It’s hard to believe this is the 20th Annual Cruisin’ the Coast; early numbers indicate this will be the biggest ever with registered cars approaching the 8,000 mark! The weather was absolutely perfect and cars of every description were cruising Highway 90 from Ocean Springs to Bay St. Louis to Pass Christian and at least six other towns hugging the Gulf Coast. While cruising around with thousands of fellow gearheads is fun, there are plenty of other things to do beyond cruising. You could take in the big collector car auction and while you’re at the Biloxi Coliseum you may as well hit the swap and buy everything from a complete engine or hot rod chassis to tools and garage art. The car corral is filled with cars for sale, there is an autocross event, the for-charity raffle car and to top it off every town is filled with great restaurants where you can enjoy some famous gulf seafood. And of course there are the casinos in Biloxi for those who enjoy gambling and big-time entertainment. Speaking of entertainment, the cruise spots all have stages set up for live music. Yes, every venue is bigger and better than ever and the amazing staff of volunteers keep traffic flowing, answer questions, and do it all with a big warm smile.
We truly enjoy the great mix of cars that make Cruisin’ the Coast an annual tradition. From traditional pre-1948 hot rods to early Corvettes, muscle cars, gassers, and customs, you will find it all at the Cruising the Coast. The ’50s and ’60s cars seem to be the most popular, from the ever-popular Mustangs and Camaros to the orphans like Studebaker, Packard, and Pontiac.
Over the years the event has grown in participant numbers and in days. Cruisin’ the Coast is now known as America’s Largest Block Party and while it is advertised as a weeklong event, the truth is, this block party is more than a week long. Speaking with event organizers they tell us cars are now coming three days before the event officially begins and many others are staying several days after the event officially closes, and who can blame them, this is simply the perfect time to enjoy the Gulf Coast. This means the actual cruise-in is at least 10 days long so our advice is to get here early and stay late, the event is that good!
We are busy selecting the first 10 cars of the Painless Performance Products/STREET RODDER Top 100 for 2017 and picking the Best Ford in a Ford, presented by Ford Performance. And we were watching some lucky winner win an AMSOIL shopping spree, among other great awards. Yes, it was another fantastic Cruisin’ the Coast event, and once again a special thanks to all the volunteers who have made this such a great event for the past 20 years. We are in countdown mode for the 2017 event to be held October 1-8, 2017; be there and be ready to party.
Top 100 Tech Tip:
Solar Panel Charging
If you are one of us who parks a car for long periods of time at an airport, there are solar panels you can put on the dash and plug into your dash accessory port to help maintain a good charge in the battery.
Dick Bales | 1932 Ford roadster | Easley, SC
Ron & Terri Allen | 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air | Scottsbluff, NE
Don & Marilyn Peterson | 1961 Chevrolet Impala | Buda, TX
Robert Cox | 1932 Ford Tudor | Ft. Smith, AR
Bill Tennant | 1955 Mercury Montclair | Colleyville, TX
Jack Benge | 1961 Ford Starliner | Topeka, KS
Jim & Sue Kraus | 1949 Mercury | Bouke, LA
Arthur Rodriquez | 1931 Ford Pickup | Seguin, TX
Mark Cuzzola | 1937 Ford Pickup | Slidell, LA
Bobby Madden | 1932 Ford five-window coupe | Olive Branch, MS
Best Ford in a Ford
Dave Biggs’ 1963 Galaxie Fastback
We were in Mississippi searching for the perfect recipient of our annual Cruisin’ the Coast Best Ford in a Ford, presented by Ford Performance, award when we spotted this 1963 Galaxie. It had that classic ’60s hot rod look, slightly down in the front, or is it slightly raised a bit in the back? Either way it has a wicked hot rod rake, dog dish hubcaps, and the signature teardrop hood made famous by the Ford Fairlane in 1963-1964. Throw in flawless bright red paint and we were zooming in for a closer look.
As it turns out everything on this car is pure performance and that teardrop hood is just barely tall enough to cover the Whipple blower atop the potent 5.4 Ford motor. Much like the rest of the car, the engine is nicely detailed and things like the breather tube on the black, finned valve covers lend a nice ’60s performance vibe to the engine bay. It turns out the engine is a supercharged 5.4L motor from a Ford F-150 Lightening. The original Eaton supercharger did not clear the hood and the air intake was in the wrong position so a Whipple supercharger was substituted. In stock form the 5.4 F-150 Lightening motor is good for 380 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque and this motor is doing even better than that; it’s a monster.
About this time Dave Biggs walked over and told us “the rest of the story.” Now, Dave is a lifelong Ford guy so when he heard about a 1963 Galaxie Fastback being used to feed hogs in a farm near his Pendleton, Indiana, home he just had to find out more. Sure enough, there it was; a 1963 Galaxie sitting in the middle of pigpen. No doors, no hood, no decklid, just the body and front and rear glass. If this seems weird it gets even stranger. It seems the farmer had every intention of restoring the car, so much so that he had stripped several parts cars and had several sets of doors, multiple sets of trim, seats, hoods, decklids, and more. Until he found time for the restoration he was raising hogs.
Now one might expect a pigpen muscle car to be in pretty rough condition, but for some unexplained reason the floors were perfect in the car and rust was very minimal. It took a little talking, but eventually the farmer decided to fed the hogs in a different trough and sold Dave the Galaxie and a few truckloads of parts, too.
Over the next couple of years Dave assembled the car you see here. He did every bit of the work himself from the suspension, engine build, to bodywork and paint with some help from his son. Externally the car remains stock with the exception of the fiberglass bubble hood and the SOHC emblems on the front fenders. The car rolls on tradition 15-inch steel wheels with 215/70-15 and 255/70-15 Hankook rubber. Koni shocks and Ford disc brakes improve the handling.
Inside the car the factory column shifter selects gears in the 4R100 Ford tranny. Seating is compliments of a pair of original 1963 Galaxie bucket seats that have been refurbished with stock covers. Dave built his own dash insert to hold the TPI gauges. The custom console holds everything from two drinks to the CB radio, yes, CB radio, still the best way for a group of hot rodders to converse when they’re rolling to a great event like Cruisin’ the Coast.
And so our search was over; this would be our Best Ford in a Ford, presented by Ford Performance, for the 2016 Cruisn’ the Coast event. We’ll close with this warning: if you happen to pull up to the light next to this 1963 Galaxie be forewarned, you might be getting a very clear view of his taillights when that light goes green.
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