Dallas Israel of Oregon considers his 1956 Ford Town Sedan to be a survivor, but not because it has its original paint, chrome and interior and low miles. It’s survived Israel learning to drive, going to college, three wrecks, a failed trade-in attempt and three marriages. Most recently, it survived the 2020 Riverside Fire in Oregon that came within a mile of Israel’s home.

“My father bought the car in 1959,” he said. “I learned to drive in it -— I have been driving the car since 1962.”

Israel’s father found the Ford through a friend that had used the car to haul a trailer. Such work can mechanically tax a vehicle, but Israel’s father knew the Ford had been well maintained during its chores.

Although Israel learned to drive on the 1956 Ford, it wasn’t his first choice for a car. That honor goes to an Austin-Healey, even if it was a short-lived affair.

“I got this (Ford) from him to replace my first car, a 1959 Austin-Healey Sprite, which was pretty fragile for a teenager. I had problems with the transmission and every time we needed to work on it, we had to pull the engine. Dad got tired of that and he paid me $150 to get rid of the Sprite, and he sold the Ford to me for $150, so he got his money back and got rid of the Sprite.”

The sale was back in 1965, and Isreal and the Ford have together ever since — including through some rocky periods. Those trials seem to have made Israel appreciate the ’56 Ford even more.

“There is a lot of sentimental value to it since my dad is, of course, gone,” he said. “I remember taking trips from Tracy [Calif.] to Bakersfield to see my grandparents, and I had my first date in the car. I can’t pinpoint one thing. It got me through college and just growing up.”

Israel didn’t immediately treasure the Ford, especially in college when everyone else was driving sportier two-doors. He set out to change his situation upon graduation in 1969 when he tried to swap his four-door Ford for his second roadster.

“When I graduated from college, I bought a ’66 MGB and I wanted to trade the Ford for the MGB and the guy at the British car dealer gave me $50 cash to keep the Ford. So I guess from that point on it has been like an old tire — they never really go away. That is why I call the car a survivor.”

Since the import car dealer refused the Ford, Israel kept it as a second car and split driving time between it and the MGB. It worked out in his favor, because Israel’s second dance with a British mistress went about as well as his first.

“My first wife redlined the MG too many times and blew the engine, so we kept the Ford and bought another car after the MG, but the Ford stayed.”

His first wife quickly developed a reputation for being hard on cars, and it wasn’t long before the Ford also succumbed to her heavy-handedness.

“My first wife totaled it,” Israel recalled. “She pulled out in front of someone. I always wanted to try my hand at restoring something, so I fixed it. I drove it without a bumper and one front fender until I could start piecing it together again.”

Israel eventually had the Ford back together again and looking good, but that was not to last.

“An old lady pulled out right in front of me and I had no chance to stop,” he said of the second accident.

“The (third accident) wasn’t that bad, but the hood opened itself up and hit the windshield. That caused damage to both front fenders and the hood, so that was an ordeal.”

After each accident, Israel repaired the damage and had the car repainted in its original Georgia Peach and Colonial White two-tone. He said decent body and trim parts were relatively easy to find on the West Coast, with the exception of the replacement hood. He ended up finding a different hood in Arizona that wasn’t nearly as straight as the seller sold it to be. With some work, it’s still covering the Ford’s original 292-cid V-8. That 292-cid V-8 also received some attention, eventually getting a rebuild that included a bore of .030 inch that raised the displacement to about 312 cubic inches with a four-barrel carburetor.

He also noticed the front frame cross member had rusted — a common occurrence on 1955 and ’56 Fords -— but he easily found a replacement.

The years and miles took enough of a toll on the old Ford that Israel eventually had the car reupholstered in the original materials. That was in the late 1980s or early ’90s. Thanks to Israel’s care and the mild West Coast climate, the Ford never required a frame-off restoration. It’s been more of a rolling project; whenever it needs something, Israel has repaired it.

“It’s been a very good car, all in all,” he said. “It runs like a Swiss watch and of course I don’t hot rod it — it is just a nice cruiser, a nice driver.”

