C
ChiliPepperGarage
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- Last seen
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2023
- Thunderbird Year
- 1967
I just picked up this '67. Has a 428 and has 10,525 miles on it. Seller had it listed as 110,525 but after talking to her about the history of the car, looking at the documentation, the brake pedal and interior, we are quite certain it is 10,525 despite the faded paint. The car belonged to her uncle and he kept it in an airplane hanger (he was a pilot) for most if its life. The paperwork I have goes back to 1971 which I think is when he bought it.
The seller got it from her uncle in 2012 and it has been sitting outside the last few years so paint faded and vinyl top peeled off. Surface rust on roof and some on trunk lid. I think the rest of the paint will come back. They had towels covering dash and interior so it has been preserved pretty well. No wear on seats or pedals. Engine runs smooth. Is an a/c car.
Hagerty shows values by condition, not mileage. Concours at $30,900, excellent at $24,200, good at $17,900 and fair at $10,800.
I think if I can buff out the paint and put a new vinyl top on it and fix any little items that it needs, it would be good to excellent condition. A repaint to factory color and it would be excellent, even close to concours?
I did not buy it for the value though. I've been looking for a '60s or early '70s "personal luxury" car for a while now. Cars like these were relatively cheap when I started driving in 1972 and I always liked them having owned a few over the years. I have hot rods and Corvettes but want a cool old cruiser just to do longer comfortable drives. I was thinking Riviera, Grand Prix, Eldo, etc and hadn't really considered a T-Bird until I saw this one.
Back in the '70s I would have put on some nice wheels (Cragar SS, Torque Thrust, Keystones, US Mag slots, etc.) and fatter tires, maybe jack up the back end slightly, a nice three spoke steering wheel, a bit louder exhaust, and then a repaint to a more desirable color.
I plan on keeping this car for a while so my dilemma is, should I keep it as original as possible and do the paint buff out (or repaint factory color), new vinyl roof and new tires or do it up in the style I'd really like? Right now, I'm thinking I'll try to bring the paint back and see how it turns out. The trunk lid has some surface rust now so I know that will have to be painted. If the rest of the paint doesn't shine up and it needs to be painted then I have to decide whether to go with the original color (which I'm not real crazy about) or do a color change. If I do a color change I'll go with a dark green metalic or maybe metalic root beer which was kind of popular in the '70s. I'd paint the top the same color as the rest of the car instead of new vinyl.
If the car were higher miles, like 70K or more then I'd probably just do with the '70s style mods but with only 10K on it I kind of think I should leave it as stock as possible. Then again, I want to drive this car and possibly take it on a cross country trip (staying on two lanes and hitting small towns) so I'll probably put another 10K miles on it relatively quickly. Of course, 20K miles is still pretty darn low for a '67.
Anyway, what are your thoughts?
The seller got it from her uncle in 2012 and it has been sitting outside the last few years so paint faded and vinyl top peeled off. Surface rust on roof and some on trunk lid. I think the rest of the paint will come back. They had towels covering dash and interior so it has been preserved pretty well. No wear on seats or pedals. Engine runs smooth. Is an a/c car.
Hagerty shows values by condition, not mileage. Concours at $30,900, excellent at $24,200, good at $17,900 and fair at $10,800.
I think if I can buff out the paint and put a new vinyl top on it and fix any little items that it needs, it would be good to excellent condition. A repaint to factory color and it would be excellent, even close to concours?
I did not buy it for the value though. I've been looking for a '60s or early '70s "personal luxury" car for a while now. Cars like these were relatively cheap when I started driving in 1972 and I always liked them having owned a few over the years. I have hot rods and Corvettes but want a cool old cruiser just to do longer comfortable drives. I was thinking Riviera, Grand Prix, Eldo, etc and hadn't really considered a T-Bird until I saw this one.
Back in the '70s I would have put on some nice wheels (Cragar SS, Torque Thrust, Keystones, US Mag slots, etc.) and fatter tires, maybe jack up the back end slightly, a nice three spoke steering wheel, a bit louder exhaust, and then a repaint to a more desirable color.
I plan on keeping this car for a while so my dilemma is, should I keep it as original as possible and do the paint buff out (or repaint factory color), new vinyl roof and new tires or do it up in the style I'd really like? Right now, I'm thinking I'll try to bring the paint back and see how it turns out. The trunk lid has some surface rust now so I know that will have to be painted. If the rest of the paint doesn't shine up and it needs to be painted then I have to decide whether to go with the original color (which I'm not real crazy about) or do a color change. If I do a color change I'll go with a dark green metalic or maybe metalic root beer which was kind of popular in the '70s. I'd paint the top the same color as the rest of the car instead of new vinyl.
If the car were higher miles, like 70K or more then I'd probably just do with the '70s style mods but with only 10K on it I kind of think I should leave it as stock as possible. Then again, I want to drive this car and possibly take it on a cross country trip (staying on two lanes and hitting small towns) so I'll probably put another 10K miles on it relatively quickly. Of course, 20K miles is still pretty darn low for a '67.
Anyway, what are your thoughts?
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