Mark has bitten the Bullet!

[Guest]

Hi Guys

After 9 months searching for a Squarebird I've gone and bought myself a 1961 Bullet Bird convertible. This car just ticked all of the boxes (apart from being Squarebird. It's in a warehouse in Long Beach waiting to be shipped here to Oz. It should arrive here mid November.

The car comes from Utah and the seller very generously offered to deliver it to Long Beach in his own covered car trailer as part of the deal. That really took a load off my mind as I was worried about internal transport having heard a few horror stories.

Cheers

Mark

[Anders]

Stunning! Looks like winner! CONGRATS!!!

[YellowRose]

Mark has bitten the Bullet!

Mark and I have spend many months looking for a good Squarebird for him. We came up with many candidates, but, unfortunately, they each had something about them that made us wary of them. After seeing this beautiful red Bulletbird, and talking with the owner in detail, he decided to go for it instead. This Tbird looks to be a real winner in all respects and has been VERY well cared for! November is not to far away now, Mark! Congratulations on a great find!

[simplyconnected]

Wow, this Bullet ROCKS! I love the wire wheels and the color. The picture just pekes my curiosity to see more. This radiant beauty looks like it is displayed on the showroom floor. Simply gorgeous...

[Dakota Boy]

My wife would love THIS car.

She's still impartial to my current 'Bird

[Guest]

Thanks guys. And a particular thanks to Ray who has been not only extremely knowledgeable and helpful but also patient after so many potential Squarebirds we considered failed to come up to expectations. It's funny but my Julia likes the look of the 61 and is very pleased for me but I can tell she really prefers Ray's Yellow Rose and would love a Squarebird in two-tone turquoise and white. I must admit that I can understand why. So, looks like the show's not over yet folks!

Mark

[YellowRose]

Mark has bitten the Bullet!

Hi Mark, and thank you! Yes, Mark and I have spent months trying to find the best '59 or '60 Squarebird for him that was not going to require him to do major restoration to it. Especially since he lives Down Under and would have all the extra expense of finding and shipping in parts. We looked at a lot of Squarebirds that seemed to be what he was looking for in a well restored car. However, when one went looking through all the pictures we gathered and him speaking with the owners, there was always something about those cars that did not sit quite right with either of us.

And then this beautiful Bulletbird, which has been extremely well taken care of, from all indications, fell into his hands! Mark, I was looking to see if I had the pix of it, but if I did, I deleted them. If you have more you can post, I know we would love to see more of her.

Then, when Mark told me that Julia really would like a turquoise or a turquoise and white Squarebird, with the matching interior, I went looking for one. She does not like the full turquoise interior look that leather has, but would prefer to have the dark turquoise and light turquoise interior to break up the turquoise somewhat. Actually, I think she would prefer turquoise and white, but white is not an OEM option on the 1960. Also, she seems to be partial to the Sultana Turquoise Metallic paint of the 1960 Squarebird which is a deep, luxurious looking paint color, instead of the Turquoise color of the '59. I am finding that this exterior and interior color combination is hard to find in a car that has been very well cared for or restored. But when she is ready to seriously look, I will go after one again, and I might ask ya'll to help me look, once we do get the details set for sure. AC would be good also because of their weather there, similar to mine. I have found a few good candidates, including Golde Tops, but they seem to have the complete turquoise leather interior. I have yet to see an available Sultana Turquoise Metallic Golde Top with a dark turquoise and light turquoise interior or white. If anyone knows of one available, please let me know!

I looked at Alan Tast's fantastic 1960 External Color Usage Survey in the 2009 VTCI Scoop and there are no Paint Code KC Sultana Turquoise Metallic/Aquamarine color combinations recorded. That does not mean there weren't any, but that they found no records of any. There are only 8 KM Sultana Turquoise Metallic/Corinthian White cars listed. That is all the records they had on them. Then I looked at the 1960 Interior Color Usage Survey and found only 76 Color Code 57 Dark Turquoise/Light Turquoise Vinyl listed, only 21 Color Code 77 Dark Turquoise/Light Turquoise listed. There are only 20 cars listed with 87 Color Code, Turquoise Leather. That indicates to me that those color combinations were not as common as the more common colors. Unfortunately, we do not have the production records that break down production by exterior/interior production. They are long gone.

[Guest]

Here are some more photos. The car has only done 2100 miles since a full rebuild of the motor and transmission. It has a new top and all new top relays etc. The tyres are new as are the repro wire wheels. They are 15 inch rims so a disc brake conversion will be easier. One thing that is not original is the black interior trim. The dash and door tops are black instead of red. The seller bought it like this 11 years ago. You can see the original colour on the driver's door. I'll have a think about changing this or just putting more black vinyl paint on that one area when the car gets here.

Those are towels on the floor. The seller told me that he never gets in one of his cars without putting a towel on the seat and the floor.

The engine looks like you could eat your dinner off it. I'm not sure if the engine colours are original for a 1961 model but I'm not a concours type of guy.

Cheers
Mark

[jopizz]

Mark,

The engine colors are pretty far off from original. The air cleaner and valve covers should be argent silver, the block, intake, water pump, overflow tank, fan shroud, oil cap and brake booster should be black. If that's all you have to do to it though you're a lucky man.

John

[tbird430]

Bird looks great, even sports the correct (and rare) '61 style hood.

Congrats on your 1st purchase!!

-Jon in TX.