Jay Leno’s 66 Galaxy

I caught a pretty good episode the other night of My Classic Car; Dennis Gage did the show with Jay Leno and the 66 Ford Galaxy that he built.

Now this story begins when Jay Leno was 16, he went with his mother and father to the Ford dealership to pick out a new car for the family. Jay’s father looked around the lot and went into the showroom and the only thing that the dealer had were Ford Fairlanes and Falcons. His father wanted a bigger car than those, one that he could go for a ride with the family in. His father decided to custom order the Galaxy.

Jay started bothering his father saying “let me pick the engine,  I want to pick the engine”! His mother told his father to just let him have fun and pick the engine, because what could possibly go wrong? Jay pulled the salesman to the side and said “here’s what we want” we want the 428, and we also want the muffler delete option. (The muffler delete option in those days was a set of glass packs.)

A few weeks went by and the dealership called to tell them that the car was ready, and off to the dealership they went. They signed all of the papers and walked into the service area to take the car home. Jay said they all got in and his father fired up the car and it let out a LOUD WOOOOOPAAAA!!!

He said his dad started yelling at the service manager saying this is a brand new car and that there’s already a hole in the muffler. The service manager said “no, that was the muffler delete option that your son ordered”. His father then yelled at him the entire ride home for the loud exhaust the lack of mufflers.

Jay said after some time went by he knew that his father really liked the car because he found a speeding ticket his father got for 110 mph.

Leno has since built the modern day 66 Galaxy that was featured in this episode of My Classic Car. It includes a 428 Roush crate motor, a 6 speed transmission and a performance suspension.

Picture Borrowed from : http://www.jaylenosgarage.com

Jeremy Nutt

Hi, I'm Jeremy.

8 thoughts to “Jay Leno’s 66 Galaxy”

    1. John, that is awesome! I read that they were pretty slow, with about 50 horsepower, but they don’t look terrible in the video. How long did you own it?

  1. I caught both of those MCC eps, and the impression I came away with was that IS the original car, he just rebuilt it. I built a ’67 LTD 2D HT (same body) w/a 390 4bbl and C6…and could turn low 15’s consistently. I used the FE block cause (back in ’76) there were lots of them. Then, I found Opel Ascona’s and Manta’s…and so it goes: wishes, horses, and all!!

    In today’s economy, I have to be satisfied with a stock (mostly) ’97 Dodge Ram 1500 Club Cab, or my wife’s ’07 Mazda 6. Wish I had my high school car again: ’68 Sport Fury w/383 auto…

  2. A friends dad from Groves, Texas had one…he would leave it running in the driveway just to hear the stereo rumble. Now THAT is entertainment!

  3. BTW: I did not realise they only made –6– ‘Shoguns’. Back in the day it was rumored to be available thru dealers, and was touted to be SHO drivetrains on both ends…a truly rare vehicle!

  4. That Galaxy is not in fact the one his Dad ordered, that car disappeared long ago. The new Galaxy Jay restored is one he found somewhere.

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