Sure, a small part of Israel wishes his father had bought a sportier Crown Victoria or Sunliner version of the 1956 Ford Fairlane all those years ago, but he’s more than content with the Town Sedan. Since it’s been in the family for so long and it carries so many memories, he has absolutely no plans to ever part with it.

“It just hung around all of these years,” he said. “I told my son if he wants it, it would be nice to keep it in the family for the next 30 years or so.”

The Lifeguard ’56 Fords

The 1956 Fords closely resembled the 1955 Fords they followed, but the basic design of the 1956 Ford actually went back to 1952.

Following the wildly successful 1949-1951 Ford design, Ford completely restyled its cars for 1952 and put the new body on a new chassis. The redesign gave more flair to the rear of the cars, which had a quasi-fin in which round new taillamps and their supporting metal extended several inches beyond the trunk with jet exhaust-like flair. The cars looked lower with a stamped character feature in the design of the rear fenders. The headlamps were now frenched into their bezels for a very custom look, and the grille was an open and airy evolution of the grilles immediately before them. The new body was called a “Ford Coachcraft Body,” which suspiciously recalled Coachcraft, a California coachbuilder that had been building custom bodies since 1940 — some of them on Ford chassis. The Fords were advertised as “The big new ’52 Ford” and “the only completely modern car in its field.”

A six-cylinder was available for the thrifty-minded and to keep Ford in step with its competitors Chevrolet and Plymouth, which only offered sixes. However, Fords of this era could still be fitted with the famous flathead V-8 engine that also kept them one step ahead of the competition.

On the outside, Fords were simply given different trim and grille treatments from 1952 to 1954 model year. The big change for 1954 was the new overhead-valve V-8 that helped Ford keep pace with performance and technological advances.

For 1955, Chevrolet and Plymouth were all new and all modern from top to bottom — new bodies with wrap-around windshields and new V-8 engines. Ford was still able to sell its cars as being new — “Discover the thrill of a totally new Ford,” said ads — even though the engine and body were based on the 1954 components, but with major updates and improvements. Very few people knew the 1955 272- and 292-cid V-8s were based on the new-for-1954 239-cid V-8, and the 1955 body, now labeled as a Crestmark body, was a serious update to the 1952-’54 body given new outward sheet metal and a new cowl to accommodate 1955’s wrap-around windshield.

The 1955 Ford design is credited to Franklin Q. Hershey, who also designed the original Thunderbird that inspired full-size 1955 Ford styling. Like the Thunderbird, the big 1955 Fords used hooded headlamps and small fins atop Ford’s now-trademark round taillamps. The peaks of the hooded headlamps and tailfins were visually connected by a straight line that also formed the beltline, giving the Fords a cohesive modern look. Adding to the modern appearance was a lower top to the trunk and a hood that barely domed above the top of the front fenders. Graceful new side trim on the top new Fairlane model began atop the headlamps and then curved down the front fenders to a dip in the door. The trim then checkmarked back up the doors and then ran parallel to the ground until terminating in front of the rear taillamps. An exaggerated interpretation of this trim also appeared on Ford’s 1955 Mystere concept car.

Ford also shuffled model names for the new 1955 models. In 1954, Crestline was at the top, but was replaced in 1955 by the Fairlane; the midline Customline and low-line Mainline names were carried from 1954 to 1955 and ’56. The Fairlane series was the most diverse with the most models: a Sunliner convertible, the Crown Victoria with additional trim including a novel stainless band that stretched over the roof to form a B pillar; a Skyliner variation of the Crown Victoria in which the front half of the roof had a see-through Plexiglas panel; the Club Victoria two-door hardtop; the Town Sedan four-door sedan; and the Club Sedan two-door sedan. In 1956, a four-door hardtop was a must and Ford added this model with the Fordor Victoria during the year.

For 1956, Fords were simply updated. After all, why mess with a good thing? While Ford was updating its trim to the carried-over sheet metal, it incorporated a few tricks common among all manufacturers to make existing bodies looks lower and longer. Most notably, ’56 Ford parking lamps went from round to oval and the side trim became wider.

