1960 Ford Thunderbird Hardtop - Project Sparky

[Daleo56]

I have been up here in Reno for the holidays and while the wife was out walking the dog she saw this 1960 Thunderbird for sale down the street for $3,000. We talked about it this morning and went to see it. We offered the gentleman $2,000 and he accepted. Now the work begins...

The guy we purchased it from bought it from the original owner. He never transferred it into his name so that makes us the second registered owner. It seems to be all original except for the tires, new battery I put in today and a couple hoses. The odometer shows 7,330 miles which seem to match the limited drive train wear and small amount of original receipts we found in the glove box. I got it to turn over once I got it back to the house but the guy removed the gas tank and put it in the back seat so it will have to wait to run until I take it back to Los Angeles in a couple weeks.

It has a 352 4v with automatic trans and 3.10 gears. It is Moroccan Ivory color code R with code 84 beige leather seating. It was made on July 26th.

It needs quite a bit of restoration but I am fairly certain I can do most of it myself. It has a small amount of rust on the center of the rear fenders, a little bubble on one door bottom and a large dent on the passenger rocker. The floors are solid and the engine bay is only in need of a cleaning. It has all of the original molding and except for a cracked windshield (that's snow on it btw) and some questionable tires it relatively roadworthy.

I hope to find out more about it as time goes on and look forward to learning more about these cars.

Tim Daleo

[jopizz]

Congrats on your new acquisition. It looks like you have a pretty solid car to start out with. I really like the tan leather seats with the two tone door panels. It's one of the prettier interior combinations in my opinion. The Moroccan Ivory exterior is pretty rare also. If the mileage is correct you have quite a find. If you have a chance go to the Thunderbird Registry and see if it's registered. If not please register it. Good luck and don't hesitate to ask for help.

John

[840 840 840]

COOL! CAR! Ready to see the project move ahead.
Charley

[YellowRose]

Tim, the link to the Tbird Registry is: www.tbirdregistry.com

Go to Browse Tbird Registry and then to Is It Already Registered? Type in the VIN # and if it has been registered in the past, it will give you the Registry # to look it up. If it has been registered, you can possibly get a bit more of its history and you can update it now belonging to you and your wife.

[Daleo56]

Originally Posted by YellowRose

Tim, the link to the Tbird Registry is: www.tbirdregistry.com

Go to Browse Tbird Registry and then to Is It Already Registered? Type in the VIN # and if it has been registered in the past, it will give you the Registry # to look it up. If it has been registered, you can possibly get a bit more of its history and you can update it now belonging to you and your wife.

Thank you for the link. I just registered it with the prior owner information!

Tim

[DKheld]

Nice find!

I believe the Moroccan Ivory car is one of the featured cars in the dealer brochure.
Here's a link from the web....



I'm lucky to own the '60 Tbird my Dad and Mom bought new so the '60 model is my favorite of course.

Hope to see the restoration progress on yours.

Eric

edit

btw - save yourself some grief and go ahead and buy a new gas tank. First tow bill home and the tank will pay for itself.
Rock Auto carries them now. Made in Canada.
http://www.squarebirds.org/vbulletin...ad.php?t=18118

[Daleo56]

Originally Posted by DKheld

Nice find!

I believe the Moroccan Ivory car is one of the featured cars in the dealer brochure.

Eric

My paint must be really faded or that is Yosemite Yellow.

Just got my registration notice.
http://www.tbirdregistry.com/viewdat...ryNumber=57741

Tim

[Daleo56]

Originally Posted by DKheld

btw - save yourself some grief and go ahead and buy a new gas tank. First tow bill home and the tank will pay for itself.
Rock Auto carries them now. Made in Canada.
http://www.squarebirds.org/vbulletin...ad.php?t=18118

I just ordered the tank from Rock Auto. It was $191.98 shipped. Almost 10% of the purchase price of the car.

[simplyconnected]

Originally Posted by Daleo56

It was $191.98 shipped. Almost 10% of the purchase price of the car.

That's as cheap as I have ever seen. Car restorations cost money.

[tbirdregistry]

Timothy's car is about my favorite 1960 combination of color and interior. Moroccan Ivory was a Thunderbird-only color for Ford Division while Yosemite Yellow was for the other Fords. The brochure pictures are of course not very good representations (of the color itself). This color was available for Lincoln (called Pastel Yellow) and Mercury (Sun Haze Yellow), "yellow" in the name but still Moroccan Ivory code R Ditzler Mix Code 81052.

There is really no bad Thunderbird color for sure but being an exclusive one makes for another subtle point about what makes a Thunderbird a Thunderbird. Just the marketing name alone seems to place the distinction above and beyond even Lincoln.

Thanks to you all for recommending that Timothy register his car. It was the 1,296th (1960) Hardtop be registered, out of 1,839 1960 models total, and is RN 57741.

By the way, on Registry web pages I use that brochure picture as a stock image when no picture of the actual car itself is available.

Happy New Year everyone.