(Long time UK-based CC reader and Cohort poster L. Seddon got to check out and drive a friend’s beautiful ’68 Thunderbird, his first drive in an American car. PN)
Today was an exciting Saturday; a chance to meet up with a friend of like-minded interests, who kindly agreed to let me take a spin in some of his old stuff! – A few old British lorries, and a classic American car – a 1968 Ford Thunderbird Landau – a rare car nowadays, especially in the UK. Mr. John Murphy is a well-known and respected classic truck collector and restorer here in the north of England and has owned several American classics before; this ’68 Thunderbird is his latest purchase. I have seen several classic T-Birds in-person and in the wild in my 33 years. But never have I ever seen a razor-shaped “fifth gen ‘Bird” (1967-‘71) in the metal, especially not a 1968/’69 Landau, which this featured car is.
Big bonus: I got to drive it too.
There it is… “The Glamour Bird”… A 1968 Ford Thunderbird Landau 2-door, 5-passenger hardtop coupe, model code 65B, one of 19,105 examples produced, and a combined total of 46,450 Thunderbirds for model year 1968. This 2-door ‘Landau’ hardtop being the second most popular model, behind the 4-door Landau hardtop (21,925 units), and ahead of the base hardtop coupe (5,420 units). Just the sharp, retro futuristic, jet age fuselage styling cues cut through the everyday surroundings like a knife. What a beauty! Something you just don’t see on the streets of 21st century Britain. Or much in The States anymore, for that matter…
One would be forgiven for mistaking this car, at first glance to be a ‘60s Dodge Charger, with that very-Charger-esque, hidden-headlamp grille. Or perhaps a first-generation Mercury Cougar. It seems the stylists were chasing the youthful Pony/Muscle elements of the Cougar’s sporty image, whilst marrying it with that glorious, elegant Lincoln styling. It’s as if this model of Thunderbird was intended to be more of a “Sports Luxury”, or “Luxury Muscle” personal car. The most seasoned of car spotters and historians might be able to pick out a few subtle hints of other styling motives from various other Blue Oval products… Is there a slight hint of Euro Taunus in this somewhere, too? A slight nod to the wider Mustang snout? Faint lines echoing previous T-Birds? Perhaps that flowing roofline was subconsciously inspired by GM’s efforts of the time? The old semi tractor cab behind the T-Bird is John’s recently-bought 1962 Scammell Highwayman barn find.
Nice side profile showcasing late ‘60s ‘Coke Bottle’ styling… The paintwork is original – “Tahoe Turquoise Polyurethane” (the same exact paint was known as “Teal” for Lincolns). That neat black vinyl roof has held up well, with no signs of cracking, and still has the stainless steel “Landau carriage” -style bars, which look like grab handles from a distance… All adding to the very Baroque, Brougham-like, Victorian-style upper-crust luxury that suited the upmarket image which this car holds. That roof + art deco handle treatment might not have worked so well on other cars of the time, but it certainly suits this one. That’s a bright yellow 1958 Leyland Super Comet fuel tanker photobombing on the right, BTW… Another of John’s vehicles.
Looking at that lovely wide rear… Yeah, it is clear… Not only is the front design somewhat similar to the ‘66/67 Dodge Charger, but this long horizontal rear light cluster bares a curious parallel to the rear of that space age “razor” design, too (not so far removed from a ’67 Barracuda, too)… Nothing at all like a direct copy, no. But this seemed to be a trend at the time (the ’67 Buick Electra 225 and ’67 Imperial also had continuous horizontal rear light treatments).
Another shot of the rear… I did not get chance to sample the display of the iconic light pattern or those famous sequential turn signals, but these horizontal light bar-type designs are still prevalent on modern cars today. My partner would liken this creation to something straight out of RoboCop.
Please note that the faint smoke in this picture was not from this Thunderbird, but from the warm Gardner Diesel engine of a 1972 Atkinson Borderer lorry which had just been fired up (out of shot). Nice effect, though! A little background info on this particular car for you: It was bought new in Miami, FL (John has the original invoice), sold to its second owner in 1973 (John also has the title to that sale), and was later imported to the UK in 1990, and presumably stayed with its third (or fourth) owner ever since. John even recalls seeing this exact same T-Bird in the ‘90s near his father’s house, and some research later concluded that it was the very same car.
