It is my unserstanding that Ford Motor Co. furnished 2 new Ford Galaxie 300 (plain jane) cars every year around August -Sept. (when new model years are out) these were delivered by the local dealership there in California, and the old 2 were returned to the dealership, repainted and sold as used cars. They were never Galaxie 500 from what I've seen on the show. they were most likely a black car with white top which was a very common paint scheme, The doors would be painted white to match the top and become a police car for the show. The cars were 1960- 1968 year models. If you notice the shows filmed from Sept through Dec. will have the new car (lets say 63) with 1962 plates, and shows filmed between Jan and August will have 1963 plates on them. You can tell by the odd years 61, 63, 65 etc. wereblack background with yellowish orange letters, and even years 60.62.64. etc. were yellowish orange background and black letters in NC. (I researched this before I replicated the JL-327 plates a few years back) I don't know if the cars were the police interceptors or not, other than the fact that when seen from behind I never saw dual exhaust on the show, only single exhaust which leads me to believe they were just plain Galaxies (300 series) Now days the 300 or plain galaxies are very hard to find, I found all the right trim to make my 63 Galaxie 500 a Galaxie 300 in a salvage yard. (I still haven't put it on though) So there most likely were no cars that survived the show as Mayberry squad cars, although there was a rumor a few years ago that one of the mayberry squad cars was found in a warehouse full of personal effects of one of the singing cowboys, I think it was Gene Autry but I could be wrong and it was supposed to go to a museum but I've never heard anthing else about it. (Most likely just a rumor) So if anyone tries to sell you an original Mayberry squad car from the show, I'd be very very cautious The 58 ford mentioned by the poster could possibly be a replica of the one from the Danny Thomas show/ Andy Griffith Show pilot, I haven't watched it in a long time, but I think it was a 57, 58 or maybe 59 ford, someone who has seen it recently may know which year model it was.
Phil Ernest T. Fox "Mayberry says thanks and happy motoring" _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://wbmutbb.com/mailman/listinfo/wbmutbb_wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
