Despite their futuristic appearance, the third-generation Thunderbirds (1961-63) weren’t the big sellers that Ford was hoping for. So, the personal luxury cars were designed for 1964 and the public responded favorably by purchasing 50% more automobiles than the year before. This ’64 Thunderbird is a restoration project that may be down to just new paint to be completed. Located in Dallas, Oregon, the drivetrain, and interior have already been refreshed. The Ford is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $6,500.
The Thunderbird (aka T-Bird) was one of Ford’s longest-running nameplates from 1955-97 and again from 2002-05 for a total of 47 years. This involved 11 generations of production and morphing from one body style to another along the way. The rework of the car in 1964 moved to a more squared-off appearance, which was most noticeable when viewing the car from the side or rear. Three versions were offered with the hardtop accounting for 60,552 of 92,465 units to roll off the assembly line.
This ’64 Thunderbird is getting close to being finished in terms of a restoration. The 390 cubic inch V8 and automatic transmission have recently been rebuilt with a lot of supporting hardware also being replaced, like the complete fuel delivery system, exhaust, and other mechanical odds-and-ends. The interior has all-new components, and the vinyl top has also been redone.
The Ford looks nearly ready for new paint. We’re told that whatever rust was there has been repaired or removed and epoxy has been applied to the undercarriage (it looks like new underneath). The trunk pan is new and perhaps fixing a few little dings may be all that remains. If you were looking for one of these cruisers, the seller may have already done most of the heavy lifting. At 32,000 miles, this T-Bird was either minimally used over the years or the odometer has turned over. The title is clean, but the car hasn’t been registered in years, so it will have to be towed to its next home.
Almost looks like the Florentene Green color.
Had a neighbor with one in that color.It was,um,unusual.
I always thought these were classy looking cars.
I was prepared to be disappointed, but after clicking through the pics, it indeed looks like paint may be the only big thing left to do. Take a look at that interior — it looks great. And of course, for me that’s the most alluring part of this generation of Birds. Yes the paint won’t be cheap and these cars aren’t worth all that much even in excellent shape, but I can think of worse things to do than cruising in a restored soft yellow ’64 T-Bird.
Yup, love that interior.
I liked these cars, but my friends mom took us everywhere in her white/blue 63 so thats the Generation I really love..
I think that’s the most “mid-century modern” interior I’ve ever seen in a car.
$6,500 for this or $11,000 for that Firebird disaster? No contest. Nice find.
I just thought of something, Russ. How did the Big-3 know how many units of any particular car they were likely to sell, and if a car flopped, what did they do with the leftover parts?
Example: In 1963, Buick brought out the Riviera, but only produced 40,000 units of the car for each of the the 63,64,65 model years. It would seem that GM knew that 40K would be the sweet spot for them and this model, and certainly the formula worked. Same goes for this 64 Bird at 90K+ units…somehow Ford knew that in 64, 90K units would work, so their suppliers produced enough seats, window motors, tires, brakes etc. etc. to supply 90K units. But how did the big three predict these numbers, and what are the examples when they got it wrong? If there were, for example, say 1000 discontinued color carpet sets for a 64 model, did they just throw those carpet set in the trash?
I have more questions than answers…..
Maybe they followed Rambler’s lead and built a car around the parts they had leftover-i.e. Pacer
Car sold @ $6,500.00
Someone got a helluva deal! Worth every dollar for its condition. This one can be a daily driver while working on the body and paint.
All that time and money in it and still running suicide factory single master cylinder?.. Modern brakes are more then worth it safety wise
In my experience it doesn’t matter if you have a dual master cylinder or not. Once a brake line fails you have virtually no brakes at all. Hard line failed on a 1996 S10 and a 2001 Silverado, no brakes at all from those dual masters. The more important safety item for the T bird is the condition of the brake lines.
1977 we lost the front brakes in my 70 malibu driving across I-93 north in NH, still had rear brakes, better then nothing tg it had a clutch, white knuckle driving for sure
And if memory serves me, the front discs didn’t come along until 1965.
Dave, I had the same thing happen to my 1974 Mercury in 1984. I was backing out of my father’s driveway and the pedal went to the floor. Scared the cr*p out of me. Everytime I stepped on the brake, brake fluid would squirter out onto the ground just beneath the drivers door.
I had to drive home like that using the transmission as a brake.
Angel – same thing happened to me on a 1999 F150; obviously dual master cylinder, but a shared fluid reservoir. Line to the rear rusted out and shortly after I lost all brakes. Drove home using the transmission and parking brake. BTW, those T-Birds have a crossover of the fuel line and rear brake line just in front of the left rear wheel with a protective plate over the lines. Great crud trap; I had a fuel leak (as a warning) before the rusting brake line failed.
Okay so it’s my turn. Had a nephew by marriage who loved the looks of these cars so the first car he bought was a 64 Thunderbird, after that all he did was complain about the fuel usage. Seems it only got about 8 miles to he gallon city driving.
I had a 65 convertible and got about 12 city and 17 highway, but I was an early “tuner” and was running a recurved distributor and a tweaked Holley R-1850 carb.
I don’t fully understand the dual brake line problems noted here. I had a brake line go out on my 1993 F150 and was able to stop and then drive home with the brakes working well enough. Pedal went almost to the floor, but still was effective. The master cylinder did have two chambers. Otherwise, two lines don’t make any sense. Perhaps, Angel, you didn’t realize you had brakes if you pushed the pedal almost to the floor?
No, Kenn, every time I stepped on them, right to the floor. You could see and hear the brake fluid shooting out of the brake line. It was all rusted and corroded.
The worse thing? My father actually let me drive home like that, over 10 miles. He’s a friggin’ mechanic. He could have fixed it right then and there. A$$hole
I bought a 1964 T bird last year. I love it, they dont make them like that anymore, great motors, beautiful body lines, interiors are so sweet. Sure they wont increase in value like some vintage cars, but I think they are one of a kind.
Hey Joseph Bartolotta, nice to see a comment like yours, but you’re probably on the wrong site. Most folks here are the dreaded “flippers”, though they will strongly deny it. I say that having read the constant comments, when a car is priced too high, that the buyer will be underwater when all is and done. “Too expensive”. “Will never get their money out of it.” “I’ll drink what they are drinking”. etc. Many here have multiple collector/vintage cars but don’t seem to drive them much beyond trips to cars and coffee. Maybe to car shows locally to see where prices on them have risen.