Free Bird: 1967 Ford Thunderbird
Well probably not free for you or me, but here’s the second lucky duck of the day who found a classic car on the property when buying their house. It’s listed here on craigslist in Portland, Oregon. Thank you, Roger, for tipping us off to this one!
The ever-popular Thunderbird debuted in 1955, and by 1966, the new Ford Mustang was crowding the ‘Bird in the sporty coupe market. Being substantially less expensive, the Mustang had the upper hand. Ford’s response was to take the T-Bird upmarket, and the all-new 1967 was a larger, more luxurious car built like a Lincoln. For the first time, the grille had hidden headlights, the convertible was no more, and a sedan was available. Personally I think the sedan is the coolest of the 5th generation T-Birds because it looks more balanced and besides the Lincoln Continental, its the only other American car of its day to feature suicide doors. And suicide doors are badass! Despite that incredibly super obvious fact, the four-door model would be discontinued after 1971.
The seller calls it a barn find, although it’s really more of a carport. They don’t know much about the car other than it was last registered in 2001. So here’s what we can tell from the pictures. It’s the more popular coupe model, packing either a 390 or 428 V8 engine with a three-speed Cruise-O-Matic transmission because this is a personal luxury car and shifting is for the common people. Inside, the light-colored seats are filthy, but look intact. They might freshen up with a good steam cleaning. Some rodents appear to have feasted on the headliner and there are chunks of it in the back seat. The cabin is probably going to smell strongly of mildew and varmint unless you know a great detail guy.
The exterior appears straight and in good shape minus a few rust holes around the rear window. The paint might even be presentable—a good wash and polish will do wonders. I do wonder how a car that’s sat for so long can have such fresh-looking mud on the tires. And if you get it running, you can experience the all-time coolest 1960’s car feature—sequential tail lights.
The seller says this is a “once in a lifetime find”—probably for them, as while 1967 T-Birds are unusual, you do see them around. They are looking to trade it for a truck or cargo van, which is probably more reasonable than their placeholder asking price of $11,111. Sadly for the new homeowners, in this condition, I’m guessing its worth about 10% of that figure. What do you say, would you bring this ‘Bird in for a landing?
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Comments
I bet this was somebody’s “I’m gonna fix that up some day” car that never happened.
That bird’s only good for plucking.
Is the title sarcastic because the price is about ten times what it is worth.
While then (an even now) drooling over the ’66 T-bird, I could never really warm up to this version. :-)
And with “rust holes around the rear window”, I’d be looking for rust holes in its trunk.
The reason it was left behind is because price of scrap is pretty darn low.
Good place to start building that Hot Wheels Custom T-Bird from the original series of cars. Price is way too steep and it’s not going to sell. Go no reserve and it’ll move.
I had that one, It’s even the same color. I was eight.
Great front end styling but otherwise, a complete disaster for Ford. The best looking Birds ended with the 66 model. My friend just sold his 67 Bird he had 25 years to a cop. It needs a ton of work. I think he got $2,500.
T-Bird desirability dropped off a cliff…starting with this model year. Not enough nostalgia in this world to meet that asking price.
The seller is joshing with you, he even got the one headlight to wink at you!
Nope…
would like to have the 428 for my ranchero. These people kill me, they get this lump for nothing, and watch the lame @$$ tv shows and think they have gold. LIke Dave said remove the reserve and it will sell. Get what you can and move on.
Cheers
GPC
A man’s trash is another man’s trash but for a stupid Is treasure.
I don’t know, but I actually like the 67 T-Bird. Of course I prefer the 2 door, but the 4 door can be appealing, it all depends on the colors.
But I do sort of agree with the others here: even at $1.11 you are paying mightily for a car that will need a lot to be driveable.
I was a Ford Zone Manager in Chicago when the 67 Thunderbird came out. I fell in love with the design. That first year though was a disaster with vacuum line and electrical issues. A repair manual on just addressing these issues which was as thick as a phone book was provided to dealerships to assist in repairing all the concerns. Vacuum automatic door locks would lock automatically when taken through a car wash locking the keys inside. The 1968 T-bird was far more reliable and to me these 2 years Were great looking cars.
Agree with you James, I know I’m in the minority but I really dig the 67-68 T-Bird style.
I bought one of these about 20 years ago, similar condition, similar “find”; got it running and driving. It had the 390 V8 and that car was amazingly fast, nimble, and handled like it was a much smaller, lighter car. It had a minimum of power options–manual windows on one of these are a big plus. The thin, soft, rubber drain hoses in the trunk for the rear vent grate can be a problem if they have leaked water all over the trunk floor. Parts are not too hard to find–well–twenty years ago they weren’t hard to find.
As much as I love the two seater Birds this design has always interested me. The price is way too high, yes, it’s about a $1000.00 car as somebody mentioned, and the car’s bones need to be looked at unless you are doing a build. It should be rescued but not at that price, and once saved a great ride.
I saw a video this car’s twin being ripped apart by a tow truck trying to move it in similar condition. Maybe use the money as toilet paper instead.
Although rules vary from state to state, generally if you don’t hold title to a vehicle, you have no right to sell it.
He’s not looking for $11,111, he just typed that in because he is looking for a trade for a “functional truck or cargo van”. It’s probably only worth a grand or 2, but he’s going to try for the trade.
At first glance I thought about suicide door installation as I’ve seen on a couple of Lincoln 2 doors. Alas this baby is too far gone.
It’s winking at me! I think it likes me!