It’s been a busy week out on the farm, with not much time for CC-spotting. I recently missed my chance at a ’68 LTD four-door in the small town where I’ve been shooting a lot of my recent finds – it had been in someone’s driveway for three or four days; I made it a point to go shoot it this morning, but it was gone. Nevertheless, I took a different route home and was rewarded with this ’69 Thunderbird, which sat at a garage just off my exit from the interstate…
From the nose-high attitude, I suspect it’s awaiting an engine.
Here’s what normally would have been found under the hood: the 429 cu in Thunder Jet V8, which made 360 (gross) hp, and the only engine choice available for 1969. With a four-barrel carb, dual exhaust and 10.5:1 compression ratio, this mill must have really motivated the 4,360 lb (that’s 1,978 kg, or 2.8 VW Beetles) car, albeit at sub-10 mpg (presumably premium) fuel consumption.
The nose on the fifth-gen T-bird changed several times, which is how I was able to ID the model year. Yes, Virginia, those are hidden headlights exposed for the moment. I personally like this grille design more than those sported by the other fifth-generation ‘Birds.
I’m still batting .000 on interior shots so again, this one has been lifted from the Interweb. For some reason, that horn ring looks a bit antiquated to my eye, but of course this might be an earlier model T-bird interior. There were 49,272 Thunderbirds produced in 1969, and about a third of those were equipped with the optional front bucket seats and center console. Front bench seats had become standard in 1968 and remained the most popular seating choice regardless of trim level.
While not of my subject car, I included this photo to demonstrate the “Fordor” model’s suicide doors–yet another “better idea” from Ford!” And did you notice the fake roof supports on the inside of the C-pillar?
My subject car is the two-door Landau. There was also a Tudor Hardtop model available which wasn’t very popular. (Incidentally, the Landau roof added 12 lb. (5.4kg) to the car, and–incredibly– you could also get the Fordor in Landau trim!) Many of the significant changes to the fifth-gen Thunderbirds were made to move the car further into the luxury car segment since the Mustang was really starting to encroach on Thunderbird sales.
A new Thunderbird purchased after January 1, 1969 would set you back a cool $4,964 ($29,183 in 2010 dollars), making it (at least by today’s standards) a solid mid-level luxury/sport car. Just remember, the purchase price is the cheapest part of owning one!
Behind that highly stylized “thunder bird” lies a solid-state controller for the sequential turn signals—prior to October 1968, the sequential blinking was mechanically performed by a motor-and-cam.
And so we leave our friend for now, hopefully to be seen again out on the open road—“Unique in all the world!”
Props to Ford for giving the lights a panel so they didn’t look too weird with the doors stuck open if that happened to the owner. Some hiden headlight designs made the car look “handicaped” if the doors got stuck open.
did u get a promotion or is it just an avatar name change?
This really brings back recent memories because i sold my 1967 T-Bird 2 door hard top Landau in 2003. I purchased it from the original owner in 1999, when it had 52000 original all documented miles. He had kept every piece of paper work, including yearly inspection papers, oil changes etc.
The 67 was red with white Landau top and white leather/vinyl interior. It had the very rare 428 engine that developed 345 BHP. Everything was in working order, except the cruise control which i never did get repaired. This was such a rare car that i just became its care taker. It was always garaged, never driven in the rain or during the winter. My two grown sons begged me not to sell it. I drove it to car shows, and it was featured in our local newspaper in a parade down main street in Evansville, In. when the street was opened to traffic sometime around 2000. I still have videos of the car and a photo of myself standing in front of the car on the day of the parade with Dennis Gage, of “My Classic Car”
I decided to sell the car because i could not really enjoy it, because i could not drive it without concerns of putting miles on it. When I took it to car shows, i could not leave it due to concerns of possibly someone scratching it.
I had given it a complete new brake system, and a complete tune up. Other than that the car was perfect. I still had the original tires on it when I sold it to a Ford collector who lived in Kentucky.
This car was a dream to drive, it had tremendous torque, and would just hunker down when stepping on the gas. The original owner said that he did not drive it much because he got interested in Mustangs a year after he bought the T-Bird and parked it and covered it in his barn. Yes, that is right, in his barn. When I first went to view the car he pulled it out of the barn into the sun light and it was love at first sight. This was a car that i should not have bought, as i am not a mechanic, and had to have the above work done. I was 21 years old when the car was produced and in the service at the time and when I came back from overseas in 1969, i was really fascinated with the new Thunderbird and Pontiac Lemons but could afford either of them.
