Tuesday, April 5, 2016

1966 Thunderbird Coupe


t1

This 1965 Ford Thunderbird was purchased from the estate of the second owner. It had been sitting for a while and needed some mechanical freshening to be roadworthy again. That work has been done and now it’s ready to drive! It’s located in San Diego, California and is being sold here on eBay at no reserve. The opening bid is only $3,000, and if it stays there I’ll have to figure out how to get it home from California! I doubt it will, though. 

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The second owner purchased it from the original owner when the car was showing 11,000 miles; the car is now showing 19,000 miles. I’m guessing that’s 119,000, although the seller isn’t sure. The second owner decided they wanted a red car with a white top, and promptely painted over the original Diamond Blue; I believe they must have replaced the carpet as well. Is it me, or does the front bumper look a little bent?

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That huge deck and rear bumper look really nice and straight, and the seller tells us that the sequential turn signals work perfectly. If you haven’t seen those, it’s worth asking someone at your next local car show to demonstrate them for you; I love the ones on my Mustang that are an imitation.

collage

The interior looks a little unusual with the mixture of silver-gray and red, but the more I look at it, the more I like it. The ad does state that there is some minor rust on the body; I think what I’d do if I owned this one is enjoy the car as-is for the moment, and eventually return the car to it’s Diamond Blue original color and do whatever bodywork was necessary.

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As I mentioned earlier, the dealership selling the car did quite a bit of mechanical refurbishment to get the ‘Bird back on the road. With a long list, including new fluids and filters, new fuel and water pumps, a re-cored radiator and a new carburetor, there was also a new distributor, alternator, battery and starter cables. Finally, some exhaust work and getting the power windows working got this great old Ford ready to cruise again. No, it’s not original, and despite the seller’s comments it won’t win any car shows, either. But I sure would feel great driving it around our new hometown this summer!

Source: barnfinds.com

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