Smart buy? 66 T-Bird...

[eliyarbrough]

There's one in the town I live in. @ 1st, I thought it might be a 57. The guy wants $1500. Has a 390 engine that runs he tells me. Something is wrong in the trans, though. He says when put into gear, it doesn't go. I have no ideas on it though. For $1500, I say yes. I'll put pics I took of the exterior. Totally forgot to take them of the interior! Here she is:

Thanks!!

 

[uncltrvlnmatt]

The body looks to be in pretty good shape. Probably not to bad of a deal for $1500

 

[eliyarbrough]

Kinda what I was thinking. I saw the OBO on it. He's letting me pay him out, so I agreed to that price! He's even giving me 1 month to pay my crap off. I know him personally, that helps. Thanks!!

So you would buy it? Is a 66 a good year model? I only know off hand of the 57's.

 

[JonBeast]

Looks like a straight body...I would go for it, cool project!

I can see that baby with a white top, maroon body, chrome wire wheels and whitewalls :thumbsup:

 

[eliyarbrough]

Thanks! Sorry, kinda hate maroon though. That's texas a&m colors. I'm getting excited over it.

 

[CC'S95GT]

you'll have to buy a lead additive for the gas unless the heads have had hardened valve seats installed.
looks pretty good.
Did you look at the floor pans from under the car? those could be expensive to have fixed.
c-4/c-6 trans should be cheap enough to get rebuilt.

 

[eliyarbrough]

you'll have to buy a lead additive for the gas unless the heads have had hardened valve seats installed.
looks pretty good.
Did you look at the floor pans from under the car? those could be expensive to have fixed.
c-4/c-6 trans should be cheap enough to get rebuilt.

Thanks! I buy some stuff for that 65 Stang I've got. I'll try & find it.
Did not really look too much @ it.
He said C6. That's 1 thing I can remember.

I get this:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CRO-86092/
What I see is the word zinc & phosphorus. Prob not what you are talking about. Have a link to the stuff?

 

[uncltrvlnmatt]

C-6 transmissions are everywhere, but they are starting to get a bit pricey.

 

[duh09]

Finding a tranny wouldn't be too big of a deal, my dad would have scooped that up quick, he's been lookng for some old car to tinker with.

 

[sj9ers]

looks like a good deal, but just watch out for rust.

 

[duff daddy]

I though you were redoing a first gen Mustang?

 

[eliyarbrough]

I am just overseeing it, all the owners $. I use a diff forum for it. I will post what I got from that site.

No.

First off, it's a 65 with 66 tail lamps, and the middle bird is missing. I kinda doubt the center section works correctly, but if it does, the wiring has been messed with. OR, it's a 66 with a '65 front clip. Either way, that's messed up.

There's a LOT of rust... what I see imports that there's more, lots more, especially underneath.

The front ends on these things are *heavy duty*... and some parts aren't available any more. It's been a while, but the reason I got rid of my '66 was that the brake pads were not easily available, and the brake boosters kept going out.

Everything runs on vacuum in the car. The door locks, the rear vent, the brakes, the air conditioning, the trunk release from the inside (if it has it)... figuring all that out is very fun.

The dash is cracked. Major PITA to deal with. I wonder what else inside the car is messed up.

Watch out for the radiator tank on the top of the car. You need it, but they are notorious for leaking.

Everything to fix this car is expensive. Everything.

If it had *actually been* a '66 standard hardtop, it would be a steal, because they're kinda rare. But being it's "just" a '65... and parts of the 65 are gone... I wouldn't buy it. Not unless it was for parts, and then for about 750 or so.

But... if you were to use it as a body only, and fix the rust, then put *all modern* suspension and engine and such... electrify the vacuum stuff... then maybe it'd be a fun car. Expensive to do, but fun. Trying to restore it? Have an even more huge wallet, you'll need it.

My bottom line: Go find something else. This is not the car you're looking for.


I will show this to my mechanic tomorrow. It was too late when I decided this today. He was gone.

 

[Matt94GT]

to be honest after that post Id prob pass, and im a tbird fan.

You need to find one with good interior and decent body, the interior is the most expensive to fix if its been trashed and parts are hard to find for those.

 

[eliyarbrough]

I slept on the idea a night. I don't have a normal brain, so mine needs time to process stuff. I decided I won't get it. I am just not smart enough or have the $ needed to pull this off! Oh yeah, I get disability so I don't have a real job. If I buy this car, I would have 3. I don't think I need 3 cars? Sure I want, but don't need. Yep, not going through with it. Thanks to every one who weighed in. See ya!!

 

[NERD]

Any big body ford is $$$$ high rent to restore. I've built and helped build a few T-birds and all of them more than quadrupled the original budget. There aren't many of them for a reason. The only thing worse than a T-bird IMO would be a 50's Pontiac in full chrome dress.