So, as i was saying, i sold the car to a collector who was also a great mechanic who told me he could take these engines apart blindfolded. He had a collection of Fords, and said he was going to drive this purchase on a regular basis.
Anyway, I sold it to him for $7000 and with what i had in it, i lost $500.00 on the deal. I knew that these cars were going to keep going up in value and have always followed them and kept a look out for my former 67. A few years after he bought it he sold it or consigned it to a collector museum in Nashville, Tn., which had it for sale for $12000. asking price with about the same mileage on it. Last year i was looking on the internet for 67’s and found it listed for sale by Gateway Classic Cars in St. Louis, with a asking price of around $23000.
Below is a link to the Gateway Classic car sight featuring my old 67. It has been sold again to another collector.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?V=BPr-Ns3HBoM
It sounds like you had a really nice one. I know how you feel, as this was the reason I sold my beautiful 64 Imperial Crown Coupe quite a few years ago when my kids were small. I have seen mine around at shows from time to time.
Glad to hear that i was not the only one. Incidentally, the link that i put up does not connect to the video. I am sorry and will try to find the correct link.
Again, i could not get a direct link to load but if you will go to you tube and type in: 1967 Thunderbird at Gateway Classic Cars, it will bring it up at the top of the videos.
By the way, I see you are from Evansville. The 57 Pontiac wagon and the 62 Star Chief pieces I did were shot in Evansville during a trip I took there for a family wedding about a year ago. I still have a few more Evansville finds in the can which will be written up when the proper mood strikes.
Great, I will be looking for them.
William: Thank you – great “article” on your very interesting car.
We had a 65 Thunderbird when I was in high school and it continues to be my favorite year. I was disappointed with every Thunderbird that came later, including the changes made to the 66. By the 70’s I no longer considered the beaked Birds real Thunderbirds, to say nothing of the horrors to come under that proud nameplate.
In high school I knew a retired couple of some age who had 64 and 65 Thunderbirds, both purchased new. The husband’s 64 was silver with black leather interior and all options but A/C. The wife’s 65 was powder blue with a white top (not vinyl) and white leather interior and all options including A/C. In 1967 they traded these Birds for a new Thunderbird for the husband and a new Mustang for the wife, both loaded with options, including A/C. Both cars were ordered in a pale green (appears to be Diamond Green from what I’ve found on the web) with black vinyl tops.
I thought they had gone down in the world because of the paint choice, the new Bird’s styling, and the wife’s Mustang with crank windows (no power available that year IIRC). The one thing I did approve of was that they ordered the Mustang with the 390 engine; both liked to have power under their right foot. I went off to college and lost track of this wonderful couple when they moved permanently from the midwest to Florida. I often wonder what were the final cars in their garage.
I’m from Evansville too, and I wish I had seen your Thunderbird around town. I know I would have followed it for a block or two. It’s very nice! I really like the interior, very modern looking.
Your interior shot is correct. With that steering wheel, it is no older than 1969.
These have just never done it for me, which is why one of my early CC efforts on a 68 was, to some readers, a mite harsh.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/curbside-classic-1968-thunderbird-who-am-i-why-am-i-here/
And why did everyone keep insisting on buying these in red?
Just one further note: It is my understanding that the 67 T-Birds greatly outsold the 66 T-Birds. Anyone have any factual info. on that?
A quick check of the web indicates 1966 model production of 69,176, compared to 77,956 for 1967. The 67 lost a convertible but gained a 4 door.
But then, things went from bad in 1968 (64931) to worse in 1969 (49272). I think that the biggest factor was the mid-1968 introduction of the Mark III.
A bump like that from ’66 to ’67 was pretty typical for the first year of a new design — the market was nothing if not style-driven. The real message might be to compare sales of the ’67 with those of the ’64, the first year of the previous generation, which I think sold 92,000 and change.
1966 TOTAL PRODUCTION: 69,176
63A – Conventional Hardtop, 13,389 ($4,395.42)
63C – Town Hardtop, 15,633 ($4,451.76)
63D – Town Landau, 35,105 ($4,551.89)
76A – Convertible, 5,049 ($4,844.75)
1967 TOTAL PRODUCTION: 77,956
65A – Tudor Hardtop 15,567 ($4,603)
65B – Tudor Landau 37,422 ($4,704)
57B – Fordor Landau 24,967 ($4,825)
I always kinda liked how they copied the landau bars on the inside of the roof on the sedan models.
