We’ve all seen those television shows where bidders vie for access to an unopened storage unit, hoping to find forgotten gold inside. While much of it is staged, they had to get the inspiration from somewhere – and here’s a perfect example. This 1970 Ford Thunderbird Thunder Jet was found as an abandoned piece of property in a storage unit in Arkansas. The Thunderbird was clearly someone’s stalled restoration project, but fortunately, it looks like it could be re-assembled without too much effort. The engine is obviously the star of the show, and that 429 Thunder Jet looks just lovely under the hood – we can’t wait to hear it fire up for the first time. Find it here on Facebook Marketplace for $4,200 or best offer.
Is there anything as beautiful as a grandma-special personal luxury coupe with a monstrous motor under the hood? This engine kicked out around 360 b.h.p. if I’m remembering correctly, and could hustle the huge coupe to 60 in a very respectable 7.4 seconds. While many Ford fans look towards the first two generations of the Thunderbird as being the most iconic, give me one of these, or the model just before it with the hideaway headlights. These things are brutes, and dish out the kind of performance you wouldn’t expect. I don’t think Ford set out to build a sleeper, but the end result seems pretty close to that. The 429 doesn’t run at present, but the seller notes that the oil is clean and it turns over by hand.
If this was someone’s stalled restoration project, it’s a shame they didn’t finish. The Thunderbird looks incredibly nice inside and out, with the interior a serious high point. The upholstery, door panels, dash, and carpets all look very presentable. Close up photos of the instrument binnacle show that the fake woodgrain trim is still in very nice shape and that the gauge faces are crystal clear. The back seat looks just as nice, and this chocolate brown interior had to have looked incredible when it was new. Hopefully, once it rolls back out into the daylight, some leather rejuvenator will do wonders for the slightly dry-looking surfaces, but I really don’t think it will take much for the interior spaces to “pop” once again.
The seller reports that the Thunderbird was parked in the locker for five years. Whatever transpired, it was then abandoned, despite the fact that the numerous spare parts that come with the Thunderbird indicate someone had every intention of finishing their project. The owner of the storage facility has smartly gotten the paperwork sorted out in advance of a sale, so the next owner can have the title to the Thunderbird legally signed over without any concerns about the previous owner coming back for his forgotten ride. While it will never be enormously valuable, a Thunderbird with this engine and in this kind of condition will always be in demand, and if I were the storage unit owner, I’d be hard pressed to let my discovery go to a new home. Have any of you owned a Thunderbird of this era with a 429?
The first picture is rather jarring, but looking through the remainder of the pics, Jeff is right…. this car actually looks pretty good. I can imagine it would be rather inconvenient and difficult to do car repair/restoration in a storage building. So it is not hard to imagine that the project stalled, then for whatever reason the renter quit paying the bills, and here we are.
Not a particularly popular T-Bird, but I can visualize it cleaned up and running, and turning out to be a nice cruiser.
I owned a 69 and a 71 back in the early and mid 70s. They both were exceptionally fast for their size. The 71 got crazy highway mileage also. Remember the 55 mph national speed limit? With the cruise set on 60 mph that 71 would always return 19 mpg The exhaust pipes ran white and the plugs were always clean when a tuneup was done. To compare I owned a 73 thunderbird with the 460 in the 1980s and it had no power and got about 10 mpg. Thanks federal government for ruining our cars and killing the domestic car industry
Jeff.
The reason for the good fuel milage was the high compression and the cam profile, plus the timing chain sprocket on the crankshaft gear did not have a retarded cam timing key way ground into it.
Thunderjet? More like Thunderturd.
These cars never did 0 to 60 in 7.4 seconds, that was a simulated guess. Real testing showed 9 seconds. These cars also did not get 19 mpg on the highway, if lucky you got 15 and 10 to 12 in the city.
Listed as 0-60 -7.4 secs
1/4 mile -16 secs flat.
Find a actual road test from a magazine that shows that. That number is a guess by a website that estimates 0 to 60.
I have a 1971 TBird with 40,000 miles and a 429 thunder jet ! It will make 20 mpg with the tall gears.
