One of my many projects. Bought this cheap about 5 years ago and it has been parked since. Not sure which way I want to go with it, I do like the magnums tho, but kinda leaning towards wide steel wheels and raised white letter tires for the stock car look. I want this to be a simple, but unique car. Runs ad drives A1 and I am gonna drive as is for awhile, At least til the snow comes. And the patina took years to achieve. Any suggestions?
+1 to chainsaw's lowered and Astros car. TBirds have always, at least to me, been so understated and subtle that trying to make them more of a hot rod never looks "right". If it were mine, get it a little lower, consider simple painted steelies and pinner whitewalls, then look at color combos you really like. A word about wheel changes though: a buddy of mine had a '62, and he couldn't find recently-made wheels that allowed him to still keep the skirts. While the removal of the skirts ended up visually lightening the rear of the car, it did look less "kustom". Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Honestly if I were you, I'd keep the wheels stock, and get a nice pair of tires. But it's your car, put whatever you want on it and make it unique to you. Maybe touch up the paint in rough areas or not, and put a clear coat or something over it to maintain that patina look. These are beautiful cars, someone nearby has an all white one with the swing away steering wheel (not sure if that was an option or standard?) Very sleek and nice.
Ditch the skirts, rearch the rear whelwells to match the front without as much height, then absolutely fill the wheelwells with body color steelies and fat rubber, spider caps if you prefer
Steelies with wide whites for me And reduce the thickness of the b pillar... Maybe even bubble top. That's how I'll do mine
Nice T-Bird. I'm thinking about slotted aluminum mags for my '62, maybe run thin white walls. General question for those reading this thread: Does the HAMB have a '61-'63 Bullet Bird picture thread? I have searched but come up empty.
All worthwhile suggestions. The body will not receive any extensive mods. Some trim trim removal is about it. Wheels and tires can always be swapped, so for now I am just installing magnums on the rear also. Skirts coming off, but may go back on at a later time. Eventually it will be painted. interior is white, so color is wide open. 46Stude, Maybe I'll start a Bullet Bird thread.
Temporarily updated the look. Upon removing the old tires I found 3 bias ply and 1 radial. Also found the car is missing a shock. Generator light is staying on, I may switch to an alternator. I have one with brackets and wiring from a 67 390. I think there is only one connection to make. Am I correct? I am wiring illiterate.
67 alt is externally regulated. Also, generator blocks are a little different where the generator bolts to block and the water pump on early FE blocks like mine so that may be an issue as well. If it were me, I would adapt a G3 130 amp internally regulated alt to it using the available conversion braketry and that way you can remove the gen regulator. I've used that alt on a couple of cars and it works great. Just have to add a 560 ohm 2 watt resistor in parallel with your indicator light (or it won't charge).
58 Custom, will this allow my generator light to still function? I actually did think about the G3, but had the other parts at my disposal.
Since you asked for thoughts I'd personally go with the fender skirts and whatever wheel/tire combination. Just don't go so low you can't clear a speed bump.
You have a great looking T-Bird. The best paint job I've ever seen for a T-bird of this style was raced by Clem Proctor at Riverside and Ontario. That was a fast car!
The Jalopy Journal
