The 1965 Thunderbird was on the second year of its then-traditional three-year styling cycle, but Ford made a worthwhile improvement or two to keep it fresh: the first was standard power disc brakes and the second was a set of dazzling sequential taillights. The brakes were a much-needed upgrade; with nearly 5,000 pounds of Thunderbird to anchor, the proud new T-Bird owner needed all the help they could get. The taillights are still a Ford staple in the 2025 Mustang, so they clearly have something going for them. Flair Birds like the 1965 model still look like a million bucks today, and this is an especially nice one with a claimed 40,000 miles on the clock. It’s on eBay in Delaware, brought to us by the eagle eye of Mitchell G.
As soon as you open the door, you can tell it’s a ’65 rather than a ’64 by the big, proud “Disc Brake” rotor on the brake pedal. The Landau Coupe had a wood-trimmed interior, but this one’s a bit of a mystery. The trim tag doesn’t quite match up with what’s in front of us. It’s a Landau all right, but the fake C-Pillar irons have been replaced by standard T-Bird ornaments, while the interior is missing its wood grain steering wheel and door panel inserts. Based on my notes, the exterior was originally Dark Gray (or Charcoal Gray) and the interior a harmonizing silver, so the white exterior and aqua interior tell us that this car has undergone a big change, likely during a prior restoration. Luckily, many people in the four-seat Thunderbird world aren’t sticklers for strict originality. Regardless, the T-Bird’s interior would arguably never look this good again beyond the 1966 model year.
The engine compartment is nearly spotless, with a correct black and gold 390 under the hood, producing its traditional 300 horsepower and 427 lb.-ft. of torque for 1965. The 390 ‘Bird was never a fast car, but it was easily capable of the smooth, quiet super-legal speeds that customers demanded. This one has air conditioning, but the seller doesn’t mention if it works.
Four-seat Thunderbird hardtops of the ’60s are excellent values, so it makes sense to buy a good one. While this one has seen some changes from its factory specifications, they’ve been tastefully done, and the car seems like it’s in excellent condition (the seller also includes some undercarriage pictures). With three days to go on the auction, the high bid is $9,600 (which has not met reserve). So far, that’s a bargain for a classy T-Bird such as this one. The ’65 is one of my favorite T-Birds, is it one of yours?
The “Flairbirds” are my favorite, with the full width ’66 sequential lights as my #1. This one’s a beauty, and appears to have a rear (OEM?) widow defroster . I’ve always wondered 2 things: WHY didn’t Ford put the shifter in the console, and design a special wheel for this PLC, like GM did. GLWTA!! :-)
My only complaint about these cool birds is the column shifter. Makes no sense. I love everything else.
The column shifter was also used at actuate the swing-away steering column.
Richard Dabrowski is correct, the swing-a-way column necessitated a column shifter to lock the column in place when the shifter was moved from PARK, so the vehicle could be driven away. I have the mechanism from a 1965 Galaxie 500XL which normally would have been equipped with a console shifter. When the s-w-a was ordered in this model, the console was equipped with a block off plate to cover the hole where the console shifter would have normally been.
https://fordauthority.com/2019/07/classic-ford-swing-away-steering-wheel-simple-yet-awesome-video/
I’ve often wondered why Ford didn’t give all Square, Bullet, and Glamour Birds, console shifters? It would definitely have aligned with their aircraft inspired interiors. A ’67 coupe so equipped would be a quest, but it wasn’t even offered as an option. This one is still nice. GLWTS
I want to know how a widow defroster works!😊
My favorite part of the Flair Birds is the interior. During their planning phase I suspect management said something like “I want you to design a knock-your-socks-off interior, and we will do our best to provide you with the money to execute your plan. Bring us some ideas to review.” And they for sure delivered.
A word about sequential turn signals..back then they were electro-mechanical with a motorized switch that rotated through the contacts for each bulb. Today’s “sequentials” are purely computerized, controlled by a module.
I have an original unit taken from a wrecked T-Bird!
Those were also used on the early Mercury Cougars
I struggled repeatedly with the sequential signals on my 65. Incredible mechanicals. But, sadly, a real pain in the rear to keep working. One of the best things I did was to put a solid state sequential tail light system. Worked flawlessly ever since.
When I see the ’61-’66 T-birds advertised I always look to see if they’ve got 6 power window switches. That tells me if they have the power vent windows which indicates the height of decadence. For me the great tragedy of Thelma & Louise is not the deaths of two of my favorite actresses but the death of that powder blue Thunderbird convertible.
Sounds horrible to say that but you know you thought it too.
I agree. Hollywood trashed a nice car to make a stupid movie.
I’ve always liked the bullit Birds as well as the Flair Birds like this one. She’s certainly very clean and disc brakes are welcomed. I rarely see these year Thunderbirds that’s AC is working, and don’t understand it. It’s the icing on the cake of a luxury car like this.
My first car was a 65 convertible. I had intimate knowledge of the mechanical sequential turn signals. They also served as an early indictor of battery condition; if you were stopped at a light and engaged them, and they didn’t work until you put the car in neutral or gave it a little gas, the battery was on it’s way out. With the heavy weight and good tires it was an excellent high speed cruiser, even it the rain. I think the column shifter facilitated the swing away steering wheel mechanism.
If this car does have a working a,/ c, it might be a candidate for my Las Vegas home.
Engine bay looks nicer than the carpet