Well that gives me hope because I am in the process of building a new 460 engine with high compression aluminum heads and a very small roller cam with the proper advanced cam timing. Plus I plan to install an automatic trans with an overdrive. for use in a 77 Lincoln that gets about ten miles to the gallon now.
While the 55-57 and 61-63 are my favorite , I actually really like these. My aunt had one when they were new. I was a little guy so no idea which engine. But it was a pretty car
Always Loved This Body Style Bird, If I had a place to finish it I’ll be all over it.
If I’m not mistaken by law the storage facility has to sell or auction off abandoned units. For titles they slap a lien against it and then apply for the title. They have the unit owners contact info so maybe the original owner just signed over the paperwork for the overdue storage.
I think there is more here to getting this car on the road than meets the eye. Vacuum hoses disconnected or missing, heater hoses missing, either a non-AC car or those components missing, something going on with the distributor as it seems to be disconnected. That is just a quick glance at the engine bay photo. I imagine there are plenty more issues lurking. You would really have to love this car. To me it looks like you would be upside down in it even if you were to get it for free.
someone got fired from FOMOCO for the design of this year of t-bird (Delorean?) because it resembled a 1969 Pontiac…motor&C6 trans is da bomb..i would rather the 68-69
I looked quick and thought it was a 70 cyclone, bp back to normal.
Love the 70 Fastback Birds but this one, I’d part her out keep the 429 for my 69 Mustang Mach I clone/project. JMO
I had a 69 with a 429 in high school. Also a Landau, beautiful Viking blue metallic. Too complicated for a kid of 16, always chasing vacuum leaks for the headlights.
hi i have a 1970 ford thunderbird fast back white with blue interior fast back sport seats center console and no lie i got the car not running i am not a mechanic but do pest control in 5 years i learned myself to lower car down changed all suspension shock front back took out the 429 thunderjet found a 460 that was rebuilt years ago got engine took it all apart and then got all new parts new stall 2500 all billet and chrome parts new cam in 460 that was bored 30 over …installed it by myself at night pulled engine out old and put new in ..all the parts i found on craiglist ebay etc .got a new carpet that matched as old one was bad installed halo lights took out old round lights again i knew nothing about eletrical as i do pest control but i wanted so bad to make this car run and make it my own custom ride and guess what its running and when i pull up to a light or car show everybody has the same crap they look at me like what is that where who etc and i tell them i did it all myself i wanted this bad and having not alot of money did all the work myself got my toold from garage sales craigs rented tools from stores and was free as u use credit card but they return it when u return tools ..so yea to anybody out there that goes to shows walks around or sees a old car and wishes they had one but dont know or think u can daily drive well i am doing it everyday and i love the smiles i get from the cookie cutter older cars that everybody has i wanted to be different so yea anybody can do it just find the car keep lookng i got mine for 1500 no lie running and yea i put a few thousand but again i would get parts save then keep replacing old part and would seel them on ebay craiglist and that would fund more new parts then when i installed block i sold all the stuff i got on ebay fpr more than i paid for so i was smart about the little money i had for my old carby sellng the old stuff to fund new stuff so go out there and get the car u want and learn like i did
It’s my pleasure to announce that this T-Bird has a wonderful home and is back on the road. I acquired it for MUCH less than the asking price. They listed it at that price to throw off low-ball offers. The work that went into it was no joke. The original owner had taken apart much of the front end assembly and removed the alternator. The trunk had dozens of foam coffee cups full of hardware and various parts both new and original. The fuel tank was removed and an aftermarket one installed due to the holes and heavy rust on the inside of the tank. The Autolite carb needed a full rebuild kit and is still rather moody. The distributor was in rough shape, so I will rebuild that at a later date. I chose to go with a Pertronix billet distributor for now. As for the alternator, there was a new one in the trunk, so I hung that with a billet alternator bracket, due to no bracket or hardware being found in the aforementioned coffee cups in the trunk. I went with a one-wire conversion kit due to the condition of the wire bundle and the external regulator. I’m still having a host of electrical problems. Most of them being burned and shorting wires on the driver door power window and seat console. If anyone can help with advice or share pics of your 1970 Beak Bird, please contact me at ericsellsnwa@gmail.com. Thanks, and great article, by the way!
Eric Arndt