After a three-year run as a 2-seat personal luxury car, the Ford Thunderbird gained a back seat in 1958, along with a bigger footprint. These cars, made from 1958 to 1960, would be known as the “Square Birds” and sold in numbers three times greater than the now iconic 1955-57 models. Located in Zionsville, Indiana, this survivor is equipped with the rare J-code MEL engine, which produced 350 horsepower. A one-family car for many years, it’s available now here on Facebook Marketplace for $30,000 OBO. An attaboy goes to T.J. for the swell tip!
Sometimes, the early Ford Thunderbirds and the Chevrolet Corvettes are placed in the same bucket, probably because of the passenger capacity. But the T-Bird was not a sports car and sold more than 50,000 copies from 1955 to 1957, versus fewer than 5,000 Corvettes in 1953 to 1955. Ford gambled that they could sell more Thunderbirds if they redesigned it around four passengers. The ploy worked, and the personal luxury car found more than 92,000 buyers in 1960 alone.
Perhaps 94% of the 1960 T-Birds came with a 352 cubic inch V8 because only 5,531 of them had the beastly 430 MEL engine. MEL stood for Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln. This J-code engine had its roots in NASCAR, but the T-Bird was an expensive car for representing Ford. In the T-Bird, it used a single 4-barrel carburetor while the Lincolns had Tri-Power. It was only available with a 3-speed Cruise-O-Matic automatic transmission.
This baby blue example, with original paint, belonged to the seller’s father, and she professes knowing little about it. The two-tone interior looks as good as the exterior, so we assume this is a turnkey automobile that needs nothing but a new home. It has 79,000 miles and has recently been serviced, including a battery and fluids. Also, a full detailing of the car’s appearance was commissioned. If you’re into Square Birds, this may be one of the nicest – and most powerful – survivors left.
Had Two….had one of these. Sorry to have let it go. A 430 c.i. Lincoln
“In the T-Bird, it used a single 4-barrel carburetor while the Lincolns had Tri-Power.”
Beg to differ. Lincolns did not have Tri-Power (Ford would have called it 6V carburetion). The Lincoln 430 had a single 4-barrel in ’58 and ’59 and a single 2-barrel in ’60. There were no other engine options offered.
The triple-carb 3×2 430 (“Super Marauder”) was offered only in the Mercury and only for 1958. Factory rated at 400 gross hp. Conceivably, you could buy the 6V Mercury setup at the parts counter and install it on your Lincoln engine, but it wasn’t a Lincoln option.