Photo: TM Customs
We lament the fact that time after time, gearheads in search of a fitting platform to turn into a restomod without breaking the bank buying a rolling chassis routinely snub the third-generation Ford Galaxie. Larger and more comfortable than a Mustang and nowhere near as sought after, thus making it less expensive, this only means there's more room in the budget to add some badass modifications.
Just ask the crack team at TM Customs of Alabama; they know their way around a Ford Galaxie the way a barbeque pitmaster knows their way around a slab of brisket. From classic American trucks to vans and just about every classic muscle car in between, there's not very much out there built in the USA over the last 50 years that the TM Customs team isn't familiar with. Safe to say, they're the right group of folks to take what was once a full-sized family coupe and turn it into a fire-breathing psycho screamer of a machine.
From the factory, the third-generation Galaxie hit North American showroom floors with a slew of different V8s from both the Windsor series and the FE-series, which were also found in Ford trucks of the period. In Brazil, Galaxies even left the factory with the positively dinosaur-like Ford Y-Block V8 in production in one form or another since the mid-1950s. All great engines in the contexts of their time. But come on, we can do better nowadays than stinky carburetors and unregulated exhaust fumes. With the original motor unceremoniously ripped from the engine bay, TM Customs was free to fit whatever they liked instead.
As if it was going to be anything else but a Coyote V8 that got the call to power this Galaxie. With five liters of pure automotive joy to work with, a second-generation Coyote motor is roughly two full liters smaller than the largest FE V8 that came with a third-gen Ford Galaxie from the factory. Even with minimal aftermarket mods, these motors can jet in the neighborhood of 430 horsepower to the tires, and that's roughly the power level this Galaxie has to work with. By all measures, apart from people obsessed with twin turbos, this is a perfectly acceptable amount of power.
With a Ford 6R80 six-speed automatic transmission behind the engine, the trademark big, lazy American full-sized coupe mentality is still ever-present in this restomod, just updated by several decades into something easier to use and easier to live with. This is made doubly the case thanks to a set of RideTech ShockWave airbag shock absorbers, just like you might find in a modern luxury car. Add it all together, and you can't help but think this Galaxie is more enticing to drive than most restomod Mustangs out there. Imagine thinking that 50 years ago, right? It would've sounded absurd. It's just another feather in the cap for TM Customs and crew.
From the factory, the third-generation Galaxie hit North American showroom floors with a slew of different V8s from both the Windsor series and the FE-series, which were also found in Ford trucks of the period. In Brazil, Galaxies even left the factory with the positively dinosaur-like Ford Y-Block V8 in production in one form or another since the mid-1950s. All great engines in the contexts of their time. But come on, we can do better nowadays than stinky carburetors and unregulated exhaust fumes. With the original motor unceremoniously ripped from the engine bay, TM Customs was free to fit whatever they liked instead.
As if it was going to be anything else but a Coyote V8 that got the call to power this Galaxie. With five liters of pure automotive joy to work with, a second-generation Coyote motor is roughly two full liters smaller than the largest FE V8 that came with a third-gen Ford Galaxie from the factory. Even with minimal aftermarket mods, these motors can jet in the neighborhood of 430 horsepower to the tires, and that's roughly the power level this Galaxie has to work with. By all measures, apart from people obsessed with twin turbos, this is a perfectly acceptable amount of power.
With a Ford 6R80 six-speed automatic transmission behind the engine, the trademark big, lazy American full-sized coupe mentality is still ever-present in this restomod, just updated by several decades into something easier to use and easier to live with. This is made doubly the case thanks to a set of RideTech ShockWave airbag shock absorbers, just like you might find in a modern luxury car. Add it all together, and you can't help but think this Galaxie is more enticing to drive than most restomod Mustangs out there. Imagine thinking that 50 years ago, right? It would've sounded absurd. It's just another feather in the cap for TM Customs and crew.
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