Hot Wheels Custom 1964 Ford Galaxie

What do you do with a big Ford car and you want to make it into a muscle car?  You put in a 427 V8 and call it a Custom Galaxie, or at least that's what Hot Wheels did anyways.

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Win on Sunday, Sell the same muscle on Monday

Back in 1964, NASCAR was just like the name implied: stock cars straight from the factory, stripped out inside and mustering big mill V8's under the hood.  The Galaxie was the regular at the track, so it was time to make one for the street.  The start is a 427 CiD V8 producing 425 hp. through a 4-speed manual.  The motor was offered in top-line trim, or even basic strip-down models, but only in limited numbers.  This was the beast motor of the track in Ford's era in the 1960's.  The styling of the galaxie merged into a more Thunderbird look with quad headlights and layered billet grille, and those outer headlights start a comet tail that stretches from the front to the rear of the vehicle.  The rear then ends with jet afterburner-style taillights to finish off the jet-like styling.  The interior is large and roomy for six with dashboard that features curved speedometer pod and deep-dish steering wheel.  The trunk is equally large as well.  Some Galaxie owners like to go the extra mile with add-ons like rear spoiler, dual center exhaust, and grille scoops and reverse hood scoop from the 1964 Thunderbolt.

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Sleek and Big

The Hot Wheels version defies those custom add-ons to produce the custom 1964 Galaxie.  The details are nice, especially at the front grille, headlights, and hood scoop.  The taillights, spoiler, and dual exhaust finish off the sharp exterior look.  The interior is accurate as well, though the base seems lacking of details.  The raked rear also looks good, as does the dark blue, red, Kmart-only white, and light blue of 2007.  However, I found these versions just bland, not really bringing out the best of this casting.

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In 2012 it finally clicked for me in orange with black and white stripes and 427 logo's.  The real kicker is the side stripes that perfectly follows the comet tail, along with a white stripe showing the bulging part of the comet.  Wow, what a look!  Add to that the metallic blue and metallic green recolor with tinted chrome base and you've got one awesome-looking vehicle.  After a run in 2013 with flames and a NASCAR-style interior with rollcage, the 2014 returns the same comet stripe details with Crowder cams logo's.

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All it took was a detailed comet's tail to really get me into liking this casting.

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