Ford and other automobile manufacturers were always developing concept cars. Some would inspire final production vehicles, while others would just be cool to look at. The Thunderbird Italien is an example of where an existing model was turned into a custom, futuristic build. And was later duplicated (for the most part) like the vehicle you see here. This “one of two” is in rough shape and a restoration is in the early stages. Located in San Diego, California, it’s available for some aficionados to nurse it back to health. While it’s offered here on craigslist, the seller does not indicate an asking price. Our thanks to Barn Finder, numskal, for the interesting tip!
An in-house design team at Ford went to work in 1962 and created the Thunderbird Italien (no one seems to know where the name came from). The roof was reworked to feature greater aerodynamics using fiberglass instead of steel there and in the trunk lid. Also, the interior was customized with leather to finish off the package. The Italien was part of a grand tour hosted by Ford in 1962 and 1963 and it received a ton of publicity in the auto publication world. And, it made an appearance at the New York World’s Fair in 1964.
The original was restored in 2007 and found itself on the auction block at Barrett-Jackson in 2008 where it sold for $660,000. A concept car rarely escapes the crusher so it’s fortunate that this one did. TV and movie star Dale Robertson ended up with the car for a time and that was about when this copy was built using the original as a template. The copy departed from the original in that a steel roof and trunk were employed. But it does have the Kelsey-Hayes wheels.
We’re told that some form of restoration has been started on this 80,000-mile two-of-a-kind vehicle. Pop open the hood and you’ll find an M-code 390 cubic inch V8 with automatic transmission. The engine has a triple-carburetor set-up which would have produced 340 hp when new. The photos do most of the talking and – as such – it appears the car may not be complete. But considering much of the Ford should be interchangeable with a standard ’63 T-Bird, maybe filling in the blanks won’t be too hard. Considering that the restored original sold for 2/3 of a million dollars 15 years ago, what could this one be worth in its current state?
Looks like a mess to me with a couple pounds of bondo.
The amateur car needs to be either parted or out back original.
The duck taped windows seems easy to remove and a blow torch will melt the tail lights free of fiber.
Good luck on saving this nightmare on public streets.
I agree. What a piece of crap!
If it’s that rare, no reason to be on Craigslist!
When there is no price listed and it says call for details that always turns me off. It ‘s not one of 2 , somebody just tried to copy one.Theres only one original imo.The design was sharp though.looked a lot better then that boxy tbird look imo.
That’s a very interesting car. The old photos add to the value.
I saw the original at the Blackhawk museum back in 2019. I’d never heard of it. Pretty impressive in the flesh.
I remember the original Italien in an automotive magazine. I thought it was beautiful and I wondered at the time why Ford didn’t produce it. (Like they originally did with the Mustang.)
Saw the original pre-restoration at a shop in Ling Beach Ca. in the ‘90s, it was magnificent even in rough form. This one has possibilities, especially in metal… just not for huge money.
Yes, yes, yes… I too remember the Italien. It was beautiful. I saw it originally at the New York International Auto Show back in the sixties. It’s disappointing when people who obviously don’t have the necessary skills try to duplicate those unusual cars. This attempt here is simply pathetic!
Seems it would be easier to take a ’66 AMC Marlin roof and scab it on a better condition ‘bird. Or, maybe a ’66 Marlin with ‘bird front and rear ends glued on.
The Italian.
Nicest looking 63 t-bird ever.
Maybe with some work this one is salvageable? Though with out a listed price in the ad I’m sure it will be ridiculous to try to get it at any kind of a reasonable price.
I’m not in the market for something like this but ‘wow’ is all I can say. What an improvement over the standard bird.
I’ll give ya 2 grand.
This is one Italien whose offer I could refuse.
I know a lot about this car. I was doing a contract job in LA and in ’79 I had a ’66 T-bird with a 3-deuce low riser manifold on it. At that time, I decided to chop the top off it (Town Hardtop), and rework the roof to fit back on (ala ’55-57 Birds) The windshield frame and front bow was taken from a ’65 wrecked ‘vert, and welded back to the HT. The reason I’m telling all this is because I drove the car around town with no roof or hood, and this crazy guy named Bill motioned for me to pull over. Seems he needed my low riser intake for this project he was working on, and offered right then and there to swap out my intake for a medium rise, PLUS give me a replica Sports Roadster tonneau which he was marketing out of his home/garage. While I was at his house, he showed me the “Italien” copy he was trying to make. He knew the Hispanic dude that was Dale Robertson’s gardner(?), and wouldn’t sell him the car. So, he copies all he could from the original one, and used a modified Rambler roof to get the look of the Italien. While I wasn’t too interested in that, I did manage to score enough convertible parts to weld to my car so that with the roof off, it looked like a convertible (the trunk lock gave it away to knowledgeable people), with the roof on (I vinyl-topped it to hide some of my welding errors) no one could tell it from a standard hard top. And yeah, I looked like a hermit crab when I would take the top off. But the car was fun, and I drove it for 20 more years, and retired it to the junk man. About Bill…I left LA the following year, and have no clue about the future of him or the car till now. By the way, I did document my work on Polaroids, and still have them for sentimental reasons. I’m mostly sure that that 3-deuce manifold was the one off my ‘Bird.
Calling this “1 of 2” is a disservice to the original. There were eight 1969 Trans Am convertibles built. If I create a replica out of a standard Firebird, do we then say there are nine?
You’re absolutely right. While I laud “Bill” for wanting the original (when it was owned by Robertson’s landscaper) and could not be bought for love or money at the time, and deciding to make a copy of it, the car is NOT the one and only Italien. He also told me he could not wait for California to add an extra digit to the license plates so he could get one with ITALIEN (as seen in one of the photos). In one of the older photos, that fellow looks like Bill, but I’m not 100% sure. I do know that a couple of the photos look exactly like his home was. Most of the Thunderbird collectors of the day knew him and came by often to have some tinkering on their Sports Roadsters. I was there every day for about a week, cutting and welding on my ‘Bird, so they are as I remember things. He also gave me an AMT ’62 Thunderbird Styling kit, which I still have and never assembled. Sorry for waxing nostalgic.
I’m Tom Maruska, the former owner and restorer of the real Italien. you can read about this clone and see more pictures of it on my website here:
http://tommaruskacars.us/ITALIEN/msc01.html
There are inaccuracies in the story above and also on my website that I discovered while owning and restoring the car which I intend to reveal in the book I am writing.
Tom
I’m really interested in your story. I followed the restoration of the real Italien with interest. Based on my acquaintance with Bill, I know a lot of the T-bird owners were always in and out of his house, I just assumed he finished the car. He impressed me with his progress on the clone he was making. As I said, I was only around him long enough to work on my ’66. At the time I was very busy assisting in the development of the LAPD’s ECCCS project. When we handed it off, I went to Texas for another project. Let me know when your book is published!