Thread: one of a kind 1963 George Barris Thunderbird

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I hate to give this car up but here goes. This is a piece of American Automotive history. It is a 1963 George Barris Ford Thunderbird comissioned by Los Angeles furniture store owner Eddie Leon.

The car is a rust free California car with 98,000 original miles. It was labor of love for Mr. Leon through the end of the 1960's after seeing Ford's Caravan of Cars in 1965. The car was completed in the early 1970's with the installation of a 1963 427 Ford Top Oiler or Center Oiler engine. In 1975 a set of ported and polished 1966 (C5AE) Medium Rise heads (2.19 intake / 1.73 exhaust) were added. I estimate the horsepower to be very near 450 which isn't bad for a low (9.5:1) cruiser.

I have no idea what it's worth. It needs cosmetic work, a repaint and I'd probably tone down the interior... But why mess with history.

All reasonable offers considered.

Barris's cars were always over-the-top, but his success speaks for itself. After all, if we all liked the same thing, there would only be one kind of car, painted the same color, with the same wheels,....and so on.

I recently found a friend of mine had purchased a Barris GTO, from the Triple X movie, as an investment. As long as part of the population feels this way, there will always be a market for the cars of builders such as Barris.

I forwarded the info on to a friend who might be interested.

Thanks Hotrod, I saw that GTO at BJ in Phoenix. It was Krazy...