Fords for 1955 had V-8 engines that displaced 272 cubic inches or 292 cubic inches in the Thunderbird V-8 (the overhead-valve six displaced 223 cubic inches); these engines were mounted in a beefed-up frame incorporating a ball joint front suspension system. Starting came from a six-volt electrical system. For 1956, the V-8 engine choices remained the same but with the added availability of a 312-cubic-inch Thunderbird Special engine that came standard with a four-barrel; dual four-barrel carburetors became available for race applications later in 1956. All engines in 1955 and ’56 were touted as having “Trigger Torque” power. Ford also made a 12-volt electrical system standard in 1956 and routed the exhaust through the back bumper that year.

While the subtle styling changes were applauded and the mechanical improvements welcomed, Ford marketing was focused on new safety enhancements marketed under Lifeguard design. It didn’t replace Ford’s promotion of Thunderbird styling and Thunderbird performance, but Lifeguard design marketing certainly overshadowed them.

Lifeguard design came from Ford-funded research at Cornell University’s Medical College that showed that most harm to vehicular occupants in a collision was caused by being thrown from the car, harm from striking the instrument panel and windshield and impalement by the steering wheel and column.

Ford claimed that “Lifeguard design means greater protection for you and yours against injuries resulting from accidents. It embraces a whole new family of safety features” designed to prevent harm to occupants in a collision. Those standard safety features included double-grip door latches to keep doors from springing open in an accident; a deep-center steering wheel that “gave” to protect the driver from being hurt by the steering column and wheel; a shatter-resistant Safety-Swivel Mirror with “give;” and a seat track designed to keep from sliding forward in a collision. Optional Lifeguard equipment included seat belts and cushioned instrument panel and visors.

In this day of lane alerts, automatic braking and backup cameras, such basic safety features are appreciated. However, car buyers in 1956 had little to no interest in safety. In an article for Old Cars Weekly during the 1980s, Tim Howley said he knew many 1956 Ford owners. “They all raved about the car’s good looks and snappy performance and cursed the seat belts. Research showed that less than six percent of buyers were influenced by the safety pitch. In fact, research strongly indicated that the safety story was turning buyers away to Chevrolet.”

Indeed, Ford led Chevrolet in sales through the first half of 1955, but Chevrolet came out slightly ahead by the end of the year, leaving Ford second in sales — 1,435,002 Fords to 1,682,708 Chevys. In 1956, the comparison was more dire for Ford, which recorded 1,392,847 car sales against Chevrolet’s 1,574,740 cars. Ford would rebound in 1957 when it again outsold Chevrolet.

Although 1956 Fords looked great and handled and performed well, Howley said they had a “so-so reputation” when new. “Buyers complained about poor gas mileage (13-17 mpg with four-barrel 292 V-8), body squeaks, leaks, rattles and generally poor quality workmanship. The interior vinyl, while bright, was cheap, and quickly took on a flophouse look. The dual exhausts through the bumpers soon rusted the bumpers. The soft stainless steel grille dented easily. By 1959 or ’60, most ’56 Fords looked worse than cars 10 years their seniors.”

Certainly these observations weren’t consistently experienced and the 1956 Ford has had a strong following for decades, including right up to today. The most sought-after examples remain the Sunliner convertible, the Crown Victoria and Crown Victoria Skyliner and the Victoria hardtops. Ford’s station wagons were in their own series and they have a following of their own, especially the two-door wagons in which the Parklane two-door wagon was at the top.

Today, any surviving 1956 Ford is a handsome treasure from the nifty ’50s, when Ford was building beautiful cars that performed as well as they looked.

Crown Victoria Association
Recognizes 1954-1956 Fords
www.thecvaonline.com

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“This is my husbands ( Tony Corradi) 1941 Ford which he had painted by Open Throttle Customs in Muskegon, Mi. We brought it to them in April 2021. They told my hubby it couldn’t be finished until fall. 

