History Restoration Ethics (Your Thoughts)

I don't know if any of you feel this way, so I'll start from the beginning.

I bought a local car a few years back. To make a long story short, it was a 1950s-1960s custom before a guy tried to turn it into a gasser in the 1960s. When he ran out of money, he traded the car to someone who parked it for 50 years and never finished it.

Over the course of those 50 years, the previous owners stripped the car. What I have left is a shell of what the car use to be. I have custom parts in various places, and I have gasser parts in other places. But, I don't have enough of the original custom parts to turn it back to a custom or the desire to finish the car as a gasser.

What I do have is a 1955 Thunderbird that once left the factory fully loaded. It came with factory power steering, power brakes, power seat, power windows, and an automatic. All of that stuff was gone as well, but I've slowly collected enough of those parts to make it what it started off as.

I don't want to ruin what might actually be a forgotten, historically significant car if it is significant. I also don't want to let the car sit another 50 years without once ever being on the road while I have it. After three years of ownership, I still can't find any information on it.

What would you do, and have you ever gone through anything like this yourself? What did you do?

 

I'd build a running car that suits my taste. No obligation to anyone.

 

What a dilemma.

If it were historically significant, you'd be able to find some history on it. Since you can't...you might as well do what you want with it. What do you want when it's finished?

 

I'd build it to drive...not as Dearborn intended, not as the custom guy intended, not as the gasser guy intended....build what YOU like!!

If it were mine, I'd have to build it in the same flavor as Bob Hoshika did...maybe with a bit more road race influence!



Photo by the Boss!

 

Pics?
Build what you like.
you can’t “ruin” a car by enjoying it
I’d have zero “ethical” issues building whatever style floated my boat.
Which would be a slammed custom

 

Build it now, how you want. Better to be on the road getting used, then evaporating in the back yard.

 

What percentage of customized cars ever made it into a magazine?

 

I'd agree with other that whatever direction you take it would be on to let you get a lot of driving enjoyment out of it. That said, I think that would point you in the direction of mostly stock, but upgraded to be a solid driver. I don't know if it's permitted to use the term RestoMod or ProTouring here, but that's a direction I could see with a car like a '55 T-Bird. I also like the suggestion of "road race influence" and I think that's kind of in line with the term ProTouring.

FWIW....usually very little, the custom idea does nothing for me personally. Gasser....to me that is getting to the point of being overdone, unless, of course, it's actually going to be raced.

Lynn

 

Vanilla or Chocolate maybe a half and half swirl. Like Mom told me “make up your mind I’m not the one eating it”.

 

Quote.. " After three years of ownership, I still can't find any information on it."

On that basis I would assume that its not that historically significant so no need to worry.

 

We need more input. I'd bet a good cup of coffee somebody here knows or knows of the car. Anything you have helps. But back to "now what?" I'm a big fan of mixing genres in a case like yours. I agree, gasser madness is lame on some cars and not much of it is actually right. Fun, sure, but not real and more a modern interpretation. Yuk. I can see custom paint, kool rollers, maybe a warmed up FE vs a Y block, and definitely add all the factory options in too. They were there already so that direction is set. Me personally, I like to add restoration eyes to things. Factory finishes where you'd least expect to see em on something modified. It's a vibe I have a hard time putting into words but my near 50 years of restoration makes it par for the course in my pursuits. Does this help? I feel like I can see what you see, but not all the ingredients are visible in the recipe.

 

Or a period style road racer. (vintage pro-touring )

mmmmm. That sounds fun

 

What I do have is a 1955 Thunderbird that once left the factory fully loaded. It came with factory power steering, power brakes, power seat, power windows, and an automatic. All of that stuff was gone as well, but I've slowly collected enough of those parts to make it what it started off as.

In my opinion you already have your answer, original T-Birds are so cool just the way they left the factory. Glen

 

It won’t ever be original
That’s ship has long sailed.
It will at best be “customized to original specs”
No matter what ya build, it’s custom

 

I rarely comment on these things but here's my opinion. I wouldn't hesitate to build a rod out of it. I also wouldn't build a gasser out of it. I wouldn't restore it either. Black car in post #4 has the look as far as I'm concerned. I have noticed quite a few cheap early T-birds lately. It seems anything less than pristine examples are getting more affordable.

 

I agree with grdral - use the parts you have collected and get after it!

 

Nothing of what you described says "historically significant" to me. Sounds like an old car that never got finished. Build it how you like.

 

These look fun

these 57 have that look

I’ve got a friend with a complete 56. Looks good from 20 feet. Needs a good bit of work. Lots of lower rust and patch panels from an amateur resto.
He’s not interested in a low hp yblock with 3 speed. Definitely not the period automatic.
He’s been talking about a road race style build.
He owns a shop, value wise a resto is out of the question. Super low mile cars, factory 2-4s or supercharged, maybe.

 

Got pics?

What do the early custom mods look like, is it attractive? If someone did some good looking custom work to the car at some time in the past, there's no way I'd undo it. If it really was never finished as a custom, that doesn't mean you couldn't make changes, either more custom stuff, or undo/change some things that were done to work better, as there'd be no way to say for sure the original builder didn't plan to do the same things.

