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Bird Of Thunder: 1963 T-Bird

'63 Thunderbird front

Have you been thinking about getting a bird that isn’t a turkey? This 1963 Ford Thunderbird is listed here on craigslist in St. Louis, Missouri for $4,850 or best offer. It might not be a bird of prey, but it certainly isn’t a turkey!

'63 Thunderbird engine

According to the owner this is a great project. You get “matching numbers with a pretty decent body.” We do like having matching numbers! The engine does run, but we are sure it would benefit from a good tune up.

'63 Thunderbird dash

The owner states that the seat frames are good. It’s clearly time for some recovering or some tribal blankets. Which would you go with? The rest of the interior looks complete and usable, although we would want to find a steering wheel that isn’t cracked or have this one refurbished. The transmission, rear end and the frame are said to be good according to the owner as well.

'63 Thunder bird rear

While it needs some work, this is a car you could just about climb into and drive home. To lay down some real thunder again, it will need some work, but it looks to mostly be small issues! So would you cruise in this bird?

Motor-on,
Robert

Comments

  1. Avatar 64 bonneville

    A good basic Thunderbird, to get into the hobby for not a lot of money. Do a compression test on the engine to be sure a good tune up would do the trick, though. It appears that the radio was removed, possibly to put a CD player in it, but shouldn’t be to difficult to replace if radio opening hasn’t be butchered up. If it had A/C would seriously consider making an offer.

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  2. Avatar MountainMan

    These big ole birds from the ’60s have been a lot cheaper than most 60s American cars. I have to say they have grown on me quite a bit in the last decade. At one time I overlooked these even when running across nice examples at low prices. Seeing the ones featured in the last day or so has made me realize that I have come to like this era bird and they seem to be a good way to get big block V8 power in a “personal luxury” package. Sure they wont handle like a Mustang or a Dart or a Chevelle but in stock form most American cars from that era drive like boats anyway. I remember when not that long ago you could pick this era of a T-bird up for just about nothing. Lots of them were very well optioned so they tend to have more buttons than other cars built around the same time. Now i wonder what other potential bargains I have been overlooking and possibly missing out on. I don’t think I will start an aggressive search for a T-bird but as I am browsing CL and other sites looking for classics I will have to give these a closer look. I tend to buy based on the deal to be had rather than setting out to find a specific vehicle. It helps not being picky and enjoying a wide variety of old cars and trucks. Of course there are a few specific cars i want to own but generally i will buy something because I’m motivated by the price. Thanks to BF for featuring such a great variety of stuff, the site is one of the two that I visit daily, usually several times a day!

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  3. Avatar RollerD

    Does anyone here have an idea what the cost of upholstery (stock) in a car like this would cost.

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    • Avatar dj

      I was just brought a 62 for restoring. The leather seat covers(if it had leather) are $1600.

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      • Avatar RollerD

        Thank you. I have taken a liking to these lately.

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  4. Avatar Paul B

    One day these will be worth something, and the ’63s are the best looking and most refined of the ’61-’63 banana T-birds. Thunderbird styling from ’55 all the way through to ’68 was consistently interesting and trend-setting. Almost no other cars had the T-bird’s combination of elegance and dream car mystique during that period. And the pale blue is a lovely period shade for this coupe. Someone buy it, make it run, enjoy it and be patient for values to rise — though I hope your objective is not merely financial.

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  5. Avatar GOPAR

    I’m not a big Ford fan, but I do like the old T-birds. I agree with Paul B about the great styling. Probably won’t be long before these will be getting a little more expensive to score.

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  6. Avatar piper62j

    Of all the older big birds, my favorite is the 63.. I picked up a 63 Galaxie when I returned home because of the large round tail lamps and this Tbird had a complimentary design… The interior dash was also a sort of Corvette mirror the way it rolled around and down on both sides..

    This is a keeper and well worth the time and money to bring it back..

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  7. Avatar Wayne Thomas

    Swap in a Coyote engine and it’ll very well be a Bird of Prey.

    Like 0

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