years.
“The buyer wanted to restore it and bring it to the Barrett-Jackson auction,” Ekberg says. “I’m not sure if that ever happened.”