There's no chance I'd make a gasser out of it, but that's just my personal taste. And also, I wouldn't see the point in just making it a restored stocker again, since I could go out and buy one of those finished for less than the cost of restoring one, tons of those already exist.

We really need pictures of this thing to advance this conversation any further.

 

You're very fortunate to have one that you can take in any direction. I would have trouble doing extensive modifications to a nice restorable early T-Bird.
They are one of the best-looking cars ever made. They look good in every direction except the jacked up straight axle gasser direction. A shave, Merc or Dodge taillights, tube or Corvette grille, an open stock scoop and 1" WW on chrome wheels w/spiders always looks good. OR, a shave, mag wheels and a slight forward rake looks killer as well. I think the key is moderation. They already look good; they just need some tasteful personalization. Need pictures!

 

IMHO, the only significant baby birds are the factory supercharged 57s. Other than that, the notion that these cars are somehow super collectible doesn't seem rooted in reality. Go on FB Marketplace and you can find many very nicely restored cars for well under $50,000, many significantly less. Especially with the demographic of individuals who appreciate this era of cars leaving, I just don't see these cars as historically significant or highly collectible, which makes them perfect fodder for people who do appreciate them to make them into whatever it is they want.

 

^^^^^preach^^^^^

 

I agree with what most have said here, A) pics would be helpful to help identify it and to see if the custom changes are tasteful and worth saving/continuing on with. B) Putting it back stock, even with some of the big pieces collected is expensive....for a car that isn't particularly valuable. Nice, driver baby birds are readily available everywhere for under 30. We got ours (a rust free older restoration driver) for 21. Hard to justify spending 50-80 putting it back stock only for it to be worth maaaaybe 40. Sounds like you have the perfect foundation for building a nice driver just the way you want it....that's what I'd do. Shoot, if I had my way I'd be cutting mine up too, just cuz I like them that way, but already have too many projects and the guy that restored it in the 80's is still around and would be quite upset if I "ruined" "his" car. Of course, I know it's not his, but I'm betting when I finish other stuff around here and he's gone, this one gets cut.

 

I'm glad you jumped in. I've got a collection of photos, but they are across a couple of devices. I'll compile them this evening and post them to give a better picture of what I've got.

When I bought the car, the guy who sold it to me tried to tell me that it was this car:


I have found no evidence on the car that it was ever this car. What I have found is that someone shaved the fuel door at some point. The rear taillights are from a 1960 Dodge Dart just like this:



The car was also painted a candied red while it was still a custom. I found some other touches as well like heated coil springs in the front to drop it and a door knob like none I've ever seen that I'll include with this evening's pictures.

These are the small touches that are left from when it was a custom. Sometime later, they painted the car gray and added a vinyl top to give it more of a 1960s muscle car look.

It was during that time that a previous owner arched the rear quarters in bondo so that they could get bigger tires on and off. I have found no trace of the candy red in this "addition".

 

Also I would mention, if you've already collected the Y block, power steering, brakes, windows and seat, all of that stuff would go into a custom version just fine. No reason not to use any of those collected pieces in my opinion.

I actually prefer an automatic in a '55 Thunderbird, even a totally bone stock one. Sure, they're a sports car, but they're tight inside and I always had a hard time getting between reverse and first with the stock shifter, I had to lift my leg up and get the shifter under my knee, very uncomfortable. The automatic was much more comfortable.

 

Believe it or not, that's actually what stopped the guy who was turning it into a gasser dead in his tracks. My T-Bird was always only a factory automatic car. This guy tried adding a manual transmission into the car (which I also have), and he couldn't do it.

He tried to add an Ansen style swing pedal for a single Ford master cylinder, but he couldn't find enough structure in the firewall to make the pedal work correctly. He cracked the firewall from the stress of just depressing the pedal. After that, he got rid of the whole car.

I actually make a custom set of clutch pedals off of the set that came with the car that I know would work since I've tied all of the movement into the factory structure. I'm not going to use them though. I want to keep it an automatic car.

 

Well , if it’s got the custom tail lights and smoothed fuel door .


I’m digging the mild custom hot rod ? ( bonneville , pikes peak , pan America , et-Al ) period correct road racer .


If you have all the jam ( all the options power windows , steering etc ) pet them on as well . To me that’s what made the ‘birds so cool was all the factory options and upgrades .


I would do a custom roadracer all decked out in high end options and trim .

t/birds have never done it for me as a gasser , to fancy when new to become a down n’ dirty racer .

a sleek and elegant driver on the ready to pick up your girl and drop her panties ?
Yup …… that’s a t/bird

 

I too, have always liked the 2 seater T Birds. Not being a big resto guy any more, I would also build it my way, which would probably mean a 6V FE, with a C6 or a top loader, but a T85 3 speed would probably work also, especially if one is on hand. The vinyl top wouldn't bother me at all, and neither would the shade of red on the drag car. Some 7" chrome wheels, or perhaps just plain black ones, and I would be on my way. If the prices on these are as good as I'm hearing, I need to go find one.