Posted 2 years ago
AnythingOb…
(1778 items)
1974 FORD THUNDERBIRD. Pic 1 is it as of earlier today as my newest 'driveway decoration', after a not particularly easy (nor cheap) process of the last week or so to 'rescue' it from where it's been otherwise sitting parked, intact, and (more importantly) for free for too many years (of neglect, but life happens that way sometimes) where it is no longer able to exist.
Pic 2 is an original plastic sign-face panel that would have been backlit on the Ford showroom wall someplace in 1974. It's car has a different (premium) trim package than mine, but y'all can get the idea...??
Roughly 2.5 tons curb weight, 460 cu.in. 4bbl. V-8 under the hood, (which BTW is a full 6-1/2 feet from windshield to hood ornament) just under 140K miles on the clock, sold originally from a nearby Ford dealership that currently exists *under the very same name* as the badge on its trunk lid shows.
It is especially meaningful to me, even in its now rather sad looking condition, because the **very first** car I ever owned (and most thoroughly LOVED) was the same thing one year older, wearing black paint/top and white leather inside. And then a few others along the way and then another decade+ later I found this one accidentally, available for a price I could pay at the time...so naturally I bought it...?? <LOL>
------edit for the 4th pic, of its Ford dealership badge on the trunklid-------
Congratulations on your acquisition!
Thanks so much Watchsearcher -- but technically the acquisition happened prolly 15yrs ago or so...this was indeed a "rescue it before somebody else tows it away" operation. Which still leaves me the option of (maybe, hopefully, someday) actually "restoring" it to its former grandeur like I wanted to when I first got it...which for that matter would have been a bunch easier/cheaper to do *then*, and now we're back to "life happens" in the meantime, but it is STILL MINE...
:-) :-) :-)
Does it run? If not, there are some YouTubers who are probably looking for something to make a "first start" video of. There might be someone local or fairly local who would do it for free, plus any parts needed, so they could make a video and earn some money on from the video. I watch a lot of these videos on YT...
THANKS for all the <love it>s from everyone!!!! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
For kwqd -- it most certainly *can* (as it did when I got it) but will take a little more fussing with the engine to get it to now -- I only had a half hour or so to experiment with that while otherwise figuring out how to get it moved here, (tires and such) it cranks but didn't fire up, and that wasn't actually a surprise since it's been sitting so long... <groan>
I don't know nutthin (yet?) about the YouTubers as you mention, but would be more than happy to find out more about that...if you wanna otherwise suggest a place to start it'd be appreciated until I get the time to go looking myself?!
:-) :-) :-)
Dump some fuel down the carb, bet it fires up.
lol ya pull the gas tank clean all the junk in it out rather then putting it in the carb and fuel lines.... jack it up pull the wheels off see what needs to be replaced on the brakes...once you get that done put in some fresh gas ...start it up ...throw some sea foam in the oil ,..follow the directions ..change the oil 2 times after draining the dirty oil ... pull plugs clean and re gap or buy new ones ...lol nothing 2 it ...
New pic just added, of the hood ornament on its front clip. Y'all here might appreciate that IT is in absolute fact, the VERY SAME one that adorned the end of the hood of my very first '73 BigTBird (which started all this nonsense with me) which I'd otherwise kept after I drove that car to total death, then installed on this '74 immediately after I bought it, because the one it came with had lost its top hoop. (and of course, yes, I still have that one too...) <LOL>
BigBearBoyOBoy -- I can tell by your comment that you've 'been there/done that' before *and* are also absolutely correct. (I kinda have too over my years but never as a source of primary income, just for fun...) Also, for sh*ts and giggles, I'm just now discovering (since I got the thing rescued to my own current driveway) that a bunch of my other accidental friends *also* think it's a kinda cool old land yacht, so I've sorta got a new handful of guys that can and will help me return it, hopefully, eventually, to its former glory.
OH -- for anybody really following along with this whole showing thread -- I just added a pic of its original SMITH FORD dealership emblem on the LH edge of its trunklid...
:-) :-) :-)
Did you get it to run n ow ??
Had to come back and look..just saw a car on the meecum auction..it was close, but it was a Lincoln...looks very similar to your car a year newer..
https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0122-488071/1975-lincoln-continental-mark-iv/