TBT…

Okay already…

I’ll do a Ford one… Geez…

The 1955 Ford Thunderbird. Ford’s artwork was excellent, along with being one of the first to use actual photographs as part of the brochure…

55 tbird 155 tbird 2

And before I get anymore emails, I’ll find a Dodge to do next week… 🙂

Comments

TBT… — 12 Comments

  1. The Dodge Power Wagon…

    Who DIDN’T love the Thunderbird?

    Or the Studebaker Hawk?

    They came from an elegant era of automobile manufacture and now people restore them to their former glory and they go for HUGE money.

  2. That engine was one of Ford’s best. Had a 56′ Vic 3 speed with O.D.and the T-Bird engine. Much too fast for the brakes, suspension and tires of the time.

    Never had a chance to drive the T-Bird.

  3. LL- Okay, I’ll look for that one… 🙂

    WSF- I’ve heard that before! Grandma used to grumble about Grandpa wrecking one back in the day.

  4. Detroit could build engines, but it took a while to build brakes. I’ve driven cars that feature standard steering, standard brakes, and an unsynchronized transmission. You had to double clutch to shift, and it took real muscle to steer and brake the monster. Then there was brake fade, where the brakes heated up and refused to work.

    I found it best to plan ahead at all times.

  5. I may have related this tale before, so excuse me-
    One of the biggest mistakes I made in my life was when a fellow helicopter instructor got orders for his second tour in VN…
    He owned a ’56 T-Bird, (my favorite of the baby ‘birds). This was in ’72, so the car was 16 years old.
    He didn’t want to sell me the car. “GB, this car has SO much wrong with it!”
    I can’t remember what he was asking for it… doesn’t matter now, ’cause all those babies are worth a FORTUNE, aren’t they? 🙂

  6. My girl friend in high school had one. We found many ways to have sex in it.
    Today, my back tells me about it every day.

    • You can only accomplish that kind of thing when both of you are teenagers. I can’t believe the positions we used to get into – looking back on it, they were all pure hospital bait.

  7. MJ- EXCELLENT point… sigh And I’m that old too… double sigh…

    GB- Oh yeah, wiring nightmares! But once those were fixed, they were easy! I rewired a few of them over the years for friends, but being a Chevy guy, never got one (Yeah, I’m stupid)…

    Charles, TMI, but funny as hell, y’all were DEFINITELY acrobatic… 🙂

  8. The 50th Anniversary T Bird is no better. Well, maybe it is because it has some muscle. Anyway, my kid brother has one and the trouble he’s seen with that car. In the shop a lot and expensive, brother you don’t know expensive. But it’s a hellacious fun time when it’s working right.

    • The 50th Anniversary Birds had the misfortune to be built in the Atlanta plant. Nearly every lemon law Ford I dealt with in that era came out of the Atlanta plant.

  9. Didn’t I just re-read an entertaining anti-Ford rant in Vignettes? The original T-bird is my other half’s “if we hit the lottery” dream car. Powder-blue of course…..

    I’m thinking I’d rather trythe house in the background.

  10. r/WSF- I had one as a rental… Scared me with the way it DIDN’T handle…

    Nik- LOL, guilty… 🙂