Grandma's T-Bird

Before I get into plans for the car, I wanted to give some more family history about the T-Birds. As I said, the black car was my grandparents'. My dad liked the car so much that when he got out of the army in 64, he got one for himself. That's the blue car. He had it repainted in the 80s and would take me for drives in it, but he lost interest by the early-mid 90s and the car sat for a long time. He'd start it, but it didn't leave the garage again until I moved to TN in 2005. I asked if he'd let me restomod the car, and surprisingly, he agreed. I won't go into too many details--you can read those in the link--but the TLDR is it's got a 4.6 DOHC, 5-speed, 4-wheel discs and all that jazz. It's a great driving car.

When it came time to buy my first car in 2001, I wasn't specifically looking for a T-Bird, but that's what I found, a 95 LX. That's become a long-stalled project, but you can read as far as I got with it here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/rebuilding-my-first-car-95-t-bird-v8/126834/page1/

My experience with that car made me realize what I really wanted was a Supercoupe, so I found a 94. That now serves as my all-purpose fun car. Details here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/stupid-things-i-do-with-and-to-my-supercoupe/178837/page1/

Back to the black car. My dad passed in January 2024, and the car stayed at his house in CA because I didn't  have any room for it at my home in TN. That  has changed.

Last time I drove this car was in 2022. It drove like any old car--soft, super vague steering, but otherwise fine. The transporter couldn't get into my driveway, so I had to drive it about a mile to the house, and things are no longer quite that good. The old carb leaked so badly I had to replace it just so it wouldn't catch fire getting onto the trailer, and the idle is super high. The brakes pull heavily to one side now. And it got hotter than I would have liked in such a short drive. So the car will need the same basic going-over as any car that has sat for a while. And the car has the original single-pot master cylinder, so I'd like to replace that just for safety's sake. The rear tires have 2011 date codes. The front tires have no date codes, but at least one has some sidewall bubbling. So those will get replaced immediately. I'm thinking whitewalls.

The interior is the only really bad part on the car. I do want to replace it with new factory-style upholstery. The dash pad in particular is a problem.

With that said, more pics:

So when it comes to what I want this car to be, one major thing to consider is I have no need to try to replicate the blue car. I want it to go in another direction.

Regarding wheels and tires: As I said, I want whitewalls for sure. Here are the three options I'm considering for wheels:

• Clean up the stock 14" wheels and run them as is.
• Refinish the stock wheels.
• Upgrade to 15" wheels for a better selection of tires and to clear disc brakes conversions if I ever decide to go that route. When I last drove the car, the drums were fine, but in addition to pulling to one side they're pretty inconsistent & grabby. I don't want to replace them right away unless there's something majorly wrong. But I don't want to buy 14" whitewalls, then convert to discs and have to buy new wheels/tires.
• Regardless of size, dog dish hubcaps, chrome lugs w/no hubcaps, or spider caps are possibilities.

As for wheel color choice: red or black? Red is classic, but this car looks great w/black wheels and dog dish hubcaps. 

Can't find a pic of a black car w/red wheels, but this looks cool, too.

Gunmetal/graphite wheels and dogdish caps. 

Bit of a delay in working on the car--the big new garage is currently getting insulation/drywall, after which I'll paint it. Mostly planning on waiting until then to do much work to this car instead of working outside or in the much smaller attached garage.

Otherwise I've just been looking at parts availability and prices. Looks as if replacement dash pads aren't available in red, which is disappointing.

The drum brakes will be fine. If they're grabbing and pulling, they're probably contaminated with brake fluid or grease.

A good brake job with new linings and clean drums will make it right.

Update: no real updates. But the garage is now just some paint away from me having the room and time to work on this car.

I like the red steelies, because they tie in with the interior. Also, damn son that's a big-ass garage!

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks. It's been a goal for a long time and now it's almost done. 63x24, 12-foot ceilings, 5 bays.

Will said:

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks. It's been a goal for a long time and now it's almost done. 63x24, 12-foot ceilings, 5 bays.

In a few years it won't be big enough.......😀

I've got some serious garage envy going on.

Congrats on the new work space.

I came home  from the hospital in the back of one of these when I was born. For all I know, I might have been conceived in the same car. 

That black car has some stories it could tell.

I finished painting the garage. I never want to see a roller again.

But that means I can now start moving stuff in and working on the car.

Super excited to have room to work on each side of every car.

Drum brakes are SUPPOSED TO BE inconsistent and grabby.

OzRaceFan said:

Drum brakes are SUPPOSED TO BE inconsistent and grabby.

Tell me you can't service drum brakes without telling me...

Not that it matters what the car weighs, but I have scales so I'm not not going to weigh the car. The balance is kind of shockingly not awful.

Compare this to 3305 stock for the blue car, which had a 3-speed manual and both tops. Black car has a hardtop only, so I'm guessing the Ford-o-Matic weighs a ton.

Early Ford-O-Matics were cast iron.

In reply to ShawnG :

Everything on this car is cast iron.

ShawnG said:

Early Ford-O-Matics were cast iron.

So was the rest of the car they were attached to...