Lovely soft black vinyl interior… That stylish rear bench seat could comfortably accommodate three adults.
And the front, with those bucket seats and centre console complete with Native American inspired ‘Thunderbird’ crest… You just can’t get true pillarless hardtops anymore. This car came equipped with air conditioning, but you really don’t need it with all the windows down. No bulbous cladding on the door skins there, ether. No airbags, nothing awkward in the way. Just step down in, sit back and relax.
The mighty engine, inside a rather tidy engine bay, with light blankets of dust from a lot of recent use… There are still authentic factory stickers on certain components here. The motor is of course, a 4-barrel carb, 7.0-litre, 429.2-CID “385″ Thunder Jet” OHV V8, offering 360 horsepower on tap, 4.36 inches bore, 3.59 stroke and roughly 480 lb-ft of torque.
Let’s get inside behind the nice thin, power-assisted wheel… Look at all that lovely simulated burled walnut woodgrain. This is very clean interior upholstery, no serious wear, all the glass is good. The transmission is a column-shifted 3-speed “C6 Cruise-O-Matic” auto box, with a 9-inch live axle hypoid differential at the rear, assuming either a 2.80:1 or 3.00:1 factory ratio, respectively. Independent ball joint suspension with front + rear coil spring linkage, disc brakes at the front, hydraulic drums at the rear… Also, factory integral power steering and a range of options, including electric controlled seat adjustment, power windows and central locking.
According to John, this mileage is genuine… Just 36,526… Incredible! Either this car has only driven an average of about 630 miles a year since 1968, or – much more likely, the car probably ate up half or two-thirds of that mileage in its first 5-6 years and then spent the rest of its life in careful storage, with only very limited use ever since. According to the online ad from the seller John bought this car from, the Thunderbird was said to have received some restoration work around the year 2010, but the mileage is still believed to be legit. The car certainly looks, feels and drives like a nicely restored car… But it could also pass for a highly original car which had been “babied” for 50+ years.
Now this is interesting! John still has the original dealership-stamped bill of sale with this car. This car cost $4,803.74 when new. Purchased via a trade-in deal by a Mr. Lee Kitchel on a 1967 model T-Bird Landau, finalised on the 1st of May 1968 from Ed Morse Ford, North Beach, Miami, Florida. Check out that list of accessories which were standard equipment on this beauty! All luxuries on most cars back in the 1960s, usually found only on higher end premium cars such as this Thunderbird. And of course found on even the lowest priced cars today…
John collected the car from Gravesend, east of London, and drove it all the way up to Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. About a 228-mile trip. At least one fuel stop was needed, but the car ran and drove great all the way up! Here’s the Thunderbird going through the Dartford tunnel.
I just do not have enough room on here, or enough time to fully give this Thunderbird justice in terms of the driving experience. But I’ll just say it… This is the nicest car I have ever driven. It really looks so damn cool and drove perfectly. Just how I imagined it. I have driven many vehicles, mostly modern cars, vans and trucks, where one feels familiarly insulated, secluded, ‘trapped’ inside, almost, with all the safety features, wide door claddings, thick steering wheels with an airbag inside, seatbelts, big plastic dashboards, noise-cancelling windows, etc. Most modern cars make the driver feel so disconnected from the actual driving experience nowadays.
video of the author driving this Thunderbird in the truck yard
Although I drive a modern petrol Ford with a manual gearbox, you barely even notice there’s an engine anymore. This ‘bird, however, was the exact opposite. You really felt like you were driving a proper machine. The roar and growl of that 429 V8 was ferocious! Albeit, at the same time it was just ever so comfortable. As tempting as it was to really test this car out, I was just far too respectful and mostly just sensibly cruised along. Enjoying every bit of it, gently revving the V8 for that awesome instant soundtrack. When John took over the driving, he really let this beast rip! Took corners round his yard at speed causing a really cool tyre squeal sound, which is something I have only ever heard in car chase movies of the ‘70s. What a ride! Note the car is pictured next to John’s British-built 1972 Atkinson Borderer tractor unit. I had a spin in that thing, too… Now that was scary!
A shot of John’s Atkinson Borderer next to the Thunderbird. As a truck driver myself, used to driving comfortable modern Scanias and Volvos, the brief experience I had in the Atkinson really was a night-and-day difference, showcasing just how spartan and rough the old British trucks used to be. And highlights just how much harder and more challenging the job was for drivers back then. Stepping out of the Atki into the smooth, fast Thunderbird of contemporary vintage would’ve been a very welcomed relief.
