Making Strides

Well, it's been a couple weeks since my '64 Thunderbird was delivered to me from Texas. A dream of mine, restoring a car was something I always wanted to do, but never seemed to have the time or money for. Now that I'm out of the military, I have the opportunity, so I scoured the internet for something fun to work on.

I found the car on eBay, a car that ran and drove, but needed some serious help, for $2000. The body appeared straight, the engine was supposed to have been rebuilt, and it was Samoan Coral with a Wimbledon White top. I couldn't pass it up. So I bought it, thinking it would take a couple grand plus paint to get it back into pristine condition.

Dear God, was I wrong.

Upon delivery of the car, it was difficult to see what I was actually dealing with since it was 1AM, but as far as I could tell, the body was in god shape. The paint was bubbled in a couple places, but no rust underneath it, and no deep rust in any of the usual places, just a little surface rust around the deck lid seal and hood seal, no big deal. Since it was so late, I decided to just roll it off the trailer and park it in the driveway, no sense in cranking that 390 in the driveway and waking up half the neighborhood. So it sat for the night, and I went to bed.

The next day is when I really started to notice how much work I had ahead of me. I got everything opened up and checked the inside. The interior is completely shot. What was beige has seen its better days. The vinyl on the seats was cracked and weathered, the console trim was in the trunk, no carpets, and all the dash components were gone. I found the gauge cluster in the passenger floorboard, the wiper/vent/map light assembly in the rear floor. I went to start it to move it into the garage, but when I turned the key, nothing happened. I called the seller and asked if there was some special way to get it to start. Apparently there's an issue with the slide away steering column where you have to find a sweet spot. Once I found it, it started right up.

After pulling into the garage, I started removing the plethora of parts from the trunk, to include: side skirts, various trim pieces, and other miscellaneous pieces. All told, there were probably 100-200 individual parts that were not attached to the car. No problem, wanted to replace most of it anyway. It was then that I decided to check out the data plate inside the door. I didn't see it at first though, because it had been painted over. Turns out Samoan Coral is not the original color. It was Medium Beige Metallic. Bummer.

So far, it's been a trial to pull out the interior. The wiring is toast for the most part. Broken/cut wires all over. Lights don't work. This is going to be a complete overhaul. Vac lines in engine compartment need to be replaced, as do brakes, master cylinder, booster and lines. Shifting mechanisms need replacing, a complete interior makeover, and looks like that non-factory paint job is coming off. It's a project for sure, but one that will be a lot of fun. I'll post some pictures soon.