'62 galaxie starlifter/lorenzen replica

This is my 4th Stock Car replica ('56, 2-'57 "Fireballs'"&'63 1/2 427 Lorenzens, doing '57 T-Bird "Battlebird"). Just finished putting the '60 Starliner roof on the '62 Galaxie Convert. Will put a picture of the shortened story of the real "Starlifter". You can Google the long verison. Ford made some fiberglass roofs for this option and I have heard of ones for sale. If anyone out there has one or knows of one, please contact me as I have located another project '62 Convert. and a Starliner body. Before everyone starts shouting about destroying good cars, neither was restorable (maybe the '62 if you had unlimited $$). The Starliner had rust holes so big you could throw a cat through them and crush the frame in your bare hands like Superman! I had a lot of fun building it and if anyone else is trying one, contact me about the roof mounting ( a BEAR)! Tom

 

bttp

 

Nice piece. I graduated from Fayetteville High School in 1966. Fred Lorenzen cars were often on display at Lafayette Ford, along with the Playmate Pink Mustang corral, and the Cobra.

 

That's cool making a race replica like that, might be too late, but why don't you make a mold off the starliner roof and make it a real fiberglass roof like the factory offered? then you can make multiples, maybe sell some to other 62 convertible owners?

 

I saw the car at Zeypherhills and looked it over real good. It really had that authentic look to it. How did you get the tire rub marks to look so real?

 

Nice attention to details. It must be quite a task to replicate those great, legendary stockers. Way to keep the memories alive. Fred Lorenzen was always one of my favorite drivers.....Don.

 

Nicely done!!

(Fred was always one of the ladies favorites, too.....)

 

nice recreation ! right down to the tire rubs on the door

 

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Ah yes,back when NASCAR actually meant STOCK car racing.

 

Awesome car!!! Not a replica of anything, but here is my '64 300 Galaxie sedan "short track car" that I have been tinkering with for a few years. Mine is street driven almost every day:

 

ALRIGHT on the '64!! A good friend of mine is just finishing a '64 Gal HT done exactly like Jr. Johnsons "Holly-Farms" 427 car. The 427 is done to the MAX and sounds awesome. I had a '63 CUSTOM 2 years ago with a 428/4speed called SERTA--"The Perfect Sleeper". ALL these Stock car replicas should go to The Darlington Historical Race Festival near the end of Sept./BEST driving-the-track show in the US!!!!

 

SERTA, that's a good one! Nice lookin car.

 

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Very cool! Reminds me of some of the models I built 57-62. I sure would like to find one of those roofs!

 

Great! I had read about the Starlifters, but never saw one.

 

Starlifter is very cool..........

 

T.Kitchen,

I have never heard of the Galaxie Starlifter. Pretty neat. What year did Ford make the roof's to fit convertibles? Also, why? wouldn't a hardtop be a better race foundation?

Awesome car, by the way. Love it. Didn't the 406's come with 3 dueces?

Mike

 

'62 Galaxies were "square back roofs". The Starliner was a fastback = better aero. HM built a few of these until NASCAR said nope, won't work. I think the "Golden Boy" won Atlanta in one.

 

Ahhh, that makes since. I was forgetting that the fastback ended in 1961. Very cool, I still learn somthing every day.

Thanks,
Mike

 

The 406 came with 3x2s except if you ordered it with a 4-barrel as NASCAR required, hence the 385 HP. Took the car to the Daytona Dream Cruise and it was a BIG HIT! Also will be on an upcoming TV segment of "Tail Fins & Chrome" on Sun 11 AM/Tampa or can check it out soon on their website www.TailFinsandChrome.com Back home and back to work on my next one...1957 T-Bird "Battlebird", about 1/2 done/ have one of the 141 Hilborn Y-Block complete Fuel Injection set-ups for it! Tom

 

Ahhh, the Battlebird is another great one!

 

yes,but having a hard time getting the clear "dome like"headlight covers done. They sold in J C Whitney for $2.39 A PAIR IN 1957!!

 

Wow! What a neat car! I tell you what.......I love the look of the '61 Starliners AND '62 Galaxies. If Ford would have taken a page from Chevrolet's "bubbletop" in 1962 and built a 1962 Galaxie with with a steel '61 Starliner roof......that would have been a beautiful looking car! Guys have built "phantom" '62 Pontiac bubbletop Catalinas which are another car that should have been built and it would be awesome to see a "phantom" 1962 Galaxie "bubbletop" with a Starliner roof.

 

Its amazing that Ford did't CONTINUE with the fiberglass top production as they sent them out to many dealers as an option. One showed up at Moultrie Swap Meet a few years ago for $1,000, but has disappeared? FORD produced a brochure showing a model first sitting in a Starlifter, then standing beside it with the top suspended over the car. Probably the shear weight of the lift off top nixed the project as the '55-'57 T-Bird tops were a 2 MAN project to get on-off and it was 1/2 the size.
With the '60 Starliner top I used, the rear windows rolled RIGHT UP INTO THE CHANNELS! The fronts are about 1/2 inch short of making it. Used the front Conv bow on the Starliner steel top/worked out "ok". The rear bubble glass hangs over the top boot trim.....but what the hell, can't find an original fiberglass top or afford to have one made.

 

Btt

 

One last note to anyone thinking of mounting a Starliner roof on a '62. The rear lower glass channel on a '60 DIPS down over its trunk area so the glass is made for that dip. The '61 Starliner rear glass does not dip, BUT is still about 2-3" LONGER than a '60 rear glass?!?! If you make a mold of a Starliner roof, you will have to cut old glass to fit the new rear opening (almost impossible)or have Custom gla$$ made! Tom

 

Very nice cars, and don't worry about those who cry, "it should have been restored". Number one, that's rarely heard on the HAMB. You'll more likely hear, "cut it up"! Secondly, if you can do that with them, they could have been restored, that's a plain fact. If you did that, it could have been restored. So get over it, you did it your way, its nice, and its no one else's business.

 

btt

 

They did have less drag for racing and ran 7 mph faster than "notchbacks" in NASCAR. The buying public LOVED them for their style in '60 and '61 with the Starliner. No one is sure why Ford didn't do it again in '62? The one FORD most "died-in-the-wool-Chevy-owners still like today is the '61 Starliner (preferrably the HiPo 390/3x2s/375 HP one). It is now THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER FORD OF ALL Galaxies with some being sold for well over $100K. They also LOVE the 3 speed overdrive that they went "120mph in 2nd gear" (and then 125 in 3rd). Tom