CC contributor and commenter tbm3fan posted these out of the ordinary shots of a 1965 Thunderbird. He left this comment:
Seen on former NAS Alameda at 8;45 AM. Later seen moving on the former base at 6:00 PM. Driver is in car sleeping.
Here’s another angle:
After this body ended production I lost interest in the Thunderbird until the 1977 downsized model.
The wire wheels may be worth more than the rest of the car.
However, I have a sweet spot for this series of Bird.
Being a convertible, could morph into the project car from hell!!
Quoting my observant Father: “Buy an old car, son, buy an old house. It’ll keep you outta trouble.”
What Dad didn’t say was that these purchases would keep me too broke, too tired and too frustrated to go out and run the streets of the New Orleans French Quarter.
The older I become the smarter Dad gets.
I often wonder if he was talking about me or about himself.
On this episode of The Red Green Show, we’ll show you how to make a convertible top from old Walmart bags and duct tape…..
+1!!!
“If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.”
Sometimes I try to come up with stories about pics like this.
Perhaps this poor man lost everything in his life and is now left with his prized possession – his once pristine conditioned T-Bird. Now he sleeps in it and spends what little he gets on food and parts to keep his baby running. He finds house paint to keep the body protected and to apply white walls to his tires. He even once found an old canvas boat top to help repair his his own.
Yet, he continues to be hopeful. As long as he has his beloved Bird, everything will be okay.
Of course I hope this isn’t the case and its just some guy that bought a cheap T-Bird to drive and fix up.
Terrific narrative, nearly a modern rendition worthy of Steinbeck.
“he finds housepaint” – back in the mid-60’s I was bored enough one day to walk with my buddy on his suburban newspaper route. Came across a Plymouth fourdoor on a gravel driveway and a housewife with a gallon of beige latex paint and a 4″ brush. never got back there to see how it turned out.
If you do a closeup it shows black and gold California plates. Could it still be running the original plates after all these years?
The wide whitewalls are painted on.
The mystery deepens!
I’m no expert, but I think that so long as it remains serviceable (readable), it’s possible to keep the original California license plate on a vehicle seemingly forever.
I live in California, and in my observation it’s not uncommon to see old cars with their original black plates (or blue plates for 1970s-early 80s cars). California is different from most states in that the plates stay with the car when it changes owners, so as long as the car has been registered in California since it was new it keeps its original plates.
It’s also worth noting that one can buy reproductions of the 1960s CA plates as specialty plates, and those are commonly seen on the road as well. But from the number sequence on this Thunderbird’s plates these look like the original plates from the ’60s.
While they are black plates that pair is not correct for a 65 so the car must have come into California sometime in 1967. My 67 Parklane, born and bred in California, has black plates that start UBD meaning those UFA plates were issued after mine.
We also have a YOM ability in CA. So if I can find a correct YOM plate for my 68 Mustang, out of Texas, I can put them on and have. The Mustang had blue plates while my 73 Polara had newer 7 digit white plates as it was out of the system for a time being. Well, lucky me, as it turns out my blue plates are 73 and I can now put them on my 73 Dodge. So correct year plate but not originally issued number for that year.
I kind of doubt YOM plates are at work here.
No words. Just no words but it sure leaves me wondering. Somewhere the dream still lives but somewhere the rails of life are not under the locomotive.
If you’re going to be homeless, why not do it with a bit of style?
It’s like a time warp to the late 70’s/early 80’s, when a Flairbird, even a convertible, could be seen as a cheap and ratty used car. But today? I never see things like that, though I don’t live in CA, so I don’t know what goes on there. Tres Bizarre.
It looks like he used White Out to create his Gangta White Walls.
Of course I shouldn’t poke fun regarding the use of office supplies to maintain a car. I’ve been known to use a black Sharpie to touch up the rock chips on my Mustang. 🤣
You know, I’m not sure, but I don’t think you can get White-Out any longer. Think about it, all text is now done via word processing software (MS Word) so there is simply no need. It may not even be possible to get typewriter ribbon cartridges, anymore.
It’s unfortunate because those little vials of White-Out came in handy for use in making identifying marks on projects, etc.
Of course you can get Wite-Out. There’s still lots of documents that are on paper. I have a bottle, as I did my taxes manually on paper until last year.
And typewriter cartridges are also readily available.
In any case, it’s a bit silly to think that the owner used many dozens of bottles of Wite Out on his tires; a can of white paint, possibly discarded) is the more obvious guess.
I guess I didn’t look hard enough since Amazon has it. I suppose the office supply stores still have it, too, but I sure couldn’t find it at any of the big-box places.
Fun fact: The late Mike Nesmith, of The Monkees fame, his mother, who was a career legal assistant,and avid painter, invented White Out. She was reportedly worth 35 million at the time of her death.
Definitely a few ruffled feathers.
The rear wheel well opening trim is from a 1966 without skirts, the only year of this generation to have the no skirt option. Hard to find and not cheap. Surprised that the owner had the aesthetic aptitude to install these when he removed the skirts.
Good call on the rear fender well trim. I doubt the current owner added it, though, and would guess it was like that when he obtained the car.
As to the ‘best’ Flairbird, I lean to the ’66 for a couple of reasons. It was the first time the 428 engine became available (a cheap upgrade at only $86, too). I’m also more fond of the taillights that don’t have chrome bezels and a single back-up light centered between them.
OTOH, I much prefer the doghouse of the ’65. I actually like the ‘chunkier’ bumper better than the more dainty, Mustang-like, single-blade bumper of the ’66, as well as preferring the more clean look of the grille without the Thunderbird emblem. Likewise, I like the fake hood scoop of the ’65, versus just the V-shape hood trim of the ’66.
So, my perfect Flairbird would be a ’66 with the front end of a ’65.
Very evocative shots. +1 on the Steinbeck observation.
A long way in space/time from this:
Looks like it might be a good parts car.
If you’ve got to go frugal, go hardtop.
Why don’t you fix your roof?
Well, when it’s raining it’s too wet to go up there and when it’s not raining
It doesn’t leak.