64 Gal Question..

[Royce]

My friend is looking at a 64 Xl and had some questions I could not answer.  The car is claimed as an original XL with him being third owner.. It has an XL interior with buckets and console. The anomalies are that it is column shift automatic and it has no XL badging. Is this a real one or did somebody put an XL interior in a 500 fastback

[CJBIRD]

Perhaps the below pictures of a 1964 warranty plate breakdown and the following picture of the corresponding body codes may help you solve it.

-Tony

[1964Fastback]

I was looking at that site too.  The "body" code and the 3rd and 4th digits of the VIN indicate whether it's an XL.  Both should "match" each other, though different codes are used in the two locations so it's the meaning of the codes that should match, not the literal codes if that makes sense.  Also compare the door tag VIN to the one on the passenger side cowl under the hood to make sure they match each other.  Not having the external XL spear trim seems suspicious.

Pat

[shady]

real XLs will have a XL in the center of the horn ring, a XL emblem on the glove box door, XL emblem on the front fender trim. No dome light in the center of the roof, as there is one on each side of the b pillar. As for the console, they put the same console in some Fairlanes with column shift and those had a a full finned top plate with no hole for a shifter so a trade could have been done on that. The pedals also had stainless trim on those. I've never seen a column shifted XL but that's not saying they didn't make one or a dealer didn't make a customer happy.

[1964Fastback]

Also the XL door panels are fancier.

Pat

[Gregwill16]

The only column shift XL would be one with a swing-away column.

[427John]

I once had an XL 4 door hardtop and even that car had the floorshift,It also had XL callouts all over the place in addition to the ones already mentioned the tailight panel and hubcap centers also had xl emblems on them.

[Heo]

real XLs will have a XL in the center of the horn ring, a XL emblem on the glove box door, XL emblem on the front fender trim. No dome light in the center of the roof, as there is one on each side of the b pillar. As for the console, they put the same console in some Fairlanes with column shift and those had a a full finned top plate with no hole for a shifter so a trade could have been done on that. The pedals also had stainless trim on those. I've never seen a column shifted XL but that's not saying they didn't make one or a dealer didn't make a customer happy.

I have a non XL with the lights in the sidepillars

[Royce]

Mystery solved.  The car does have the swing away column, Which I would assume would only be available with column shift.. The picture he was shown was not clear and it looked like it was missing the XL emblem on the 1/4 panel. It does have the trunk emblem and the steering wheel emblem.  I did not know about the body code ID so I will have him check the data plate.

One more question.. Is  the spear on the front fender one piece or is it a raised outer molding with a stainless insert

[427John]

You would think that the swing away column would be available with floor shift since it was in the Mustang and Cougar.

[Gregwill16]

Swing-away column in a Galaxie is a whole different animal than a tilt-away in a Mustang or Cougar.

On a Galaxie it is mechanical and the whole column "swings" away. The shift lever is part of the locking assembly and actuator, best I remember. The whole dash assembly is specific along with the rag joint and a bracket for the steering box.

The Mustang and Cougar just have the upper part of the column "tilt" away and it is vacuum driven if I'm not mistaken off of door switches.

[shady]

Mystery solved.  The car does have the swing away column, Which I would assume would only be available with column shift.. The picture he was shown was not clear and it looked like it was missing the XL emblem on the 1/4 panel. It does have the trunk emblem and the steering wheel emblem.  I did not know about the body code ID so I will have him check the data plate.

One more question.. Is  the spear on the front fender one piece or is it a raised outer molding with a stainless insert

If you are talking about the one on top of the fender, they are a one piece cast.

[427John]

Swing-away column in a Galaxie is a whole different animal than a tilt-away in a Mustang or Cougar.

On a Galaxie it is mechanical and the whole column "swings" away. The shift lever is part of the locking assembly and actuator, best I remember. The whole dash assembly is specific along with the rag joint and a bracket for the steering box.

The Mustang and Cougar just have the upper part of the column "tilt" away and it is vacuum driven if I'm not mistaken off of door switches.

So does the Galaxie use the same setup as the T-bird?

[Gregwill16]

John, I have no experience with a Tbird, so not sure.