The Jersey Blindbird and its multi-colored freaks

JERSEY RIDICULOUSNESS!

I was on a rambling drive to the Delaware Water Gap when I decided to roll through some local New Jersey streets to see if there were any cool industrial ruins or cars. I found plenty of both but this freaky vision takes the cake!

What? Why? Who?
Look I don't have the answers. NOBODY has the answers. I think this might be an answer to an unspoken question by a madman. Regardless, what we have here is a 1965 Ford Thunderbird convertible in some ungodly horrific aftermarket LOOK AT ME yellow. Whatever with the color let's get to the glaring fact that this thing is bizarrely customized to the point where there are no headlights. Dude! You got rid of the headlights? If you're going this bonkers why start with such a nice and somewhat rare car? Are you absolutely certain you only want to cruise in the daytime?

Alright perhaps there are lights behind that grill but still, what a strange decision. I love cars with their headlights behind power flip-up doors but this seems unnecessary. Maybe it's a fiberglass front to save weight but then why choose a convertible with its heavier reinforced frame? I'll lay off now.

I'm fairly certain the bumper is the original under that paint. The main identifying feature of the '65 is still on display here; that small faux vent indentation behind the front fender well is a 1 year only detail for this generation 'bird.

This just added to my frustration! It seems this particular 'bird is fitted with the rare roadster option. The backseat exists in this car, it's just hidden beneath this large removable cover from the factory. These are referred to as the Batman Roadster covers as they make the car look faintly like the '60s Barris Custom Batmobile when the top is down. This is a scarce and sought-after piece for sure.

This is obviously going through a revamping so it can continue to bring tears of shock to people for years to come. While the exhaust tips are poking out from underneath the rear bumper you can see the yellow protrusion just behind the lower edge of the front wheel suggesting that this might've had lake pipes at one point.
Let's turn our attention to that magenta schnoz poking out in front of this blindbird.

What we have here is a 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle SS all tarted up in some sort of trashy magenta. Really subtle with the high-rise hood scoop and fat tires in the back but you know what? On a Chevelle it makes total sense!
Both the '71 and '72 Chevelle had identical bodies and a single headlight on each side as opposed to quads, but the '71 only had a single horizontal grill bar while the '72 had 2.

This car should be all set up for the dragstrip. Heck I know a guy who races a '71 Chevelle on the quarter mile all season every summer. This one is sporting a vinyl roof which, while light as can be and not too much of a drag on aerodynamics, is superfluous when it comes to racing. Who knows how this started out. Maybe it has air conditioning too.

But wait a minute! There in the background lies one of the ultimate muscle car icons; a 1969 Dodge Charger. This is the same year, make, and model as the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard!

This example looks like it's wearing remnants of the original color Bright Blue Poly. That massive hood scoop is aftermarket but these could be ordered ready for the dragstrip from the factory in '69. The large enough 383 V8 was standard, but you could specify a huge 440 Magnum or the legendary 426 Hemi as well. Incidentally the way to differentiate the '69 from the '68 from the front is that the '69 had this center divider to the grill. There was a Nascar-inspired version called the Charger 500 that had exposed headlights which saved weight and very slightly helped with aerodynamics. Of course there was also the Charger Daytona which came with the pointed metal nose and massive rear wing (among other drag-killing aerodynamics) but that was so wild that it's hard to think of it as the same overall model.

This beast is in pieces with the entire quarter cut out and doors removed.

This goes to show the value and increasing scarcity of this car. Even if you have a frame and a vin tag it's probably worth the time and effort to try and create a car out of it. The Dukes of Hazzard went through somewhere between 255 and 320 1969 Chargers jumping and totaling them constantly. That and the fact that they were built to drive mercilessly used them up before they became valuable again.
Hats off to New Jersey for not disappointing!

