Does anyone have photos of custom or Hopped Up Thunderbirds? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
T birds were beautiful customs and T birds won races from NASCAR to NHRA, AHRA, SCTA etc!!!! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/early-ford-thunderbirds.229429/ Up to and including last Friday. Some pics missing in the early pages.
I'd love to do a mild custom 55/56 Bird.. I think early T-Birds and early corvettes make great customs...
The 58-60 T-birds really don't need much if any customizing, they look pretty cool looking just the way they came from Dearborn.
Here's a concept I did for the F.A.S...Not everyone's cup of tea but it would make an interesting build if you had one that was rough to begin with.
Man I can't do all your work for you. Up the top there's a thing call 'search,' it looks like a magnifying glass. You'll find tons of stuff already posted. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1958-60-thunderbird-picture-thread.641324/#post-7268392 https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/any-58-60-t-birds.320368/#post-5651668 https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/no-58-60-t-birds.309653/#post-3301025
This is a before photo, I am installing new 2 inch lower springs in the front. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
No clue, I was 18 years old. At that time Ak was getting free stuff from Ford Racing all the time for "testing". Nothing ever went back to Ford. The 352 in the car was pretty tired when I bought it. Ak told me to bring the Ranchero and come pick up a motor. He had so much stuff, I doubt he even messed with half of it. He tried a lot of different cams and carbs, and heads. After he ran them on Bill Stroppe's dyno, he used what he liked in a Pikes Peak, or Bonneville car, and the rest just sat in the back of his shop. All he had to do was give Ford the test results.
Sold my 60 T-Bird about a year and a half ago, spent more time moving it than driving it. Make great customs with little work, nosed and decked, removed a bunch of small trim to clean it up. Swap wheels, tires and skirts change the whole car.
Maybe rough-in a low belly pan. Keep your mug behind that sleek windshield....and your butt inches from the ground. When on wheels, those 'birds fly LOW... and shallow! Scrunch way down!
Here are some shots of a rodded Thunderbird that I had a few years ago. It was a fun little car! I've still got the '34 that's above it on the lift.
Hello, This fabulous Thunderbird has been seen in a lot of photos in the mags. We never saw it in person, but my connection was with the owner. We met through a friend from Long Beach, when the owner of the ‘Bird was a teenage surfer back then. Jim O’Mahoney was a little teenager surfer from the Belmont Shore area and we saw him at the local surf spots, 72nd street, Seal Beach’s Ray Bay, etc. There were also times at the Bixby Knolls Drive-In with the car gab fests going on in the back row near the alley. Jim O’ Mahoney’s dad was an actor and played on many movies and on TV. We were impressed with that fact. But, since we never met the dad, it was hot rods, custom cars, drag racing, surfing, and girls at the drive-in restaurant that were the impressive parts of our teenage lives. Jnaki As we all grew up, we all went separate ways after the teenage, turbulent years. Since being a car buff from early on and always liking the Thunderbirds from 55-57, I was impressed when I read about the history of this black T‘Bird. “Once O’Mahoney found a suitable Thunderbird donor car, Spencer went to work. First, he fitted the suspension from the original Doane Spencer Thunderbird with a few modifications such as continuously welded frame components for added rigidity. He rebuilt the Ford Spicer limited-slip differential, along with the finned Lincoln Pan American drum brakes." "He added the same sand-cast knockoff Halibrand wheels that had been used on the original car to the new Thunderbird, giving the car a “straight-out-of-1956” look. O’Mahoney only owned the car for a short time,” “Piles of cast-off Thunderbird parts began to accumulate in his shop, and friends soon took note. One, Jim O’Mahoney, approached Spencer with a proposition: Take the discarded parts and install them on a suitable donor car, duplicating the original Doane Spencer Thunderbird for O’Mahoney. As was Spencer’s way, his counter-proposal was brief; he’d take on the job, but the new car would be built on his timeline." "Furthermore, it would be a “ten tenths” car, constructed to campaign and win at vintage race events such as the Mille Miglia, and it would be well-into-the-six-figures expensive. Without hesitation, O’Mahoney agreed to all of Spencer’s conditions.”
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