Came across pictures of a couple of my old Birds.. They both had 429's :)
The black one was a 1970 model I had in 1984.. I paid $400 for it. It had a red leather bucket seat interior and 70,000 one owner miles.
The green one was a 1971 model I paid $1700 for in 1995. It also was a one owner and was a loaded 'special brougham' edition. The cool thing about that one was the factory power moonroof. Less than 100 Tbirds got a power roof on 1971..it was a very rare option for cars to have power roofs back then..
(http://home.comcast.net/~redlineguy/tburnerb.jpg)
(http://home.comcast.net/~redlineguy/71tbirdb.jpg)
A couple other 'Birds'.. My 70 1/2 Falcon and my 95 Ram Air 6 speed WS6 'Bird~
(http://home.comcast.net/~redlineguy/fairlaneb.jpg)
(http://home.comcast.net/~redlineguy/ta2.jpg)
Lucky. I've wanted a 70-71 Bird for a long time. I have no place to put one though.
nice what happend to them?
, that 71 is nice. Sweeet WS.6 too;)
Do you still have the Birds? I bought a 70 with a moonroof last spring and am finally starting to work on it. I have 6 65's here also with the 87.
I had the black one when I was 19.. I drove it hard for the summer and sold it to a buddy in the fall..I have no idea whatever happened to it as I lost touch with him soon after that. I've got a picture somewhere of that car leaving a couple hundred feet of posi..it was very powerful LOL, much more so than the green one.
The green one met an untimely death at the hands of another friend. He was driving the car (without me in it) and fell asleep at the wheel. He went right through a telephone pole then across a school yard and hit an enourmous tree.
I'll scan a picture of what the car looked like afterwards.. It hit so hard the roof buckled. He walked away with just a bump on his nose.
I sold the car along with the blue Falcon pictured as a package deal and the buyer took the 429/C6 from the Tbird and put them in the Falcon. The Falcon was a base model 6 cylinder car that didn't even have a carpet..just a rubber mat. It was very light ;)
I had one other pointy nosed Tbird.. a white 1970 that was a complete bone. Rusty and dented..but the 429 was strong so I used the motor in a 72 Torino.
The 70-71 Tbirds are very underrated IMHO.. I guess you either love the big beak up front or hate it.. I love it. I've been keeping my eyes open lately for a 4 door version. Specifically, I'd like to find a triple black brougham and put a set of Magnum 500's on it and use it as a cruise night car. I never see a real nice suicide door car at the shows anymore.
ps. Dan.. My dad had a 65 convertible from 66-70 when I was a little kid. I can remember using the fold down rear arm rest as my 'special seat'.. (this was back in the days before safety concerns..us kids were not all strapped in, we were just free to roam the cars interior :grinno: ) As for the moonroof on your '70.. I 'think' the production in 70 was 110 cars with the moonroof split pretty evenly between 2 doors and 4 doors.. I had a Ford report run on my green one that showed it was one of 5 special brougham 2 door fastbacks with the roof.. and the only green one. It's a shame it was totaled.
Kev, I had heard less than 1% left the factory in 70 with the moonroof option and new it was pretty rare. I always liked that fast back roofline as well and with the roof option couldnt pass it up. My dad always had birds(and still does) when I was growing up and thats how I got hooked. We have had from 57 thru 2004's. 4 of the 65's I have are Special Landaus which there were only 4500 of and 1 of the 4 is a whimbeldon white one which is one of 225. I always liked odd limited stuff. Including you I have now met 3 people with 70/71's with the moonroof and the other guy is in Australia.
Rare indeed.. I never saw another one in person and only found one other one pictured online.
They were not actually installed at the factory.. In 70/71 Ford pulled the moonroof cars off the line before they were completed and shipped them over to ASC (I think that's the name). Once the roof and electric motor were installed, they went back to Ford for final assembly, headliner etc. I know combined production for both 70/71 was right at 200 cars. If you look closely on the moonroof parts you should find the company name stamped in a couple places.
The guy I bought the green one from had some documentation on the roof option (but that's long gone now)
This is my list of Tbirds..
70- Black
70- White
71- Green
72- Brown
78- Gold
85- Silver TC
86- Silver TC
86- Charcoal TC
87- Blue TC
88- Black TC
90- Blue SC
Nice to meet someone else who likes the pointy nosed Birds :)
I've been eyeing this one on ebay. It's a '71 with a fastback roof. I've always liked the 70-71s with the fastback roof and no vinyl top. If I had the money this would be mine. I'd also have to buy another garage to put it in as well :grinno:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1971-FORD-THUNDERBIRD-71-FORD-T-BIRD-20K-ORIG-MILES_W0QQitemZ130063699538QQihZ003QQcategoryZ6240QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
That pewter one is nice, (actually a pretty rare color) but WAY overpriced. It's not a fully optioned car (no buckets, no console, no brougham package, no cruise control on the wheel, no lower chrome on the front valance etc) It needs window work, the power antenna is stuck and the clock doesn't work.
Yes it has very low miles, but it is a repaint.. That's a $6000 car at best. You can still buy very nice clean 70-71 drivers in the $3000 to $5000 price range.
There was a killer green no vinyl roof 71 fastback that sold earlier this year in Texas that the guy had done a complete restoration on with all documentation, before and after shots to prove no rust or body damage, and it was fully optioned (except the power roof).. It didn't sell the first time on eBay with a $6500 reserve but sold at $5750 the next time it was listed with no reserve. I was VERY tempted to buy it but we had just had our second child and there was no way I was going to get that past the wife LOL..
They are out there.. but please don't pay 11 grand for one just because it has low miles~
I know I can get one for about $3,000-5,000 but I just put that one up because I liked the way it looked. Hell it dosen't even have power windows. I saw that green 71 on ebay a few months age and I wanted it BAD. I actually considered getting a loan to buy it but I'd have no where to put it. Besides at this point I'm doing so much work to my Bird I doubt I could have afforded it. But wow that green 71 was killer.