L.A. Rob returns with a Venetian delicacy

BLUEBIRD BEATER
Usually if I get a series of pics from L.A. Rob they consist of the worlds greatest classic cars in museum condition. Not this time! Behold this surfers hooptie from the streets of Venice Beach:

 This is a 1958 Ford Thunderbird wearing remnants of its original Regatta Blue paint. We're in serious hooptie/rat rod territory here people; patina for days, rear window off the track, and backyard repairs left half finished contrasting a new set of wheels and what looks to be a new exhaust. Being California this car remains straight and not rotted out even in this shape at age 58.

Just look at this mouth breathing, leering freak! Terrible acne scars tell of a neglected childhood, and yet this car started out as Fords top of the line flagship. The T-birds from '55-'57 were sexy little 2 seaters, but the management thought sales were restricted due to their limited passenger ferrying capabilities. 1958 introduced this catfish-faced colossus, larger in every way and fitted with 4 seats.
*The grill had this hexagonal pattern only in '58. The following year brought horizontal bars in the same opening.

 I once had a '59 Edsel that had very similar chrome details on the leading top of the fenders. This is smack dab in the middle of nonessential decoration in auto design.

 This was built on the meridian between the end of the Jet Age and the beginning of the Space Age. The Russian satellite Sputnik was launched in 1957, heralding a new fascination with space. Being that this car was already being manufactured, Jet Age elements such as this mirror can still be found.
The steering wheel looks really beat and the dashboard rusted. I bet this thing sat without a windshield for a while.

Love it or hate it the looks of the '58 T-Bird are bold. We've got some of the most literal Jet Age styling cues ever on this rear end. The fins are restrained for the year, but the dual rear bumpers are totally bonkers.
Those dual exhaust pipes are connected to the 352 V8 in its first year of production.

 I appreciate how they kept the wheels in the family, as these come from a recent Mustang. The Thunderbird emblem in chrome script looks so sweet.

What are the chances that this would be parked at (5)58?
Take a good look at this mug before the police drag him away. This car has no plates which is a scenario that can't last for long. I like the lines of this era 'bird a lot better than when I was younger, though every year of the following decade is superior in my own opinion. This is actually not an enormous car for the vintage, and sports lots of swooping awesomeness and relatively restrained chrome. Whoever's driving this beast these days is going full rat as illustrated by the leftover evidence of a sloppy repair. My guess is that this got smashed in the front pretty good and the owner got a replacement bumper and just pulled out the top panel.

 I was informed by Rob that the sticker on the front here is Dogtown as in the Z-Boys as in The Birthplace of Freestyle Skating.
Thunderbirds are GO!

Norelco shaver by Thunderbird

AWESOME GREENBIRD ON THE WEST COAST

I was walking around my sisters neighborhood when we encountered this beauty roosting nearby:

This is a 1968 Ford Thunderbird in Lime Gold Poly (this exact color was available on Lincolns under the name Aspen Green). We know it's a '68 because of the 1 year only grill that has small stylized thunderbirds on the headlight doors as opposed to one large one in the middle.

I love this grill! Hidden headlights were all the rage in the late '60s, with GM offering several as well as Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury (not to mention Mopars like the General Lee Charger). These full-width grills look so tough though this one reminds me of an old-school electric shaver.

This being before the safety and emissions regulations of the '70s means that thin bumpers and big engines were the norm. 1968 was the first year for the mighty 429 V8 which made this a very fast car indeed. It breathed through a huge 4 barrel carb and there were no restrictions on exhaust so it was the last gasp of thirsty Detroit iron shamelessly flexing its muscles.

Here's a close-up of one of the stylized thunderbirds scattered about the car. The original hubcaps are great!

Nice to have a matching house and car.

The quarter panel's a bit rumpled but that's about all the damage on this side.

I've always been a fan of the full-width taillights and to me this example is particularly sweet as it's a loop within a loop. The reverse lights are barely discernible within the innermost bar. With the light housing set into that larger opening it really looks like you could fire up the jet engine and launch into space!

It's rare to see a Thunderbird that doesn't have a vinyl roof. The clean body lines are on full display.

