My neighbors new toy. It’s nice, the interior is all original and looks like new. He said the paint on the roof and trunk are original too, but it looks to me like they were painted. You can see my MF7 in the second picture too.
1966 Thunderbird
- Thread starter IHCubCadet147
- Start date
The just about the entire time I was growing up about 5 miles from my school there were 2 thunderbirds identical to the one here. They sat there rusting apart from 1990 to just a couple years ago.
Not a highly sought after car.
I figured they would be. I always thought they were a pretty car.
We owned a '70 Bird with the 429 and a 4 bbl in the late '80s. Had 11:1 compression and I had to do a lot of changing on the advance curve so it wouldn't sound like a diesel when you put your foot in it. That big ol' tank would get 15mpg on the hiway at 70. Never ran it flat out 'cause the bird felt like it wanted to fly, about 100 mph was as far as I'd go but there was throttle left..
I had a 1969 Mercury Marquis with that same 429 engine, that was a fricken land yacht.... I have no idea how fast it would go but do know it was more than 130 mph.... Lol
... and the mileage was probably 10 or 12.
this is a net pic but same car, same color..... 4dr hardtop with vinyl roof
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Wow, Lance, this is another crazy coincidence, and it may be too long of a story to keep anyone's interest but I got to tell it!
In 1971, my Dad came up here to South Dakota from Florida to pick us kids up and take us back down to Georgia to see his Mom and wheelchair bound sister. Grandpa had passed away in '69. Dad had recently bought a 1968 Torino. Car ran fine until we were coming down a real long grade mountain entering Chattanooga, TN. Blue smoke started pouring out of that Torino. Made it into town and checked the car out. Out of transmission fluid. He got a case of it and every 50 miles or so we stopped and he topped off the transmission fluid. Made it into Atlanta where his brother had a car dealership. He had bought the Torino from his brother a few months prior so he traded Dad straight across for a '69 Marquis identical to the one you pictured! Same engine, color and everything! That thing was a great highway car and had plenty of room for us. The return trip to South Dakota didn't go too well for this poor old (or fairly new at the time) car. Dad took a different way back avoiding Tennessee. Near Talledega, Alabama, there was a loaded log truck on a bridge stopped. We pulled up and waited and other cars behind us did too. The damm log truck up and started backing up and rammed a log right into the cowl dead center on that emblem. Another log hit the top of the windshield on the passenger side. It didn't break the glass, but it ripped the vinyl top back a foot or two. Pushed us into the car behind us. The idiot finally stopped and Dad wanted to beat him to death, but controlled himself. The car was still drivable, but really ugly now. We went to a nearby truck stop where Dad dealt with that trucker for what seemed like hours. Don't know what kind of settlement came of it but the car was never repaired. He drove the dang thing like that and put almost a half-million miles on it. Sometime in the 1990's he ended up scrapping it. Last time I drove it was when we took our 18 month old son to Florida to meet his grandpa at Christmas, 1988.
Thanks for the memories!
DAC
Cool story but it kinda sucks the car didnt get fixed... they were pretty nice for a 4 dr land yacht. Lol... I usually went for 2 dr hardtops, and I had '66 Pontiac ragtop... dark wine color and a fricken black interior... not good colors for a ragtop I can tell ya.
What model of Pontiac, Lance? Sounds like the interior could scald you if bare skin touched it! I've never owned a ragtop, but before that Torino I spoke of, Dad had a 1961 Cadillac convertible. If I remember right it had a white interior. Looked identical to this one.
I have a thing for the big "land yachts" Don't know why but big is good in my opinion! The last car I really owned I sold clear back in 1986. It was a 1971 Monte Carlo that I had bought in 1975. I would really dig having one again. Been driving some kind of truck ever since, mainly a '72 GMC which I still have.
again no pics on the pc so I had to search for something close.....66 Pontiac Bonneville... if the top was left down in the sun you couldnt even get in the damned thing until after dark..Lol
had one of these also... not the SS so it had a bench seat and column shift but still a nice car.... and in very nice condition... my aunt bought it new so I was the second owner.... came with full records of oil changes and anything else ever done to it.... mine had hubcaps.
...back then we didnt know these were gonna become collectable... they were just our daily drivers.
...back then we didnt know these were gonna become collectable... they were just our daily drivers.
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my first car was a 64 Plymouth Fury.... like this but green with white painted roof, push button auto on the dash....
In '84 I bought a small delivery business and that ended my car craze... nothing but vans and trucks until '96 when I sold the business, and since then Ive been a truck fan except for one little Renault ragtop that I kept for 8-10 years but never did fix it up, never even put plates on it... I'd get temp permits to drive it around once or twice a year.
1963 Caravelle, 1000cc rear engine, 4 wheel disc brakes, ragtop and removable hardtop. Body was ok but the interior was mess
just sold it about 10 years ago so I actually have some pics on the pc....
1963 Caravelle, 1000cc rear engine, 4 wheel disc brakes, ragtop and removable hardtop. Body was ok but the interior was mess
just sold it about 10 years ago so I actually have some pics on the pc....