By the late 1960s, the details that made the four-seat Thunderbird special were whittled away one-by-one as the marketplace for luxury cars evolved. By the 1970s, the T-Bird’s comparatively trim size, high transmission tunnel, console, bucket seats, and wild interior gave way to big, overstuffed luxury. It was, however, a process that involved several years of metamorphosis, and the 1968 model shows a car in a middle state. As it turns out, the middle state is a pretty good place to find cheap projects. Barn Finds reader Rocco B. spotted this non-running T-Bird Landau on craigslist in Sacramento, California, with an asking price of $3,900.

The bucket-seat tradition began to give way with the availability of this “Flight-Bench” seat. While the Riviera and the Toronado had already begun the personal-luxury march toward bench seating, Ford was reticent to do so, but it finally conceded defeat in 1968 (although buckets were still more popular in the two-door models). You might notice that although the T-Bird’s interior is still a stylistic treat, it pales in comparison to Thunderbirds from the 1958-66 eras, but this one looks as if it will clean up fairly well. I see a few cracks in the dash pad, and a trim piece seems to be missing from the passenger door.

The rear seat looks fine, and it still maintains the coved appearance introduced with the 1964 models, a nice touch that makes the back seat of your T-Bird look like a couch in an expensive hotel.

The sales brochure mentions that the 315-horsepower 390 was standard equipment, but other dealer sales literature says that instead, you got this new-for-1968 360-horsepower 429 “Thunderjet” big-block. Either way, this car has the 429. The seller has tried to get it running with a new coil and a new battery, but although it will cough and sputter, it will not yet come to life. It has a newer Edelbrock AVS2 on top, which is a pretty good carburetor, so it shouldn’t be too tall a task to get the engine running as long as there aren’t any severe mechanical catastrophes awaiting. Buying a non-running project car is always a risk. This car does have air conditioning, but I think we all know that it’s going to require more than just a charge.

Sadly, the seller “can’t work on it” due to back pain and has to sell the car. Unfortunately, there’s not much to go on in the advertisement aside from what’s been mentioned, but being a Sacramento car means that it’s most likely solid, and the paint doesn’t look bad enough that it wouldn’t clean up reasonably well. If you can get the engine running reasonably easily, it will probably need brake hydraulics and a good detailing, and you might be cruising around for a reasonable price. And for good or for bad, this ’68 will seat six rather than four.