Yahoo Finance This 1971 Ford Galaxie 500 Wagon with 429 Police Interceptor V-8 Is up for Grabs
Stereotypes exist for a reason. And as anyone who grew up on a steady diet of 1970s disaster flicks and trash television or spent time glued to crime-scene investigation programs knows, coroners tend to be weirdos. While first responders disappear into a hive of activity, the coroner always stands to the side making sardonic remarks to anyone within earshot-note: it's always the sheriff-while clutching a sloppy sandwich and a tiny foam coffee cup. Maybe that's why it seems only natural that this car, one of eight ever built-a triple-blood-red 1971 Ford Galaxie 500 station wagon powered by a 429-cubic-inch Police Interceptor V-8-was ordered new by a Louisiana coroner for use as his official vehicle in his rural parish.
While it's important to separate fact from fiction, that's not as much fun, and we have a feeling that that Dr. S.D. Jones, the coroner who ordered up this megamotored Ford wagon in 1970, was as much a fan of the absurd as we are.
As oddball variants go, this 1971 Ford Galaxie 500 Country Sedan wagon whittles down the list of qualifications quickly. According to the detailed Marti Auto Works report, this is one of 1540 built with this paint and trim code, one of 48 built with the police package, and one of only eight built with the hefty 429 V-8 engine and C-6 Select Shift Cruise-O-Matic three-speed automatic transmission. The inclusion of factory air doesn't hurt, either.
The medical examiner must have been quite fond of this muscle wagon, since he held on to it well into the 1990s. After they parted ways, the car found its way into the hands of a Louisiana sheriff, who promptly slapped a light bar on the roof. So coiffed, the car made an appearance on the popular Cop Car of the Month website in 2003. A host of additional work was performed between 2005 and 2009, including an engine rebuild by Spar Machine in Rhode Island (with a reported 0.030 overbore, hardened exhaust seats, and roller rockers), bodywork by the Auto Shoppe in Vermont, and an interior refurbishment by Richmond Upholstery, also located in Vermont. An extensive collection of more than 300 images allows potential bidders a look at its overall condition and nether regions.
Although the seller tags this Galaxie 500 Country Sedan wagon as "Cobra Jet powered," information gleaned from the detailed Marti Auto Works report indicates that the 429 V-8 in question is actually a police version. Built on essentially the same Ford 385 V-8 architecture, the Police Interceptor version is said to employ forged pistons in place of the Cobra Jet V-8's cast pistons, with a resulting increase in compression and overall output. While no official horsepower number is given, most Ford aficionados agree that the engine in this trim was rated at approximately 370 gross horsepower but in actuality produced 10 to 20 percent more.
There's a lot of folklore surrounding the big-block domestic muscle-car engines of this era, and we suspect that the winning bidder will suffer no shortage of intrepid and potentially annoying individuals eager to share their knowledge on the subject. If that sounds like your type of fun, surf on over to Bring a Trailer and place a bid before the auction ends at 2:50 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, December 19.
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