Jalopnik
Since helping our Czech friend BobAsh get a Malaise Corvette from California to his homeland was so easy, I agreed to keep an eye open for a nice Crown Victoria Police Interceptor for him. After all, roaring through the streets of Prague in a genuine California cop car would be almost as much fun as roaring through the streets of San Francisco in a genuine Tatra 603. Last weekend I stopped by the auction yard at which I bought my Crown Vic a few years back, and found that the inventory included quite a few early 70s Ford Thunderbirds. In fact, the inventory was almost entirely 1970 and 1971 T-Birds. Make the jump for more photos and the rest of the story.
It turns out that I was looking at the estate of a recently deceased collector of '70 and '71 Thunderbirds, with at least 35 examples going under the auctioneer's gavel. Some two-doors, some suicide-doors, all with 429 engines... and every one of them had been sitting for at least a decade. Several were in great shape, several were hideous beaters, most had pretty good interiors, and many had fresh, if cheap, paint jobs. Many 8-track players. Most could be made to start and run (after a fashion), but it was clear that fuel systems, transmissions, and brakes had all felt the impact of a decade or more of inactivity and major sweat and money would need to be invested to get any of these cars into driving shape. Still, I was tempted to pick one up for a personal Hell Project, especially after it became clear that the ratty ones were going for $300 and the nicest ones were fetching under two grand. However, cowardice reason had the final word and I left in a T-Bird-less condition.
Comments
I think you need to open your own used car lot, Murilee's Malaise Motors and sell nothing but the finest classic american iron.
Murilee's Malaise Motors, our cars are MMM good.
i have to admit a morbid fascination with the four door T-bird. those crazy landau bars? suicide rears? wow.
thanks, Mr Iacocca, for blowing my teenage mind when i learned it was all true and not an urban legend.
You know what's crazy is those 1970 T-birds look awesome after all the trim is stripped off and dropped a couple of inches over a set of torque thrust II's.
This summer, Luxury gets PERSONAL!
I'm trying to imagine who decided that this was the car someone would latch onto.
"I'd just hate to be without a 71 Thunderbird."
@abgwin: Now that's something I don't think I've ever seen before. My mind's no longer a teenager (though it likes to play one at the office), but consider it thoroughly blown!
...and worth every penny...
Eye of Thundera, Give Me Sight Beyond Sight!
These seem to be the Thunderbirds that time forgot, somewhere between the swinging earlier Birds, and the later ones which were the very epitome of malaise. Other than being the main conveyance of the henchmen in Diamonds Are Forever, I've only seen one (it looks like it's been abandoned at the gas station across the road from work).
@FreeMan: oh, i'm no teenager myself, not by a long shot, but this is one of the cars that started my unhealthy interest in all things automotive.
I got in a big argument with my older brother as to whether there had been a 4 door Thunderbird. When he proved it to me with one of those massive reference books that show every single car, year by year, with how to id them, I was hooked.
[img.photobucket.com]
And to think my brothers and I have spent the last ten years finding new places to store Dad's '71, turns out there was some dude collecting them by the dozen.
I don't care what the naysayers say, I like these cars. Too bad I can't afford to put gas in it anymore.
Going for under $2K? You'd spend more on gasoline for it in the first year! But I do love me a suicide door T-bird...
What can I get for this peanut?
@Ben Wojdyla: seconded; the less is left on these cars the better they look. I'd pay 300 bucks for that first red one!
I've admired these since I saw Diamonds are Forever--Mr Wint and Mr Kidd drive a '71.
@Ben Wojdyla:
I agree. I think the car has some nice lines hidden under all that wonky chrome and vinyl. The white/black one looks pretty clean.
@teargas: COTD
There's a 4-dr Bird (67--69) in Prince's video for "Alphabet Street," and it's mentioned in the song.
Absolutely Gorgeous. Every time I see a 1971 or 1972 T-Bird, that's what I think. I know I'm weird, but I loved these things when they were new, and I still like them, though not really enough to buy one. I still remember the Brown '72 T-Bird used in the Bond Film, Diamonds are Forever, in which Ford supplied almost all the cars, including Jill St. John's Mustang, a certain green Ford Econoline Van, and the Brown T-Bird. This is Jill's Mustang:
If I had the space, and the time, and the gas money I'd get one...but then again, if I had the space and the time I'd have a Citroen SM, A Volvo P1800, a 58 Fury.....SHEESH!
By the way, I stand corrected, it was a 1971 T-Bird, and here it is:
As someone who's invested almost a decade in building an imaginary car collection, it's of great comfort to me to see people who've gone a less anorak-y route. Sure, 35 Thunderbirds from the cusp of malaise doesn't exactly equal my nearly 900 cars including nearly every variation of Koenigsegg, Pagani, and V12 Lamborghini; but I'd be pretty damn happy with an SR20 Locust, an E38 750i, and a jack-of-everything-unpaved 80's Toyota pickup.
Car collecting sounds like such an absurdly expensive hobby, but I bet this guy wasn't even a millionare.