In July they surprised him, at a local car show. Tony asked Eric from OTC if they had any cars in the show & Eric said “ only the one that’s pulling in now. Tony turned to see his car being driven in the drive! My very emotional husband couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The entire team from OTC was there, along with family & friends ! The reason they finished so early is because Tony fought & won against lung cancer, has COPD, emphysema, is on oxygen 24/7, & right side of his heart “is not happy”. I will forever be thankful to them.”

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“I purchased this car from the October 18, 2001 issue of old cars weekly. As advertised ‘1968 XL Fastback Factory 4-speed and 8-track. Excellent body, blue on blue 390 apart buckets, console, rust free $1400. Many other Fords.’ I was thirteen years old at the time, and we traveled all the way up to Gettysburg, South Dakota to pick it up. We pulled it out of a shed on the property, and it was overall solid. Against my father’s suggestion, I purchased the car. One look and I was hooked! The car was even featured on “ carsinbarns.com “ ford section page 9. Since the 390 was apart we ran a 429 for many years in the car. We even added a 6-speed and 4.11 gears making the car a great cruiser. This year it got the ultimate transformation! We placed a Boss 429 stroked and bored to a 520 cubic-inch motor. As far as I have found, it is the only 68 XL that has had the transformation. It took a lot of motor mount, trans mount, and header modifications to get it to fit, but it does beautifully.”

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“I recently acquired this is a 1938 Ford restored to its current condition around 2006. I’m told it has the original V-8 221 cubic inch engine, bored, stroked and blue printed and 3-speed trans. It has its original front and rear suspension and interior. Updates include, front disc brakes with dual reservoir, a 12-volt system with electric cooling fan, fuel pump and electronic ignition.

I’m 60 years old and have been in the car hobby my whole life. This is the oldest car I’ve owned and driving it is very nostalgic. While it does have a few modern upgrades you are actually driving the car and not just steering it.

This is one of many bucket list cars for me, and I am looking forward to enjoying it for several years before moving it on to the next caretaker.”

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Nell Richmond really loved her 1962 Thunderbird. She bought it new right off the car carrier back in ’62, and the Bay Area socialite and car enthusiast kept it as long as she could — 57 years to be exact.

She finally sold the car two years ago at age 92, and she made sure it went to a guy who loved the car just as much as she did. Fellow T-Bird lover Garry Grainger, of Modesto, Calif., became the lucky second owner. Grainger has since moved to the Midwest, to the tiny town of Iola, Wis., and he brought Richmond’s prized ’62 with him. He ordered “Nell 62” collector plates for the car as an ongoing salute to Richmond, who passed away earlier this year. The two shared a love of nice cars — especially the gorgeous Deep Sea Green T-Bird convertible.

“I was not looking for a car [in 2019],” admits Grainger. “At the time I was chapter president of the Northern California Vintage Thunderbird Club… I first saw this car at a West Coast regional met in Carson City, Nev., in June of 1994 and fell in love with the car. It was then as you see it now. I thought it was the most gorgeous ’62 I had ever seen. And I was talking to Nell and her husband, who owned the car, and I was kind of talking out of my hat, and I said ‘If you ever want to sell the car, let me know.’ And of course we both belonged to the same chapter of the club and we crossed paths many times over the years and we had several mutual friends also.

“In June of 2019 I got a call, ‘It’s time to sell the cars. They’ve got to go. Would you be interested in the ’62 or ’56’? — they also owned a ’56 T-Bird — and said I’d be interested in the ’62. I gave her fair market value and we were both happy because I waited a long time and I finally got my dream car!”

Grainger chuckles when he notes that he didn’t get a lot of documentation or records about the car when he acquired it. He figures he didn’t need anything — he knew about the car for so long that he had its history memorized.

“I’ve got first-hand knowledge from the original owner, because I knew her for 35-plus years,” he says. “The car was purchased new in Oakland in October of 1961, very shortly after it was built. It was built on Sept. 20^th. The story I got is that she bought the car right off the carrier… and they traded in their problem-plagued ’59 Ford that was a convertible or Skyliner, I’m not sure which one. So it was a one-owner car. It was her daily car up until the late ’70s. Then when she remarried, she and her husband basically freshened the car back up: New paint, the dash pad was dyed, new carpet, the front seats were upholstered. I don’t know what else went on because there was no paperwork. This is the way it was when I first saw it in 1984.”