The lines on the two door make me sick; blech. I will take a four door, sans vinyl top.
I agree, the four door just looks better proportioned. The 2 door looks like someone took a four door and chopped it. Reminds me of the Sevilles that people would chop the wheelbase and eliminate the space for the back seat, it just doesn’t look natural.
The 67-69 T-birds are nice cars. I prefer the second “generation” of this platform, the 70-71 “Bunkie Beak” T-birds. I really like those and would love to own one in the future.
The less expensive Personal Lux 1969 Grand Prix stole some sales from T-Birds, also..
And let’s add to a latter extent, Chevrolet who introduced the Monte Carlo for the 1970 model year who also stoled some sales from T-birds as well.
Growing up, I had a friend whose parents were pretty well-to-do. His Dad drove a 1965 Black with red leather interior Imperial Crown four door hardtop (until he traded it for a beige over brown ’68 Caddy Coupe de Ville) . . . but his Mom had T-Birds. I remember riding in their ’66 T-Bird then Mrs. B got a new one in ’69. Both were black vinyl roof over white; black interior – center console cars. As a primaray elementary school kid ridiing in the back seat of these cars, I thought they were simply out of this world neat and elegant. That, and the fact it was a coupe as most of kids grew up in four-door sedan or station wagon households.
Later on, his parents went strictly Cadillac although when he got his first car in high school, he had a ’71 Mercury Montego (I had my ’61 Pontiac then my Ford Courier avatar truck).
Actually had this on my “to do” list but have been swamped with other stuff (honey do list). Guess It will wait for a spell now. Good find Ed. Spent a lot of time in the passenger seat of a 59 and a 66. Don’t think I’m very familiar with a 69.
Lincoln Continental Mark III, Pontiac Grand Prix, Buick Riviera, Oldsmobile Toronado, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Cadillac Eldorado, Ford Thunderbird, All American personal luxury cars that had their moment in the sun…….all with interesting styling cues, with various pricing schedules to fit their niche. Made for the professional man with sporting pretensions and a taste of leather, big V-8 engines and a small backseat. I miss these cars and the times they existed in. Today the term personal luxury car can mean many things but not for these long gone marques……
The later Grand Prix, Monte Carlo, Toronado and Riviera took a turn left and became front wheel drive non-descript vehicles that lost the mojo of their late 60’s early 70’s descendants.
A design commentary on the Ford Thunderbird and it’s evolution over it’s life would be an interesting read! I really liked the 2 seat J Mays T Bird that paid tribute to the 55-57 T-Birds and hated to see it die a relatively quick death…….That’s a nice looking T-Bird shown here.
The closest thing available to a personal luxury coupe from an American manufacturer today is the CTS coupe and the Dodge Challenger, even though the Challenger is pretending to dress in pony car costume, its size and dimensions are really closer to a personal lux coupe, I wish Chrysler would through a 300C coupe using the Challenger base, a Cordoba for the 21st century.
There have been rumors that Buick may be bringing back the Riviera nameplate as well.
I am not looking forward to that.
Your loss….
A new Riviera would be great. A RWD Electra sedan would also be cool. Make it a four door hardtop; hey, nobody else is making one! That would be a unique car in today’s market.
I had a 68 2dr for a while. Picked it up on the cheap because the PO had done a “tune up” on it and it wouldn’t run right afterwards. Apparently when he replaced the plugs he didn’t do them one at a time nor label the wires. So swapping the 2 crossed wires made it run much better as did adjusting the points, timing and carb. Somewhere along the line someone made a big mess of the sequential turn signal system cutting most of the wires and splicing some of them back together in the wrong order. It took sometime sorting it all out back before you could find just about any wiring diagram on the internet. I did succeed in making it work correctly though. It had been repainted in it’s original color at one point but it was not a quality job with a couple of runs in it but it did look pretty good otherwise.
for me, all the t-birds after ’66 lost the plot. the landau bar trim is ridiculous. also, a t-bird should be a coupe not a 4 door.
still, i can’t deny that some of the details on their own are cool: suicide doors, radio to the left of the steering wheel, the grill with concealed headlights, flow thru ventilation and of course, solid state sequential turn signals. cars just aren’t fun like this anymore…
Carmine rocks this site. I want to meet him and shake his hand.