I hate this song, but cheers to you anyway, wacko Thunderbird guy:
"Well you could hardly even see him in all of that chrome
The man with a plan and a pocket comb
But every night it carried him home
And I could hear him sayin'
Don't you give me no Buick
Girl you must take my word
If there's a God up in Heaven
He's got a silver Thunderbird
You can keep your El Dorado
Man the foreign car's absurd
Me I wanna go down
In a silver Thunderbird"
Those were some ugly years for T-Birds as they morphed into bloaters that looked like every other bloater.
I, too, am puzzled by someone who had such an extreme jones for these particular birds.
I guess we found out who actually bought all the Beaked Birds.
That front end takes a long while to get used to.
The car is a really nice looking ride if you just ignore the Beak. Chop off the Beak in favor of a more flush fitting grill and it would be one of the sexiest looking coupes of the 70s.
Just that damn Beak! Ahh!
Back in '74, shortly after I got married, saw an ad for a '69 4-door T-bird at Los Feliz Ford in Glendale - for $1,000. Went down and picked it up. Had to sell it a few months later because I literally couldn't afford the gas (this was the middle of the '74 gas crunch). Still miss the car, though. Suicide doors wuz cool.
Thirty years from now, this guy's grandson's collection of 2001-2002 Pontiac Azteks will be all the rage.
Was Kirk Kerkorian there trying to buy them all up?
There is one of these T-birds living under a blue tarp just blocks away from my downtown Detroit office. Every day as I drive by I've been trying to decide whether it is a 2 or 4 door. Looking at the lines for the rear door window in these pics, I think it's a 4 door.
I was hoping as the weather is warming up, that the cover would be coming off. So far, no such luck.
Sorry but those things are so goddamn ugly, I had to swat my own fork-wielding hand away to keep from stabbing my eyes out.
@ZZMarcus: @UDMan:
So what can we conclude from the fact that the two gay henchmen/assassins from "diamonds are Forever" drove a '71 T-Bird, yet neither recognized Mouton Rothschild as a claret...
Mixed-message stereotyping, methinks... ;-)
@BlackIce_GTS: Oh trust me, anybody CAN collect cars. You just have to lower your standards to the point where all your cars together don't really equal one good one.
I could probably have a 'Vette or BMW if I were fiscally responsible and wanted to put up with one set of wheels but I can't do it. So I have a half dozen crappy ones.
It can be done, I can't recommend it. Although the personal satisfaction of having to decide which one to fix, I mean drive, on a daily basis is too good not to share.
Such glorious excess... I love the four-doors. So strange-looking, and yet so right.
@charles_barrett: James Bond should be gay? I'm not sure what to extrapolate from that data.
A 1967 4-door T-Bird was the very first car I ever drove; my parents had a black on burgundy '67. It was a stunningly beautiful car, and those suicide doors, how cool is that!
Can anyone tell me more about where these cars are located? And how much he's asking for either of the two 4-door 'Birds pictured? Please write me direct at "richt (a) automotivetraveler dot com" with the details.
Richard Truesdell
Editorial Director, Automotive Traveler
www.automotivetraveler.com
@UDMan:
You forgot all the unfortunate green LTD sedans driven by the Whyte Techtronics security personnel.
I guess this would be better than collecting ceramic cats in your old age... but not by much.
One of my friends has a 67 4 door that with the black top and navy blue paint, just screams '60s crime-boss. I absolutely love it and he doesn't give a rip about it. (It was his grandfathers and has 48,000 miles on it)
It drives very nice though the 429 struggles a bit with the gross tonnage. Much more so than even my '76 Chevelle with it's Malaise-o-tastic 140hp 305 V8!
@autotronic: If you want more info, try emailing Murilee (his email address is in the masthead).
I'm guessing that the cars are somewhere near Alameda of San Francisco, and seeing as the photos were taken at an auction there's a good chance the cars are already gone (which is really too bad, because most of Murilee's auction and junkyard cars have less rust than my 12 year old daily driver that suffers the indignity of fighting 6 months of salt a year).
@danio3834: The 70-71 Beaky Birds are surprisingly similar to the 67-69 generation. I think the only difference is the sheetmetal in front of the windshield, and the leadsled roof that replaced the regular hardtop.
Aw c'mon, the Beak is the best visual feature of the car. I mean just look at it in that pic of the green car above. There are very few other examples in the automotive world that are as audacious yet still manage to look good. If the rest of the car looked as good I'd own one, but unfortunately the curve to the quarter panel doesn't work with the rest and I find it off-putting enough that I doubt I could ever throw down the cash for one.
@Schweppes: I've written twice to Murilee twice and received no response. Can anyone help me track down these rare 4-door 'Birds? Write me direct at richt (a) automotivetraveler dot com.
@autotronic: The auction was last weekend, so they're already sold off. Just check the SF Bay Area Craigslist in a couple weeks, however, as the new owners realize that you can't make a car that's been sitting for 15 years drivable again with a simple tune-up- they'll be for sale, cheap.
MUST NOT LOOK....Employer/Landlord will kill me if I buy another car.....These actions are where?
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