The seller tells us this 1965 Thunderbird was a barn find out of Hollywood, California, despite the fact that it’s now in Yonkers, New York. They are selling this car along with six other classics as listed in the auction. The ‘Bird is listed for sale here on eBay, where bidding is opening at $6,800 and there’s no reserve.
Apart from the scrape on this side where the owner says they damaged the car coming out of the garage, the paint, although a repaint, doesn’t look that bad, especially for a driver. I wonder if the car ever had the rear fender skirts–I like the way that makes these rocket birds look even sleeker.
Although the seller calls this a “Town Landau” model, I believe it’s more correctly known as just a Landau, with the Town Landau eliminating the smaller rear side window in 1966. But if I’m wrong, I’ll bet there’s a Thunderbird expert out there that will correct me quickly. The car itself doesn’t help, wearing a badge that says “Special Landau.”
One of the best parts of these ‘Birds is the interior, and this one is no exception. Lots of swoops and jet fighter-ish features on the inside make it very evident that this car is a product of it’s time. And with factory air conditioning, power windows, power locks and power seats, you will be cossetted in the best luxury 1965’s dollar could buy.
Here’s the 390 V8 that offers plenty of torque and certainly ample power to take this Thunderbird anywhere you’d want to go. It looks pretty original under there, although the occasional different colored wire has me wondering a little. The seller tells us the car runs and drives “good” but will require a full tune up (doesn’t that seem odd?) I wonder about the 60,201 miles that are showing on the odometer, but who knows? I’d love the chance to drive it to form my own opinions!
This car is a very rare “special landau” very cool! The Special Landau was built in very small numbers, only in 1965. The Emberglo paint, tan landau top and copper/beige interior give it away. Cool find!
Thanks, Rob!
Very good price if it doesn’t need major work. A compression test or even just a vacuum reading would tell a lot. These Bird’s ( I happen to have one in the driveway- on blocks getting a complete brake job) are complicated beasts, lots of vacuum operated things and power gadgets. Make sure they all work or you spend your days fixing them all as I do!
Engine bay supposed to be body color – no bids, bit scruffy
The seller’s ’64 Grand-Prix is more my cup of tea
Hmmm. Barn find in Hollywood? Maybe back in the ’40s when there were some barns there before the mansions took over. Wait, this car was built well after the ’40s, and after the ’50s too. Does not compute.
Anyway, altho I’d prefer an earlier ‘Bird, this one would still be cool for a trip down to the DQ on a summer night. Assuming it’s fit for driving, the big question for me would be whether it would be worth doing a quality repaint, including the engine bay. And especially since I’m already redoing a car right now that got the dam black engine bay treatment.
Another dumb flipper that doesn’t know his a** from a hole in the ground. I used to enjoy looking at listings but the past few years ads like these make it not enjoyable wading through the same old same old BS.
Love the 60’s T-birds. This has no reserve and no bids either with one day left.
Between his current auctions and his list of upcoming cars for sale, the guy certainly has some desirable stuff.
“Runs good but will need a tune-up”…red flag!
I’ll be the first to admit I’ve never seen the instrument panel in these before this set of photos. How does that speedometer work? Bar graph underneath the numerals? Hidden lights?
Rick, it’s a line underneath the numbers. It’s actually a drum that rotates as the car’s speed increases, giving the illusion of a line moving from left to right, “pointing” at the numbers above. When you hit 70 the line turns red.
Don’t buy this car as an investment. Buy it to drive it and enjoy its unique and lovely color combination. These were among the best cars of the mid ’60’s. Imagine what it cost the manufacturers every year to retool all the body panels, the trim changes, even the interiors. There will never be an era like the ’50’s & ’60’s again. What a great time to be an impressionable young car guy.
I still vividly remember going to the Oldsmobile dealers’ new-car introduction show for the 1964 models. There was a whole lotta hype going on and then they’d roll out all the new cars. Every single one looked wet they were so shiny. And they all were lowered a good 2-3″ to make them look “longer, lower, wider”.
The days of Detroit dominance are long gone but during the Golden Era nothing else even came close. Now I know that Mercedes has built high-quality cars for a long time, but they never built anything as extravagant as a 1963 Olds Starfire or as beautiful as a ’66 Riviera.
Thanks again to the Barn Finds staff for providing me with my daily dose of nostalgia. Keep up the great work!
When I was a kid back in the 60’s, each September I excitedly looked forward to the new TV season and the unveiling of the new car models. I’d buy the magazines that offered “sneak preview” illustrations of what the new cars would look like. Nowadays, I don’t care anymore since all the cars look the same to me.
So true. The fuel economy requirements tend to make all cars have a similar, low-drag shape. And any extra stuff that alters the body or sticks out of it increases drag, so you don’t have that anymore.
I think one of the reasons why a lot of us like vintage cars is they don’t have those limitations, so they can, and do look distinctive.
I had one of these, too back in the day. the steering column swung out when you opened the drivers door, had vaccumn controlled locks even the trunk lock, also had sequential tail lights. Had am/fm radio, it think it was the first year for the fm radio’s too if i’m not mistaken. Console went from dash through to the back seat. Mine If I’m not mistaken had the 352 engine. was a light silverish blue with a black Landau top.
Whoever does buy this gem LOOK INTO THE RECENT JUNE ISSUE OF HEMMINGS CLASSIC CAR. talks about the 61-66 Birds & Mentions about 4500 of this Special option exsists . unsure on total on road now , but a small piece of history & a great conversation starter @ car shows
There were 6 versions of the rocket birds. Coupe, with the little side window, and landau coupe with the vinyl and S bar. Town coupe without the little side window, and town landau with vinyl and S bar. Of course the convertible plus the Special Landau show here. In ’64 there was a toneau cover for over the rear seats available as an option, but they didn’t refer to it as a sports roadster as in ’62 and ’63.