Trying to find out the history on this 62 T-bird sports roadster that was purchased with what appears to be a second Italien fast back
Looks like a Marlin roof or Mopar of some sort. but how does a nice car go to shambles like that? that roof is removable? Cool. The front end looks later like 1968 4 door Thunderbird
So a friend of mine purchased both cars from the daughter of a guy north los Angeles area. He was an expert in repairing retractable tops on fords and Lincoln's and had a big stash of thunder bird parts. The convertible according to the vin tag was a sport convertible ,a rare model by itself and still has the 390 4 - barrel and was shipped to L. A. Which tells us it was not a prototype because it wasn't shipped to Ford's design department. The hood has been shorten and fitted with a custom nose and grill and front bumper. The fins have been shaved across the length of the body and the rear bumper and tail lights have been frenched. The car was originally wimbleton white and then painted a metallic blue. The fastback was also a sports roadster and has the rare tripower and matches the engine code. The convertible has the look of a later 67 t-bird. I showed the pictures to Gene Winfield and he vaguely remembers it from sometime in the sixties. The fast back looks pretty accurate to the original Italien fast back . Any help or info is much appreciated.
It's two cars, the fast back has the fiberglass roof just like the original Italien, the convertible still has the original top which goes into the trunk. The grill is similar to a 67 bird but not the same as well as the front bumper. I don't know what the front turn signal are off of. I prefer the original lines and fins on a 62 but somebody went to great efforts to make the 62 convertible more modern.
The convertible still has one first generation maganizium 5 spoke wheel on it. American racing was a sponsor of the custom cavalcade of cars and gave out wheels to the custom builders participating in the show circuit.
As they say " beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" the original "Italien " brought 640,000 dollars at auction after it was restored and is considered the most famous Thunderbird ever made but to each his own.
I have always liked 61 to 63 birds, I guess I remember getting a ride in my uncle's bird he bought new in 62. I love the interiors in them and they drive like a dream.
I remember seeing similar cars in Rod and Custom in the early 60's. The Ford custom caravan comes to mind. It's been too many years for me to be any help. There used to be styling columns with Bud Anderson as I remember with many drawings of similar stuff. ?????
That fastback is intriguing... That's not a Marlin roof even though it's the same general shape. It almost looks like somebody may have got access to the mold Ford used to build the original Italien except some details are wrong. The lower edges of the quarter windows don't sweep 'up' front-to-rear like the original and the rear window/roof shape isn't quite the same. It also appears this one may have a functioning trunk lid (or was intended to be), a feature the real car lacked. Then again, maybe they did find the original mold, but changed some of it for their own reasons. The fact that its fiberglass does lend some credence to that idea. This looks like it's right up @Nads alley... LOL.. The 'vert, who knows what they were thinking on that one....
The convertible is very similar to 1967 2 door thunderbird station wagon that was made in Italy for Elvis Presley . The nose and grill are very similar.
I was unaware that there were 2 Italiens made, I wonder if Ford could have commissioned 2 so they could have one while the other was on the custom car caravan... interesting. here is a pretty good article on the Italien https://sites.google.com/site/1963t...system/app/templates/print/&showPrintDialog=1 https://sites.google.com/site/1963thunderbird/page2ontheitalien https://sites.google.com/site/1963thunderbird/page3ontheitalien https://sites.google.com/site/1963thunderbird/tom's63htitalien,minnesota
I didn’t realize there were two Italians made either, I seen the other in the Imperial Palace collection in Vegas about 2010, it may be elsewhere now.
Well I agree the convertible's front end is most likely from a later T-bird but to me the inspiration is a Ghia 450SS (which was Barracuda-based) - not realizing "Italien" was no spelling mistake I immediately thought that maybe Ghia in Italy got a contract from Ford to do a design study but I very much doubt it now. More about the Ghia here: The mystery of the Ghia 450/SS, a Barracuda-based Italian beauty - Hagerty Media
I seem to recall from a couple of people who were attempting to buy the "Italien" from Don Chambers (before he sold it to the guy from Duluth who restored it) that they were told a copy of the roof had been made in fiberglass with the intention of fitting it to another car. The photos of the back of the car appear to be period photos of the actual Italien, though - I recall seeing similar ones when corresponding with the people dealing with Chambers. Current photos would be helpful to see what/how it was put together and if what your friend has is the car that got the copied roof. I would love more info on both cars including VINs and data plate info to log into my T-bird database of Sports Roadsters and Convertibles to determine where these fell in the production run.
The Jalopy Journal
