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Hello all! At age 65, I‘m a lifetime Ford fan and no stranger to classic car resurrection and restoration. I was directed to squarebirds.org by a Google search to show how to open the hood on a ’60 Thunderbird with an apparently ineffective release cable and was so impressed with the site I decided to become a member.
I now am the new owner of a trio of Thunderbirds, two ‘60s and a ’62 Landau, from the estate of a man killed in a farm accident. He was a very poor custodian for the ‘Birds, buying each in nice and readily driveable condition, then leaving them parked, exposed to West Texas weather, for years.
By coincidence, one of the ’60 cars was quite familiar to me. The owner prior to the careless farmer was the brother of one of my closest friends, and I had lusted for the car when he offered it for sale. However, at that point in life, about 13 years ago, I couldn’t justify spending a significant amount of money on a non-essential vehicle.
Now, I’m going to, in words and pictures, bring you along with me as I rescue the three from the sands of the farm, assess the restoration feasibility for each, and attempt to return them to driver status. Ultimately, I plan to keep one of the ‘60s and sell the other ’60 and the ’62 to finance the refurbishment of the keeper.
(By the way, I got that hood open, and I’ll later be generating a post, complete with photos, clarifying the mechanics of the process.)
Here are the T-birds as I found them. The white ’60 and white/red ’62 were parked out in a very weedy open area with no real road leading to them. The black ’60 had been stored in a metal building, but a tornado blew that structure apart, notably damaging the right rear quarter of the car. The farmer then relocated it underneath a metal shed where it was sheltered from sunlight and hail but still open to driving rains and dust storms.
Given the predominance of agricultural operations in this region, dust blows to some extent any time the wind is noticeable, and a still day is rare here on the High Plains. Blow sand drifted up around and underneath the cars until reaching the rocker panels. All sorts of critters – rabbits, ground squirrels, skunks, badgers, and, of course, rats tunneled homes underneath.
The cherry on this untasty pie is that the farm also is home to diamondback rattlesnakes, some seen to be five feet long. I considered a short 12 gauge shotgun an indispensable part of my equipage at all times.
My next post will show engine bays and interiors as seen at the time of recovery.
I now am the new owner of a trio of Thunderbirds, two ‘60s and a ’62 Landau, from the estate of a man killed in a farm accident. He was a very poor custodian for the ‘Birds, buying each in nice and readily driveable condition, then leaving them parked, exposed to West Texas weather, for years.
By coincidence, one of the ’60 cars was quite familiar to me. The owner prior to the careless farmer was the brother of one of my closest friends, and I had lusted for the car when he offered it for sale. However, at that point in life, about 13 years ago, I couldn’t justify spending a significant amount of money on a non-essential vehicle.
Now, I’m going to, in words and pictures, bring you along with me as I rescue the three from the sands of the farm, assess the restoration feasibility for each, and attempt to return them to driver status. Ultimately, I plan to keep one of the ‘60s and sell the other ’60 and the ’62 to finance the refurbishment of the keeper.
(By the way, I got that hood open, and I’ll later be generating a post, complete with photos, clarifying the mechanics of the process.)
Here are the T-birds as I found them. The white ’60 and white/red ’62 were parked out in a very weedy open area with no real road leading to them. The black ’60 had been stored in a metal building, but a tornado blew that structure apart, notably damaging the right rear quarter of the car. The farmer then relocated it underneath a metal shed where it was sheltered from sunlight and hail but still open to driving rains and dust storms.
Given the predominance of agricultural operations in this region, dust blows to some extent any time the wind is noticeable, and a still day is rare here on the High Plains. Blow sand drifted up around and underneath the cars until reaching the rocker panels. All sorts of critters – rabbits, ground squirrels, skunks, badgers, and, of course, rats tunneled homes underneath.
The cherry on this untasty pie is that the farm also is home to diamondback rattlesnakes, some seen to be five feet long. I considered a short 12 gauge shotgun an indispensable part of my equipage at all times.
My next post will show engine bays and interiors as seen at the time of recovery.
If you need assistance in knowing what section to post in I am sure Ray Clark ( Yellowrose ) will steer you in the right direction.
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