Grainger has been a long-time T-Bird aficionado with some pretty high standards for the breed. He likes them all — the original two-seat “Baby Birds” from 1955-’58, the “Square Birds” from ’58-’62, and pretty much everything that came after them. But knew there was something special about the “Bullet Bird” ’62 that he just couldn’t forget.

 “I just loved the car, and I really do think it’s the color more than anything,” he says. “Deep Sea Blue … The color was what made me fall in love with it. The interior color was called Metallic Turquoise. It’s a vinyl interior, and it was basically the standard interior. But the [exterior] color is what did it for me.”

The huge calling card taillight surrounds are pretty cool, too. They scream 1960s and make the ’62 T-Birds easy to spot from almost any angle. 

“They look like afterburners when you are pulling away from a stop sign!” Grainger jokes. “They really glow at night, with the bumper chrome and everything.

“It was good enough for Perry Mason, it’s good enough for me! Perry Mason had a ’62, so did Paul Drake, the detective. They both drove them on the TV show.”

1961-’63: The ‘Bullet Birds’ take flight

The 1961 T-Bird was all new. Instead of corners and angles, it had smooth, curving lines. Ford’s personal-luxury car had a new chassis and a larger, more powerful engine. “To many Thunderbird owners, the greatly restyled 1961 model will look like a bird from another nest,” said Science and Mechanics magazine in December 1960. “Because this is an age of aerodynamics, high speeds and rockets, we must keep in tune with the times,” said George Walker, Ford’s vice president of styling.

The downward-curved hood seemed to be moving forward while the car was standing still. Two headlights appeared on either side and were nicely integrated into the upper edge of the grille. Gone were the “eyebrows” that shielded the 1958-1960 headlights. A swept-under grille blended in smoothly with the rest of the torpedo-shaped car. Walker said that sculpturing was dropped from the T-Bird because it added nothing to aerodynamic design.

Despite its departure from earlier T-Birds, the new model did have some traditional design elements, like a sloped nose and a hood scoop. The roof was fairly flat. The rear roof pillars had a “formal” T-Bird-like appearance. Although updated inside, it remained a four-place automobile with bucket seats and a center console. Short, outward-canted rear fins and round taillights were continued.

Unit construction remained a T-Bird selling point. The frame and body components were welded into an integral unit, rather than bolted together. Ford actually made the car of two unitized sections with a rigid, box-sectioned joint at the cowl area. For the first time, the T-Bird hood was hinged at the rear. It was wider than the 1960 hood, while the fenders were narrower and were bolted on to make body repairs simpler. A new, thin-pillared “straight line” windshield was seen.

Ford offered 19 different “Diamond Lustre” exterior colors and 30 two-tones (including seven reversible combinations). The “Luxury Lounge” interior came in 16 different upholstery combinations and six colors. The 25-percent-smaller center console added legroom. One new idea was gluing the rearview mirror to the windshield.

The convertible featured a fully automatic top-retracting mechanism operated by the turn of a switch on the inside of the left-hand door. The lifting mechanism and pump assembly were relocated to the quarter panels, instead of behind the seat. To raise the top, the trunk lid opened to the rear and powerful motors lifted the top, extending it nearly straight up until it lowered over the passenger compartment. This isolated the top-riser mechanism from the passengers and made top operation quieter. A drawback was a noticeable lack of storage space in the trunk when the top was folded and stored there.

The rare “M” code V-8 had a $171 dealer cost and added $242.10 to the retail price. It was truly hard to get, with a reported total of just 120 M-Code Sports Roadsters being put together.

For 1962, both T-Bird body styles carried over with the same “projectile” front end and twin-jet-tube rear design. A reworked radiator grille featured four rows of shiny metal “drawer pulls” between thin horizontal bars. Replacing the four moldings stacked on the rear fender of the ’61 model were horizontal “dashes” of ribbed chrome. Late in the spring, some cars were built with a horizontal chrome accessory strip on their body sides. The trademark large round taillights changed from 1961 and also had more chrome to dress them up. The hardtop model’s roof was again slightly on the formal side.

