Slick hidden headlights and a hood flowing fully forward to the grille grants the ’68 T-bird an elegant entrance, and while this 1968 Ford Thunderbird in Vale, North Carolina was purchased “for the engine,” it might be worth reviving as a driver. The vinyl top is shot, showing evidence of rust there, but otherwise it’s far from Swiss cheese. A 429 V8 rests under the hood, according to the seller. The $8500 asking price may be a fishing expedition for a non-runner, but you have to start somewhere. Check out more pictures and details here on Facebook Marketplace. Thanks to PRA4SNW for the tip on this big block ‘bird.
The “hot new Thunder Jet 429” featured prominently in Ford’s brochures for ’68, and the new 385 series mill found its first home in the Thunderbird, while other models featured the FE-based 428 until ’69, according to Wikipedia. Rated at a stout 360 HP and 480 lb-ft of torque (gross), the 7.0 liter is no slouch, even with the mild 3 code 2.80:1 axle ratio in the nine inch rear. For a real sleeper, swap in a warmed-up 460 with 3.xx gears and use the burning tires to write your name in the high school parking lot. Thanks to the brochures at lov2xlr8 for some details.
I’ve seen interiors like this clean up nicely, though the steering wheel rim is a goner. Crank windows suggest this may not be fully loaded, but the T-bird came with more standard features than your average Ford, and plenty of shiny bits inside and out.
I wish the owner (and all sellers) could step back to include the entire car in the picture, but they did not. I asked AI to show us what it might look like. Not real, but not bad! Someone waited too long to address water trapped under the vinyl roof, but you could strip the top, grind off the adhesive, patch the holes, and paint it black to get back on the road while deciding on a permanent fix. This was during the time when Ford lost its mind and made four-door Thunderbirds, but this two-door design looks great so we’ll leave that topic alone.
The full-width light panel echoes the front, again with the trunk lid carrying fully to the edge. The previous generation’s sequential turn signals carried on with the ’68 as well. This may be my favorite ’60s Thunderbird rear.
That red Thunderbird high beam indicator is so cool, I’d probably drive around blinding everyone with my high beams all the time. Not really, but it would be tempting. Those 47,246 miles might be original based on the upholstery. If it’s 147k and change, someone took good care when sliding in and out of the often-trashed driver’s seat. These cars don’t have massaging seats and ABS, but you could get this one running and keep it on the road cheaper than any modern luxury car if you (cough) don’t count fuel economy. One interesting use case would be pulling a vintage camping trailer with this rig to tour the monuments and national parks in style. The possibilities are endless. Would you drop this T-bird’s 429 into a Mustang or give it a second life?
These “Glamour’Birds” were big but pretty nice inside for a pseudo luxury car. Good stuff here, Todd.
Throwing out a question though to everyone-why do so many of the sellers on Faceplant have an adversity to water? It’d be nice to see what under the grime..
“Would you drop this T-bird’s 429 into a Mustang or give it a second life?’ I think a more appropriate term for ‘drop’ would be ‘wedge’ or ‘stuff’.
Hi, Azzurra. True! The ’71-’73 Mustang was enlarged to hold the 385, but it would be a shoehorn job otherwise. I do know that after 70,000 Coyote swaps, some of the older big cube motors are coming back to the engine swap conversation.
Ford sent ’69-70 Mustangs out to an outside shop to modify the bodies to fit the 429 SCJ engines in the Boss 429 Mustang, because it wouldn’t fit otherwise!
Odd that I located one exactly like this on Marketplace in Jacksonville, clean and drivable for the same price. Sent it, along with a few others to BF entrees and I never get them listed. What am I doing wrong??
https://www.facebook.com/share/18r8bDJPx4/
Wayne, that one is much nicer for the same money.
Honestly, I think it is luck of the draw. I submit a bunch of stuff and a couple get featured.
Having said that, I imagine that the “regulars” that get their submitted stuff featured here must send in hundreds of items a day.
