Thread: 1955 Ford Thunderbird ** PROJECT **

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1955 Thunderbird Project Car. - PRICE REDUCED 14,000 or BEST OFFER



Selling my 1955 Thunderbird Project car. I just dont have time or the effort to finish this project. I have decided to thin out some of my projects and this will be the first to go.. I need the garage room and this would make a great
project for someone..

Im going to try to list as much as possible. If there should be some questions I will gladly respond to any and all inquiries.

First of all this is a project and requires work.. If you do not have the shop or the time to do this project don't dream about this car. Go buy a restored car. I have the ability to finish the Bird to a very presentable driver My original intentions with this bird was to build a low ride custom for my wife. Im not a nut case that has to have an original car. Or a pristine original... You on the other hand could easily go either way in your choice of finishing.

I have included a substantial amount of links that show the car from my time of purchase up till about 2 years ago... I will gladly shoot additional photos for interested parties..

A Little history on the vehicle...
Purchased new in Califorina and lived its life there up until it was purchased by a restoration shop in Oregon. This particular shop ran into finiancial problems and was forced to sell off many of thier project cars. I purchased this car in 2001... This car was a pretty much rust free vehicle... Still has the original inner rocker panels... the dog legs are in great shape.. Lower Front fenders, doors and quarter are as solid the body mounts are perfect condition and as the day it was sold.

I literally spent hours on my back cleaning the underside of the body and stripping the old cracking undercoating.. My intention was to recoat the bottom using Rhino Liner... Floors are all solid ... I did some small overlay patching in the foot wells but the under seat pan is in very nice condition... The left rear quarter panel on the vehicle was replaced sometime in its life... I found no noticable frame miss alignment or frame damage...

The underside of the body and chassis was high pressure washed and degreased. The bottom side of the vehicle needs a little bit of addtional clean up and it is ready to be masked primed and painted. I have a brand new exhaust system from headers to the tail pipes. I substituted the factory original mufflers for a nice set of glass packs. Not shown in pictures as the bottom should be finished before doing the underside assembly. NEW rear shocks..

Over the years I have collected a substantial amount of parts that were missing as well as new parts that would be use in the rebuilding of the vehicle. I have bounced back and forth on the course I would take with the vehicle be it a semi body on restoration to a kustom low ride cruiser... My last Idea was to literally go a Miami Style Kustom... incorporating lowered suspension, chrome wire wheels, wide whites, Kustom Pearl White Paint (Lincoln Silver White Pearl) job and Pearl white rolled and pleated kustom interior... Again this was my choice.

To the best of my Knowledge the engine was change somewhere back to the larger 312 cu in thunderbird motor.. I checked the compression when I got the vehicle and all cylinders were holding 120LBS + and there was no big variable in the readings... I have the later model intake wide base carb as my intentions were to change to the edlebrock preformer carb as it is far more reliable than the original carb...

The list goes on and on...
I have a new Windshield and Side Glass
I do not have the convertible top... I have the original hardtop (Non Port Hole)

Door Windows are Manual
Seat is NOW POWERED.. I purchased the needed acme motor drives.
Seat frame is in nice condition.

The wiring has been stripped out of the car... Needs a total rewire. I would go with one of the after market kits (Ron Francis or Easy Wire) there all about the same and very simple to follow to obtain a real professional job. 55 birds were 6 volt originally and I would never build a car using the 6 volt system. I have found that a Dodge Alternator (12 Volt) is so close to the original generator mounting it almost appears to be a bolt on installation... The original 6 Volt starter will handle 12 volts all day long. that would not be a problem..

I will offer the car with the option of Single 4 Barrel Carb or a 3 - 2's set up.. Carbs on the 3-2's will need to be rebuilt. The intake and exhaust manifolds are off of the car....

I have a NEW complete from headers to tail pipe exhaust system for the car. Mufflers are mellow tone glasspacks..

The Wide Whites that are shown in the pictures do NOT go with the car. Actually I have these Wide Whites on my 32 Roadster.... I do have a NEW set of Bias Ply white walls but they are the narrow white (1 inch) style...

Well that should pretty much give you an Idea as to what is her along with the pictures you make the decision as to your ability and time to take on a project of the magnitude...

I would say that a good shop should be able to have this car on the road by spring of next year if you are looking to make a nice desireable driver... Full restoration will take time.....

If you have a real interest and the money... I'm open to questions and can help you with locating parts and such for this car... All in all its pretty much complete.. But does require time and effort.. I guess I can't express that enough. The current state of the vehicle is sitting on jack stands in my garage. I have new Front and Rear springs and will gladly put the car back to a rolling state so it can be moved on a trailer... I will need to have a commitment (Non Refundable Deposit) if I'm going to spend time putting it back together for transport...

I literally have bins full of parts for this car and its going to take some time to put all the parts together for the sale but I will promose it I have the parts you will get them should I miss any for the transaction... I literally have accumulated so much stuff over the years that my garage now has 2 cars that I cannot get out of the garage due my pack rat style of collecting.

NOTE THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS ARE NOT IN ORDER... THESE SHOW THE WORK THAT HAS BEEN DONE OVER THE YEARS THAT I OWNED THE VEHICLE.....

SLIDE SHOWS give your the progress on the carf from 2001 to date by year

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u...view=slideshow

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u...view=slideshow

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u...view=slideshow

http://s167.photobucket.com/albums/u...view=slideshow

The Shoebox Ford in the above links is NOT FOR SALE... I do not have the car now as it was sold years ago...

ASKING PRICE is $14,000 - Make me an offer.. I would consider trades for who the hell knows.... If you have something that you think may interest me drop me a note...


The car is located in Northern New Jersey

otrr@yahoo.com