The convertible had a flip-up deck and “accordion” top mechanism that Tom McCahill joked about in “Mechanix Illustrated.” 

“The first time I lowered the top, I thought the car was about to eat itself,” he said. “Deck flips open, panels unfold, the top shoots up, all to the accompaniment of a whining noise similar to launching a guided missile.”

A new Landau or Landau hardtop model featured a black or white vinyl top that looked like a leather-padded carriage top. To further this impression, it had Landau irons on the sides of its rear roof panels. Another new model called the Sports Roadster had a tonneau cover over the rear seats and Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels. The tonneau cover could be added or removed in less than three minutes. The headrest section was horseshoe-shaped and fit over the Thunderbird’s bucket seats. A quick-release catch secured it to the transmission tunnel between the front seats. Sliding it under the deck lid secured it at the rear. It was possible to raise or lower the convertible top with the tonneau in place. The seat back recessed into the headrest for a smooth, aerodynamic fit. A gap between the bottom edge of the tonneau and the rear seat let you could slide small items under the cover and onto the rear seat cushion for storage after folding the front seat forward.

T-Birds had about 45 lbs. of sound-deadening materials, including aluminum insulation, fiber or mastic felt, undercoating and fiberglass applied to the hood, wheel well housings, dashboard, passenger and trunk floors, roof panels, package tray and quarter panels. On the underbody, the zinc-coated metal had better rust-proofing including a zinc-rich coating, three coats of primer and two finish coats of “never wax” enamel. The aluminized muffler was improved and stainless-steel parts were used in some critical places in the exhaust system, such as the resonators. T-Bird engines featured revised manifolding.

There were 15 improvements to carburetors alone, plus a disposable fuel filter designed to function for 30,000 miles. A larger master cylinder was said to increase braking efficiency, while reducing pedal pressure. For better durability and fade resistance, new brake lining materials were used. T-Bird seats were low and soft. As in 1961, heater controls and a glove compartment were incorporated into the center console between the seats. A Swing-Away steering wheel moved 10 inches to make getting in and out of the car easier. It functioned only when the gear selector was in Park. In addition to the 390-cid/300-hp base V-8, a limited-edition option M-Code option was available with three progressively linked Holley two-barrel carburetors.

An “M” Roadster could move from 0 to 60 mph in approximately 8.5 seconds and hit a top speed of 125 mph. That kind of performance came with a hitch, however. Some magazine scribes gave a thumbs-down to the Bullet Birds’ brakes, accusing them of brake fade when they heated up and taking a long time to cool down and come back.

Still, the combination of good looks, advanced styling, many creature comforts, luxury appointments, and reliable performance was a winner in the early 1960s. “Ford’s plush style setter has its share of faults and shortcomings,” said “Motor Trend” Technical Editor Jim Wright. “But, it’s still the classic example of a prestige car.”

Preserving ‘Nell’s ‘62’

Nell Richmond apparently bought her beautiful ‘Bird on the spot when she first saw it at the local Oakland dealership back in the fall of ’62. Grainger isn’t sure if she knew it at the time, but there was one quirky thing about the car that still remains a mystery ’59 years later, although you can’t tell anything by looking at it.

“It’s got the cornering weights front and back, which were reserved for the Sports Roadster,” he says. The 50-lbs. steel weights were located under the bumper in front and in the corners of the trunk in back. A lot of owners wound up removing them. Convertibles typically didn’t have them. “Nobody knows why they are on there,” Grainger added. “Maybe the car before this was a Sports Roadster and hers was a mix-up. Nobody knows, but they’re on there and they are from the factory. She did not order the car. It was sent to the dealership this way and this is what she bought.”

“It’s got power steering and power brakes, which are standard; the automatic transmission and radio. The power windows and seats were extra … and I believe the fender skirts were extra. The body side molding was an option. There weren’t a whole lot of them that had it. They didn’t do it ’63 because of the body lines. Then in ’64, ’65 and ’66 they had it again.”