Once again, a big thanks to John Murphy for letting me try out all his nice classic vehicles that day. It is really encouraging to meet someone who not only had a dream, but fulfilled that dream, and is living it day by day. Anything is possible with the right amount of determination. I, myself am still saving up for my long-awaited classic car. For a long time, I wanted a basic little British classic, such as a Ford Anglia (another classic I once had the experience of driving), given the mechanical simplicity and availability of spares, that would be the sensible, easier-to-live-with choice. But after sampling John’s Thunderbird, I might just be really tempted to buy it off him if he ever feels like selling it! Whoever owns that lovely car, let us hope it is still in the same great shape in another 58 years. And still has that original powertrain!
My Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/170082019@N03/
Nice to see this beauty so well tended .
-Nate
Nothing like an big old truck to make you appreciate the relative comfort of a smaller vehicle. In college, I had a summer job driving a 1967 Ford tandem gravel truck. My personal ride to and from the work yard one of those summers was a 1951 Ford F1 with a flathead 6 and manual everything. No one would call it a smooth ride. After every long day the ride home from the yard in the old F1 seemed so smooth & quiet. After a good night sleep, the AM ride back to the yard was another story.
Also interesting to see the heavy cost of depreciation. There probably wasn’t too much original cost difference between the ’67 trade in and the ’68 price. I assume the ’67 trade-in was probably quite low mileage judging from the likely ’68 mileage. In other words, a completely serviceable car with a very similar useful life to the new ’68. Yet after that single year, it had already lost around 30% of its value. Kind of amazing to think the more prosperous of our elders would trade off perfectly good vehicles after a mere single year of use.
My brother bought a stripper ’67. The main differences would be a 390 vs. the 429, and possibly the vinyl roof. The 390 was no charge standard equipment even in 1968, so you had a price delta for these two options.
Delighted to read a good review of an old ’60 american car written by an Englishman, as I only remember Jeremy Clarkson’s scathing review of the Town Car.
This was a 1968 edition, which while it looks almost identical to the previous year’s ’67, shared very few sheet metal panels, thanks to the then brand new Federal regulations enacted by the National Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which was created by the Federal Highway Safety Act of 1966. The safety corner lights, with cornering lamps in front, which we used to call “Nader Eyes”, is one reason. The change in windshield wiper sweep, thanks to windshield wiper coverage rules, is another. In ’67, the windshield wipers swept towards the center of the windshield, leaving a large triangle of unswept glass in the center of the windshield, but in ’68, the wipers were reconfigured with the now standard parallel sweeping pattern.
Ford offered three (3) trim levels. The “Tudor”, with a painted steel roof, the “Tudor Landau”, with the vinyl roof and faux Landau Bars, and the “Fordor Landau”, with the Lincoln Continental-style “suicide” doors. In 1968, the only engine option was the “385” family 429 V8, but in ’67, the 390 “FE” V8 was the base engine option, with the 428 “Thunderjet” V8 as the optional engine upgrade. Mom owned a ’67 she bought from her brother-in-law’s estate, for $800 in 1973. God, I loved that car!
While they’re not exactly staples of car shows despite their high production numbers, I see a surprising number rotting in driveways. I suppose they were special enough for people to want to keep around.
It’s one of my favorite interiors of the re and the black vinyl doesn’t do the swoopy console justice. The interior looks best in cream but that teal exterior paint is really something!
Sounds like you’ll be back for more at some point. All those old trucks are so unique!
It’s great to read how impressed you are by the car now, and you a car enthusiast. But think of what a culture shock this would have been for an average British driver back in 1968! When I think back to the friends of my teens and the Cortinas, Hunters and Escorts they drove, this would have seemed like something from another planet. It’s enough to make you believe in the Hollywood stereotype of America.
Those old Atkis and Leylands are so familiar from my own childhood. I didn’t notice when they disappeared from the roads.
I had a 2 door Thunderbird the same color for my Aurora HO scale race track.
As close as I will ever get to a Thunderbird.
I had a friend who had a ’69 4 dr hardtop Landau and loved it. However, when the first gas shortage hit in ’73 or ’74 he panicked. Traded it in on a Pinto. Not only did he end up hating the Pinto, but now he had car payments! I never said this friend was real smart!