Our trip to Miami was very distressing, so much so that my whole world view was disrupted, and so I started looking around for something to focus on and when an old Ford Thunderbird slid across my vision I said "that's it!". When I was a kid and these things were new, I thought they were pretty ridiculous, heavy and expensive, with a bunch of useless gimcracks that were going to break the second time someone tried to use them. But that was then, but now I am older and little bit mellower, these cars had some style and now they aren't very expensive. I think you can probably buy a good running example for around five grand. The eye-catcher above, which has had a bunch of work done to it, sold at auction a couple of years ago for $27,500, which is about what a new econo-box runs.
They are heavy, something over 4,000 pounds, which is about as much as my pickup truck weighs. And being as it is a 'personal luxury car' you know it has a big, powerful motor. The performance numbers might not impress anyone who cares about stuff like that (like every car-crazed teenager), but you can bet it will give you a thrill when you put your foot down.
If I were to actually buy one of these things, it would have to meet certain criteria:
- It needs to look sharp, no rust, dents or other damage.
- Everything needs to work, mechanical and electrical.
But it doesn't have to be original. I've never quite understood the obsession that drives some people in that direction. I suppose it's nice to have an original stored away somewhere, just in case anyone wants to check something, but I can't imagine actually wanting to own something like that. Not being concerned with keeping everything original means I can use radial tires, and if I wanted to replace the carburetor with Electronic Fuel Injection, I could.
Now it wouldn't have to meet all the criteria right away, these things can be fixed, all it takes is time and money, and some specialized repairs require large quantities of money. But I could buy a cheap one and get the broken bits fixed one at a time, so the expense would be spread out and I wouldn't have to come up with all of the money at once.
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