This Christmas eve, why sit on Santa's lap when you can sit in the lap of luxury in today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe custom T-bird convertible? That is of course, only if you determine whether its price is naughty or nice.
The original owner of yesterday's 2000 Lambo replica may have dubbed it the 'Orange Crush Diablo' but at it's nearly fifty-grand asking price, it got crushed in an overwhelming 80% Crack Pipe loss.
It was such a blood bath that I'm not going to post the similar Red Vines Ferrari replica, Silver Bullet Porsche Speedster homage, or the Wendy's Baconator Combo with Chocolate Shake fake '78 Pontiac Parisienne. Instead, I'm just going to flip you the bird.
Actually, it's this 1979 Ford Thunderbird that flips its lid, being a rare and sassy custom convertible. The ad doesn't say so, but I'm guessing this is one of the about 150 cars hassan-chopped by American Custom Coachworks of Beverly Hills, CA back in the day.
There aren't any pics in the ad of the car with the top raised, but the seller assure's us it's there, and that it will keep the interior dry. According to the ad, the back window is yellowed like a scared little kid's tightie whities, but pretty much any top shop in town can fix that at a minimal cost.
These seventh-generation Birds were the first in a series of downsized models, and were based on the chassis of the Gran Torino, which itself had morphed at the time into the LTD II. Back then, factory convertibles of pretty much any ilk were few and far between, owing to an expected Government banhammer that never actually materialized. In the interim, a number of coach builders stepped forward to fill that void.
One such was ACC, which I'm pretty sure did the work here. Their '79 was a redesign of the '78 conversion, and allowed for use of the back seat when the top was down, something the previous year did not. The other notable '79 feature on this car is its egg crate grille, which was exclusive to the year, but which was featured on the closed cars too.
Mechanically, well, to begin with these things were still boats by present day standards. Factory cars tipped the scales at over 3,900-pounds and engine options in '79 were limited to a 133-bhp 302, a 142-horse 351W, or a 151-pony 351M. Which one does this car have? Hell if I know, but these conversions were typically spec'd out with all the options Ford could throw at them so let's roll the dice and say it has the top mill. Vroom, vroom!
The ad does note that the A/C has been brought up to snuff with an R134 conversion, and that the car drives great. Issues include the aforementioned rear window, and a driver's seat that needs its white leather renewed - to Cleveland, stat! The odo shows 63,000 miles and there's a CB radio in the dash to round out the car's total '70s vibe. Oh and last thing; all the pics in the ad say they're taken in 2010. They also say they were taken just after midnight so I'm thinking take that with a grain of NaCl.
The seller is asking $6,500 for this topless Bird and you now need to determine if it's something Yule want to buy, or if it just makes you say, bah, humbug!
You decide!
Orlando Bloom Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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