'61 Starliner roof on 1960 T-Bird??/

i am going to install a 1961 Ford Starliner roof on my 1960 T-Bird. Has anyone seen it done on this car? I see 1961-1963 Birds with a starliner roof, looks great. thanks

 

First I would recomend trying it in scale. A 60 Starliner is currently available as an AMT kit and an original AMT 59 or 60 bird would not be that hard (or expensive) to get off of e-bay (stay away from promos).

I would check the width and length too see how it line up. Back when I had a 63 bird I considered a starliner roof to make my own version of the Ford Concept car "The Itilian" http://www.flickriver.com/photos/jacksnell707/3295513403/ but insted I had kids and sold the bird.

Carmak
Riverside, Iowa

 

I can't wait to see this.
I love Squarebirds and Bulletbirds, but not the roofline.

I agree with a scale mock up though.

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=297139&highlight=starliner+bird


...and I think they are gorgeous with a top swap.

EDIT...wait, you said '60!! I think I have but I've gotta search a little while.

 

there is one around here saw it at columbus goodguys and it was in the background on a few pics someone posted on here from a show in kentucky about a year/ year and a half ago

both times the car was unfinished

it looked good (decent) but why would you want to cut up a starliner? especailly a 61 id give my eye teeth to find a 61 starliner

someone on here a few weeks ago did a photochopped 58 thunderbird with a 57-58 hardtop roof on it looked pretty good as well (lts in the link posted above)

 

Ford actually put a starliner roof on a 62 Galaxie for NASCAR. It was called a "starlifter". Tom Kitchen out of Florida built mine. Check out the posts under archive for his comments on building it etc.

 

Have you considered a 57/58 Ford hard top roof? I think it might mesh better with your 60's lines.

Carmak

 

That was me, actually the photoshop was from a couple years ago, the thread just got pulled back up recently.

Here it is



Keep in mind that a Starliner roof is huge, it's going to be way longer than the original Tbird roof, plus a lot harder to find. I really like the idea of using a '58 top on the '58 car, and they're easy to find and have clean lines.

I'm dying to see a '58-60 with a different roof, I had a nice '59 and the square roof was my least favorite design aspect of the car.

 

Those 1958 T-Birds were so cusomized from the factory, frenched head and tail lights, hood scoop, fins, fancy bumpers, neat grilles, that ther is no much ese i can do to it!! I actually did think of a 56,57,58 Ford roof. My little brother has a custom 1957 ford 2dr sedan. He wont let me have the roof, it'l be 30 years before he does anything with it!
I am not cutting up a decent 61 Starliner, would not have the guts to do that. I found a 61 starliner that has been cut off at the firewall, frame and all. I plan on shortening the front of the starliner roof, so the rear gl*** is ahead of the trunk opening . I tried to find a site with body dimensions, no luck yet.I do not have the 61 Starliner home yet. Thankyou for the ideas, have a Happy New Year!

 

I did the '62 Ford Galaxie "Starlifter" using a '60 Starliner roof.
As I have stated before, the rest of the '60 was soooooo bad (RUST)it could never have been restored. Whichever you use ('60 or '61) plan on making a custom rear gl*** and try to pre-figure where the roll up windows will hit the new top as they (or most do) curve in as they go up. Its not as simple as it looks and even FORD never completed the longer rear windows problem. GOOD LUCK!!!

 

I always thought a '57-59 Chrysler / DeSoto roof would look great on the '58-60 Tbirds.

 

gotgas your right that doesnt look all that bad i like it

 

Holman & Moody grafted a '61 top onto an early '63 Ford Galaxie 'boxtop' and nudged 16 MPH out of it on the top end...Ford engineers came and released a midyear '63-1/2, called it a 'fastback'...They never did it to the TBirds, as there was no room for the Landau Irons...

 

There is a bullet-bird here in the seattle area/pacific northwest that has a starliner roof on it. Not quite what you were asking about, but it was done on that car.

 

gotgas that is beautiful idea

 

heres pics of the bird from goodguys columbus i posted about

 

Is that a 57-58 Ford roof? Looks really good on there, real clean.

 

no im pretty sure its a starliner roof

 

That looks way bad***!!!!

 

Wow....That is cool!

 

That is just what I was looking for, great pictures. Maybe sink the rear gl*** into the body???
Wish I could talk to the guy that did it.Thankyou.Henry

 

yeah the bottom of the rear window would be my major concern , lots of contours in it the way that guy done it

 

That has BEAUTIFUL proportions. Looks like it's going to be tough to get that back gl*** in though.

 

wow..... that top looks AMAZING on that car... jesus

 

That Starliner roof looks great on the squarebird, but there is one down side. The rear seat becomes useless. The photoshop of the 57-58 roof looks just as good in my opinion, and looks as if the rear seat could still have headroom. Either way, it'll be a beautiful car!

 

IMO the starliner roof looks great on the later birds but it just does not work with the body lines of the square birds. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

The "C" pillars look thin and the rear window opening is square at the top corners for a Starliner.

 

This DeSoto/Chrysler concept is MUCH better...it gives you a "full" C-Pillar to work with, and doesn't make the upper rear area look as naked as the Starliner roof does.

This one would be a KILLER KUSTUM in real life and make the backseat really usable. It adds "body" to that area and pulls it off beautifully.

VERY COOL IDEA !

JK

 

Only issue with the 57-59 Chrysler/DeSoto top is finding one. The one with the shorter rear window is more common and will be cheaper. I sold one of those rear windows a few years ago for $300 - they're tough to find, and brittle, the guy came all the way here to pick it up with a special crate he made to carry it on. I guess all it took was one chip in his and it blew up.

The tin is no big deal.


And those early 60's Fords do like to rot, we sold a '60 Starliner parts car a few years ago that had rusted so much that one day a big gust of wind caught the hood and blew the whole damn skin off of it, left the inner frame on the car. Hood was closed tight, too.

 

This was built in OZ by Paul Barker many years ago and was featured in Custom Rodder Magazine , I believe it was two '59/60 Cad Roofs ? Dunno about it though ........

cad