The asking price of $8,500 has to be a fishing expedition – a non-runner, trashed and rusty roof, an exterior that you really don’t know what you have until you wash it (although it looks straight), and an interior that hasn’t seen a dustcloth, soap or conditioner since the Reagan Administration, I wouldn’t pay half of that for it, and I love this era of Thunderbirds, 4-doors included! The seller should have taken more time to present the car better than these pictures show, because he is never going to see the money he’s asking for it. With it sitting for who knows how long, I dread to see what the underside looks like.
lot of money for a rough looking bird. fan turns tell you the fan turns. motor could still be locked up. as it sits 3500-4k.
If it’s locked up, that may be an opportunity. That 429 can become a 460 with a stroker crank and a piston/con-rod swap, and if it’s locked up, boring out the cylinders and fresh pistons are going to be part of the job anyway. Ford sells these as crate motors, bored and stroked out to 572 cubic inches, so we know that the block can stand it, LOL! I’d use a forged crank instead of the stock cast crank, and have the main bearing saddles drilled and tapped for four-bolt main bearing caps, just to beef up the bottom end for longevity. Porting and polishing the cylinder heads, along with hardened valve guides and valve seats (to run on unleaded gas) will be part of the drill in any case. Either that, or a set of aftermarket cylinder heads from the usual suspects. All of this keeps the “numbers matching” block the car was born with, while updating the engine for modern, clean running. Not cheap, to be sure, but it might be cheaper than an engine swap, especially if you buy a crate motor for the swap instead of trying to find one in a junkyard. These are now getting hard to find, as more and more of these blocks end up as scrap metal being shipped off to Japan to be reincarnated as Toyotas, LOL!
Memories, My pop’s bought a 68 429 Bird in a Silver w,a Blk. V,top right off the showroom floor, loaded. It was sweet, took my DL test in it. Yea, it was a rocket, ate a 413 Polara’s lunch with it. Leather everywhere, wraparound backseat, women were impressed, I was a teen stud in that Bird. One of the best vehicles we ever owned, kept it till 76.
Sorry, it’s MO that Thunderbirds of any era should always have power windows and doorlocks. Although these have grown up and put on weight, I like these birds. In full luxury mode of course. Even the 4 door was nice. In 1970 they added the Bunky beak which again was a love it or hate it.
Ridiculous! Who doesn’t wash a car before they sell it???
@mick
Seems like 80% of sellers here on BF, Facebook Market and Craigslist
Whatta TURD !!!
Expensive at half the price! A non-starter for me are the missing the bucket seats and console, which were optional starting in the 1968 model year. Bench seat? No, Thank You! I hate the vinyl roof as a crime against automotive styling, and I’ll bet bucks to Navy Beans that there are rust holes in the roof under the vinyl, which will be expensive to fix! That one-piece headliner is also a tough item to repair or replace, if the vinyl is separating from the foam backing, which is common on these. I like the 429, though, as it became the only engine choice in 1968. The “FE” block 390 and 428 went bye-bye after the 1967 model year. Oh, and this was the first year fror the side marker lights, which we used to call “Nader Eyes”, LOL! On these, the front side markers, with the cornering lamps that came with them, look like giant zits on the car’s chin!
Oh, and yes, can’t someone at least throw a bucket of soapy water over the car before taking the pictures, Thank You very much! That, and vacuuming the inside wouldn’t kill you either!
Probably NOT original miles, why even speculate?
Potential
THIS PAST WEEKEND I CAME ACROSS A PAIR OF 67 BIRDS AT A BODY SHOP IN GERVIS OR. BOTH HAD BEEN AWHILE SINCE THEY WERE PARKED. GREAT RESTORATION PROJECTS. BEING FROM OREGON RUST NOT PROBLEM . FOR INFO AND PICS LET ME KNOW SOMEHOW AND TRY FOR HALF DECENT PICS?