The odometer on the car shows 64,000-plus miles, and Grainger doubts the original 390-cid/340-hp V-8 and automatic transmission have ever been out of the car, although he can’t be sure. At some point in the late 1970s or early ’80s the T-Bird had some restoration work done to it, “but I don’t know how extensive anything was. I know the car looks wonderful underneath and under the hood looks really good, too, so I don’t exactly know how far they went. I know all the body was stripped and all the trim was removed. They had new rubbers put in I’m sure at that time, I’m sure.

“She didn’t drive the car all that much. She got a ’56 probably in the ‘80s, which she preferred. When I went over to talk to Nell, she had new tires put on it and had it tuned up and then parked it. And at that point it sat for 2, 2 ½ years …”

So far, Grainger says he hasn’t had to do anything to his beautiful ’62 other than keep it clean and give it exercise. He doesn’t view either job as a chore. 

“You don’t go for a Sunday drive, you go motoring. It’s just a joy to drive,” he says. “I went to a show just this last week, and I was on the highway, and the car just floated. It’s just a fun car to drive. The thumbs up from people … it’s something that catches people’s attention and a lot of people enjoy.”

Before he left with her car, had made sure Richmond knew he had no plans to ever re-sell it. 

“I did tell Nell when I picked it up that I hoped to have it as long as she did, but I know that’s not possible. I told her I plan on keeping it as long as I can possibly maintain it.”

He made one other promise, too.

“She called the car ‘Big Bird.’ Her ’56 she called ‘Little Bird.’ And she said, ‘I don’t know if Big Bird is going to like the snow.’ I said, ‘Trust me, that car is never going to see the snow.’”

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This is what Noel had to say about his Pinto… 

“This is my 1977 Pinto Cruising Wagon van. It has a V-6, 95 HP 171- CID, 2.8L engine in it with a 3-speed automatic on the floor. I have only seen one other like it in my life, 72 years. It has a 4:11 race reader end in it.”

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“I have owned this car since 1983 when I purchased it from the original owner. I changed the color from medium gold to specter red. A 1982 corvette color that my mom talked me into when she followed me to drop the car off at the paint shop. I have done some custom things on the car to my liking but the engine is original with 275k and still going.I  added the hideaway grille and magnum 500s. It had around 68k miles on it when I purchased the car.”

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The post Old Cars Reader Wheels: 1970 Ford Torino GT convertible appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

William Scaffidi had a fondness for Fords. His daughter, Barb Gilling — who worked for William “Red” Lewis, founder of The Automobile Gallery in Green Bay, Wis. — says that everyone called her dad “Bill.” According to Barb, Bill’s brother, Sam, owned Scaffidi Motors in Stevens Point.

“Sam’s kids run it as a multi-brand dealership now,” said Gilling, “but it used to be called Scaffidi Ford, so that might be why Dad was so fond of Fords.”

Bill lived all his life in Cudahy, a small suburb south of Milwaukee. He was the son of Sicilian immigrants and grew up in a household of nine. Gilling recruited the help of her brother and sister to get the stories behind their father’s Model A Ford and Thunderbird, which is featured here. They believe Bill bought the T-Bird in the late 1980s.

“He would have been right around retirement age at 62,” Barb estimated. “He saw an advertisement for the T-Bird at a Model A Ford swap meet. Over the years, dad owned four Model As including a 1928 AR Sport Coupe, a 1929 Briggs sedan, a 1931 Town Sedan and a 1931 Deluxe roadster. The roadster was his prized Fourth of July parade vehicle. It is still in the family along with the 1931 sedan. So yes, he was a real Ford lover!”

According to Barb, the “advertisement” was really just a photograph of a 1955 T-Bird body. “It wasn’t a finished car back then,” Barb explained. “It was the bare frame of a first-year Thunderbird and a lot of pieces, of which many came to him in buckets.”

The T-Bird was purchased and kept in the family garage. “It was just a two-car garage and filled with all kinds of household necessities,” Barb recalled. “The T-Bird was his retirement project. It was a former drag racing car and needed a lot of attention. It had the wrong motor and transmission, a roll bar and parking lights that were welded shut.”