A slight crease on the door, some parking-by-feel evidence by the front signal, and some hubcap dents are about as bad as the passenger side gets. It's amazing to be on the West Coast where cars of this vintage still manage to have no rust!

Normally this chrome bird would be floating on an ocean of gaudy vinyl.

The lounge-like interior has a wrap-around backseat! This was a hallmark for the T-bird for many years and makes for such a sweet effect. At first glance I thought that was a pink robe on the seat which would be the most hilarious thing to drive this ride in.

This front corner acquired a hubcap from an early '70s Ford LTD at some point. This was the brief moment in history when the Thunderbird could be ordered with 4 doors. That model is a true rarity as the back sported suicide doors that opened backwards! We'll leave this perfect combination of luxury and brute muscle car power to roost in Oregon for now. Still, this front end is my favorite out of all the 'birds and I'd love to have one someday.

L.A. Rob once again shows us what Show Car Sunday/Monday is all about

FLAWLESS T-BIRD

There have been few cars on this blog as immaculate as the one being featured today (most of the other ones were provided by L.A. Rob as well actually). When one of these pics first showed up in a text I thought the car looked pretty good. After seeing the full size images I realized this is basically as if you stopped by the Ford dealership in 1966 and somehow warped into 2015. Without further ado:

This is a 1966 Ford Thunderbird in the extremely rare color Sauterne Gold. Somebody truly loves this car as it seems to have been restored to better-than-new condition.

Though it looks a bit like the '65 this is a 1 year only car. The '65 had a sort of catfish mouth compared to the clean, somewhat straightforward look of the '66. The year after this the Thunderbird turned into something so different it's hard to imagine they continued with the name! 1967 saw the addition of hidden headlights behind a full-width grill, and perhaps most surprising, the addition of a 4-door for the first time in T-bird history. To add to the craziness those 4 door rides had suicide rear doors that opened at the front. The lines of this 'bird are as crisp and clean as folded paper.

The original hubcaps are gleaming in their perfection. You can catch a glimpse of the leaf springs from this angle, letting on that this is still a 49 year old car.

That generous Cali sunshine really shows off the angles of this ride. Notice how there are no rear quarter windows on this glimmering beauty. The backseats wrap around a bit almost like lounge seating. When you're back there you have almost total privacy. It still wouldn't make the best spot for a liaison though as the console continues from the front all the way to the back, essentially making 2 rear bucket seats. 

I'm so happy L.A. Rob got this interior shot as one of the coolest and most unique features of this car is on display. See how the steering wheel seems slightly askew compared to the dash? This is the Swing-Away Steering Wheel where you could unlock the steering column and swing it towards the passenger seat in order to get out of the car with more ease. It was originally an option on the '61 T-bird but it proved so popular that they made it standard equipment starting in '62. The year after this car was built they redesigned this feature and renamed it Tilt-Away. It was discontinued after '69 as it could no longer meet safety regulations.

*It's interesting to note that you could start the car with the steering wheel disengaged, you just couldn't shift out of park until it was locked in place. There were no manual transmission T-birds in '66.

Here are the fabled sequential turn signals where the inner lens would light first, followed by the center, and finally the outer lens to indicate which direction you were headed. I love these loop bumpers housing the taillights. The whole rear of this car looks like a rocket ship about to take off into space. The fact that the body panel under the bumper is in that condition really brings home the show car vibe.

Finally we'll look this thing head-on! Notice the lack of a passenger side mirror on the door. This, along with reverse lights and seat belts were still options on most cars of the day.

 1966 was the only year for that enormous and very stylized chrome bird on the ice cube tray grill. Little details abound such as the 3 miniature chrome stripes on the front turn signals. This was the top of the heap for Ford back then, and the idea was that you could feel sporty while enjoying full luxury. If you wanted to upgrade from this point you would move up to a Lincoln which added luxury at the expense of any perceived sportiness.

Hats off to whomever is the lucky owner of this sweet ride, and to L.A. Rob for capturing it in the wild.