Spacey Car Thoughts

1962 Ford Thunderbird

I've been thinking about buying an old Ford Thunderbird again. From a mechanical standpoint it would be straight forward project, but even if you got it running like it was new, it would still be a 50 year old car, loaded with a bunch of 50 year old gee-gaws and without any of our modern safety features. And then I started thinking that you could rip out the entire interior and replace it with something new. At one fell swoop you could eliminate all the 50 year old gee-gaws and gain some safety belts. But interiors are trickier than mechanical work. Maybe not for interior people, but for a gear head like me it's like black magic. I mean how the heck do you sew a straight seam? Sewing machines sew, I get that, but driving one in a straight line? I'm not even going to try.

Ford Thunderbird Dashboard

Okay, so what do you want it to look like? I like the old instrument panels with all the glitz and chrome, but the seats just don't cut it.

Hyundai Nuvis concept
The Nuvis is a dumb looking econobox, but I like this interior.

It needs to look like something out of the Jetsons. There is probably someone in Portland who could create something like that, but to actually make it would take some financial commitment. I'm guessing it would take about $25 grand to make a good start in making a Space Car out of a 1961 Ford Thunderbird, and I'm not quite ready for that.