Barb said her dad worked on this car for at least 25 years before he turned it over to others who finished restoring it to its original glory. Throughout the years, Bill was engaged in bringing parts and pieces back home. He practically “lived” in the basement or garage where he tinkered with the T-Bird and its parts, even during the ice-cold and snowy Wisconsin winters.

“Dad was very motivated to work on his car,” Barb said. “It was his hobby, his entertainment and his pride and joy. Even when the car was in buckets, he really enjoyed sharing his progress. In the early years, he was always searching out the parts needed for its restoration. Dad was the kind of guy who could fix or reproduce just about anything with the help of his lathe. He was undaunted by the task and up for the challenge. I think he always had a vision in his mind of restoring it to its original glory.”

Barb said that her dad and her brother attended the Iola Old Car Show together for almost 40 years to sell and buy car parts. “My mother always said that they often came home with more parts than they left with. My brother had a hand in helping dad restore his Thunderbird and being involved with all of his other car-related projects.”

Eventually Bill reached a point where he wanted the car done and he knew it was not going to get there at the pace he was maintaining. He decided to take the car to a small restoration shop in North Cape, Wis. That is when a gentleman named John Weyker took over and spent several months completing the T-Bird’s assembly.

Bill had gotten the car painted at another shop in south Milwaukee years earlier, but Weyker took care of all the many finishing touches that a good restoration requires. Bill was very pleased with the results and extremely proud of his little red Ford. The car was restored to factory condition as much as possible, but it was converted to a 12-volt electrical system and power steering was added.

Unfortunately, Bill waited so long to have it restored that he was only able to drive it a few times. He displayed it at the annual Cudahy Sweet Applewood Festival where he won the “People’s Choice” trophy. It was also shown at a local car show. Although its time on the show circuit was short, the T-Bird evokes many good family memories.

“Dad was a Ford lover for sure,” Barb emphasized. “He owned mostly Fords over the years. Mom remembered a 1940s Studebaker that they drove on their honeymoon in the 1950s. That might have been his very first car. But, us kids remember the Ford station wagons he had, and even a Pinto, with fond remembrances.”

The family owned a cottage in northern Wisconsin and Barb recalls the Ford wagon and other cars that were left parked there. “Among them was a 1952 Ford F1 panel truck and a two-tone blue 1955 Ford Country Sedan that might have been the first brand-new car he purchased.

“As they grew old, these Fords were used to navigate the northern woods and transport our family of six to our regular Saturday night entertainment spot where we watched bears visit the local town dump,” Barb remembered with a smile. “The cottage ‘up north’ was the final resting spot for those cars. Folks driving by often made inquiries about purchasing those gems and hopefully they were bought and restored to a new life.”

The 1955 T-Bird was Bill’s dream car in a way. At one point, he told his son that he had been eyeing up Ford’s brand-new Thunderbird while he was car shopping in 1955. With Bill anticipating a family, a two-seater wasn’t practical So, he wound up waiting another 30 years before being able to purchase his potential dream machine.

“We’re happy that Dad was able to see a project he was so passionate about come to fruition,” said Barb. “Hopefully, future owners of the car will appreciate that.”

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“High performance 302 V8, TCP coilover front suspension, Monster AODE transmission”

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The post Old Cars Reader Wheels: 1965 Ford Mustang custom appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

“Here are pictures of my 1965 Fairlane K Code. It is an original numbers matching high-performance 289. It’s backed by a Ford Top-Loader 4-speed and 3.50 differential. According to the Fairlane Club of America, only an estimated 700-750 K Code Fairlanes were produced for 1965.

A unique feature of this Fairlane is that it was ordered sans a radio! Strange for a bucket seat/console Sports coupe. I recently installed a replica of the original Arvinode exhaust system produced by Waldron Exhaust. The system fit well and provides a subtle performance note. I drive this Fairlane regularly. The solid lifter cam in these 289 Hi-Po’s has no problem revving to 6000 RPM’s. When appropriate to do so of course.”

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