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As mentioned in my introduction two weeks ago, my name is Steve and I live in the Dominican Republic. A longtime motorcycling friend, Luis, let me know that one of his former cars, a 1966 Landau TBird had become an abandoned project car, disassembled and covered by a plastic tarp in the backyard of shade tree mechanic. The current owner lost interest in the project and it was for sale for $3,260.
Given that it will take a number of months to actually enjoy the car (assuming we can pull off this restoration in the tropics) I will be documenting this journey here to provide updates and seek advice as we hit unforeseen but sure-to-come roadblocks. So get your popcorn ready, here goes:
“Where can I see it?” I asked. Luis calmly responded “If you see it, you will not buy it.” Coming from anyone I didn’t know, that would have been enough to run, not walk, away from even considering the car. But I had known Luis for many years. He had had several classics on the island, was familiar with mechanics we could call upon to rescue this abandoned TBird and was confident this was doable at a reasonable cost approximating market prices in the US. ‘How about pictures?” I asked. Luis stonewalled, repeating his same monotone mantra: “If you see it, you will not buy it.”
“Ok, but was the car running? What shape is the motor in? Are all the pieces there?” I asked. ‘Well,” started Luis, “I sold it I5 years ago, and the current owner just had the motor rebuilt. It was running strong recently. It is a later generation Tbird engine. I know some pieces are missing from the car but I am not sure which ones yet.”
Sight unseen, I told Luis I’d buy the car. That was two weeks ago. Mentioning that same story to an office colleague, Daniel, he said he’d be in too. So we are now two foolhardy partners resuscitating this moribund ‘66 Bird.
We got the ID plate number for the car, 6Y87Z168893, and deciphered it via the TBird Registry:
6 = 1966
Y = Wixom, Michigan
87 = Thunderbird, 2 door Landau
Z = 390 4v V8 (gone but we know where it is)
168893 = Consecutive Unit Number
Last week I received a copy of the title via Luis, executed a purchase agreement with the seller and paid for the car. Our plan at that point was simple: (1) flatbed the car to a small town called Salcedo, in the middle of the country, to a shop where Luis was having his early 60’s Olds repainted. (2) Take stock of what’s missing from the car to order those bits as the project progressed. And (3) jointly figure out our objectives for this restoration.
The last part was easy: we decided to see what the original colors were to see if we would keep them, we wanted to make the car drivable to participate in local club events and weekend family drives and we knew we needed good AC given the local heat. It turned out the original color was sapphire blue, with a black top. We agreed we liked sapphire blue, but prefer a white top and it looks like that will be our color choice, with an aqua interior.
However, getting the car to Salcedo and taking stock of what’s missing proved to be more difficult. As soon as the deal was inked, Luis received several calls warning us to stay away from that shop (word travels fast among the small group of classic car buffs on the island). We learned the shop owner was taking on more work than he could process, and the arrival of another project car would lengthen delivery times for everyone. I received the first photos of our project. None of the actual car yet, just the pics of parts that had been removed and delivered to Luis’ office by the seller:
Given that it will take a number of months to actually enjoy the car (assuming we can pull off this restoration in the tropics) I will be documenting this journey here to provide updates and seek advice as we hit unforeseen but sure-to-come roadblocks. So get your popcorn ready, here goes:
“Where can I see it?” I asked. Luis calmly responded “If you see it, you will not buy it.” Coming from anyone I didn’t know, that would have been enough to run, not walk, away from even considering the car. But I had known Luis for many years. He had had several classics on the island, was familiar with mechanics we could call upon to rescue this abandoned TBird and was confident this was doable at a reasonable cost approximating market prices in the US. ‘How about pictures?” I asked. Luis stonewalled, repeating his same monotone mantra: “If you see it, you will not buy it.”
“Ok, but was the car running? What shape is the motor in? Are all the pieces there?” I asked. ‘Well,” started Luis, “I sold it I5 years ago, and the current owner just had the motor rebuilt. It was running strong recently. It is a later generation Tbird engine. I know some pieces are missing from the car but I am not sure which ones yet.”
Sight unseen, I told Luis I’d buy the car. That was two weeks ago. Mentioning that same story to an office colleague, Daniel, he said he’d be in too. So we are now two foolhardy partners resuscitating this moribund ‘66 Bird.
We got the ID plate number for the car, 6Y87Z168893, and deciphered it via the TBird Registry:
6 = 1966
Y = Wixom, Michigan
87 = Thunderbird, 2 door Landau
Z = 390 4v V8 (gone but we know where it is)
168893 = Consecutive Unit Number
Last week I received a copy of the title via Luis, executed a purchase agreement with the seller and paid for the car. Our plan at that point was simple: (1) flatbed the car to a small town called Salcedo, in the middle of the country, to a shop where Luis was having his early 60’s Olds repainted. (2) Take stock of what’s missing from the car to order those bits as the project progressed. And (3) jointly figure out our objectives for this restoration.
The last part was easy: we decided to see what the original colors were to see if we would keep them, we wanted to make the car drivable to participate in local club events and weekend family drives and we knew we needed good AC given the local heat. It turned out the original color was sapphire blue, with a black top. We agreed we liked sapphire blue, but prefer a white top and it looks like that will be our color choice, with an aqua interior.
However, getting the car to Salcedo and taking stock of what’s missing proved to be more difficult. As soon as the deal was inked, Luis received several calls warning us to stay away from that shop (word travels fast among the small group of classic car buffs on the island). We learned the shop owner was taking on more work than he could process, and the arrival of another project car would lengthen delivery times for everyone. I received the first photos of our project. None of the actual car yet, just the pics of parts that had been removed and delivered to Luis’ office by the seller:
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