When the Thunderbird lost the unitized body it shared with Lincoln in 1967, some would argue that it lost a little bit of its soul. Perhaps the introduction of a four-door Landau eroded it even further, but I’ll argue that the Four-Door Landau was the Glamour ‘Bird at its best. This 1969 model has the powerful new (in 1968) 429 big-block, a two-owner history, and only 63,000 miles, but its asking price on eBay of $17,995 or best offer might be a sticking point for T-Bird fans.
Another thing that might work against this T-Bird is its color combination; it has a Raven Black exterior (perhaps the best color on a Landau) paired with a Dark Ivy Gold interior trim, an interesting combination, but I think I’d prefer a black interior. Thunderbirds were well past the point of being known for their bucket seats and console (although they were still optional), so this car’s bench is how many T-Birds were equipped by 1969.
This Landau is also well-equipped with power windows and air conditioning, but unfortunately, neither of them currently work. Aside from that, the interior looks very nice.
The base T-Bird engine was Ford’s 360-horsepower 429, a member of the new-for-1968 “385 Series” of big blocks. Paired with the standard C6 automatic, the T-Bird was a brisk performer despite its 2.80:1 axle ratio and nearly two-and-a-half-tons of presence; Car Life prodded one to sixty in under ten seconds.
The seller says that this car has been treated to a new exhaust system, new hoses in the cooling system, new fuel pump, new fuel lines, and a new accelerator pump and fuel filter. The T-Bird should also stop better than your average 1960s personal-luxury car with its standard power front disc brakes; Ford was certainly a step ahead of the other Big Three companies in this regard.
The T-Bird has been repainted at some point in its life, and it still looks good, but this is in no way a restored car. The sizable luggage compartment is showing its age, and the trunk weatherstripping could use replacement (not a huge undertaking).
Being a Landau with its fashionable (in some circles) vinyl top, there’s always a worry about rust hiding beneath, but this picture shows none of the bubbling that one sees so often on a 57-year-old car with a padded roof.
The neat spoked wheel covers are also in good shape, with just a little crazing on the wheel centers. I have to admit that I’m a sucker for this design.
I might like it even better on early C3 Corvettes; I’ll take these over a set of Rally Wheels all week (no need to say anything—I know I’m in the minority).
And although the Glamour Bird is far from my favorite generation of Ford’s esteemed personal luxury car, a black Four-Door Landau is my favorite version of the breed. Buyers didn’t exactly go for the 1969 models in general; sales were down to 49,227 units, and the Riviera outsold the T-Bird for the first time (selling 52,872 cars). Of those 49,227 T-Birds, 15,650 were Four-Door Landaus, not bad, but not exactly a huge success.
This is a nice driver-quality example that needs a few repairs to work as the factory intended, but I’m wondering if the $17,995 asking price might be reaching a bit. On the other hand, it’s a very different world in the collector car market than it was even five years ago, so maybe I’m off-base. What do you think?
Related Reading
Vintage Car Life Review: 1969 Ford Thunderbird Landau – “It’s Better Than My Living Room” (by Aaron Severson)
Curbside Classic: 1967 Ford Thunderbird Landau – Am I Mellowing With Age? (by me)
Agreed on the price, although from what we can see it’s a top-dollar example. On the other hand, “triple black” may be iconic on luxury cars from this period for those who were there (and where was the episode of Hawaii 5-0 where the a/c in McGarrett’s Merc conked out) but that’s because it was *rare*, unlike today when black-on-black with black trim is almost the default (“Nice car, when do you unlock the fully-rendered version?”) and nothing says 1969 like that green interior.
Maybe the first owner wanted to have the interior match the kitchen appliances. I always liked this personal luxury sedan.
This gen of T-bird is Ford’s deadliest sin, imo.
For me, it is the “box bird” generation from 1980-1982.
I wouldn’t consider either the deadliest sins, but this generation definitely killed the Tbird as we knew it. The flare birds may not have been capably sporty but there was at least a pretense of it consistent with the original 2 seaters. The glamourbirds are just straight up luxury sedans, couldn’t even get a convertible anymore.
To me the 80-82 only exists because the Tbird took this path, where the nameplate rather than representing a car fitting for the name could now be applied to just about anything. It’s not to say they’re deadly sins for Ford as that formula was quite profitable in 77-79, but their Tbird badging was dubious at best.
As usual, I agree with Matt.
The “Fairmont”, poorly, disguised.
I’m not in touch with “going prices” for collector cars, and I figure that the more supply/demand there is, the more it becomes a fairly predictable “commodity”; when fewer are trading hands, tougher to gauge. I’ll hope an enthused next owner soon appears, and that a win-win deal is struck.
My household had a ’68 or ’69 for a while (“a nice car for Mom”), and that 429 was indeed powerful—it was very, very easy to smoke the tires from a standstill. (We had a Mercury sedan with a 429 a few years later, but I could tell that it wasn’t making quite as much horsepower.)
I have a soft spot for these, perhaps because they were driven by the villains in Diamonds are Forever, and before the pandemic there was a nice red example on Hemmings for months with no takers. As I recall the seller had to cut the price below $4000.
So the asking price on this one would be a dealbreaker, even without the ghastly interior, which gives me unpleasant flashbacks to 1969 interior decoration (that avocado green was everywhere) and the non-working windows and AC. The last thing I want at this point is to deal with a lot of non-working electrical and vacuum-operated bits that will never stay fixed.
In other words, it looks like a money pit that won’t even be that nice even when you spend thousands to get it where you want it to be. Hard pass.
I actually covered that one last summer!
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/car-show-classic/curbside-find-1971-ford-thunderbird-landau-diamonds-are-forever/
And I just realized I used the same Corvette picture in that article. Oops!
Same color fabric and vinyl in my 67 Park Lane. So a good driver quality car without a working A/C and working windows? Oh, that is a great combination. Hope someone knows how to rebuild power window motors not to mention getting at them. Ask me how I know. To sum it up no A/C and no windows much less manual windows. Call me crazy but somewhere between $8-9K before closer inspection.
Just two days ago someone, from around the block, came up to me when working on the Park Lane and Sable. Wanted my opinion on a 1971 Mach I for sale and even asked if I could come and inspect the car. Saw pictures with non-original parts in the engine compartment. Third owner said restored 12 years ago but he has had only 5 years. Says a 351-4V Cleveland put in place of 302. So many questions for me and him to ask. Was $35K and down to $29K. My suggestion look it over and get the Viin and Data Plate info to show me. Maybe start at $24,500 depending.
What if the 4-door Thunderbird was sold as the Mark III Landau instead of being a Thunderbird? It shouldn’t be too difficult to put a Mark III front and rear on this. The middle section would stay the same. All you would need to do is use the mark III instrument panel and seating trim.
My mom’s cuz had this one in triple, green. “Interior was “brocadish, as, I recall. Car was too long to fit in their garage.
(likely to wide as well)
“1950ish”, home in “Castle Shannon”, section of the “burgh”.
The lowest point in T-bird history. Ugly
Love this body style. I had a 69 and a 71. Wish I still had one.
My mother had a ’67 with this same color scheme. Hers was a 428 car black, black top, green leather bucket seats.
I loved the suicide doors.