About a week ago I wrote an article about a 1961 Thunderbird. Barn Finds reader Ian C has sent us through another one to look at, and I have to thank him for it. Located in Charlottesville, Virginia, this T-bird is for sale here on Craigslist with a clean title. With an asking price of $4,000 this could be a fantastic project for someone.

This car is not perfect, but it isn’t bad either. The current owner bought it as his project car. It was resprayed a number of years ago and he commenced work on some of the more fiddly bits. Then a voracious house consuming his money coupled with health issues caused the project to grind to a halt. Looking at the first 2 photos give you cause to be optimistic that this is a solid car. The seller makes no mention of rust or corrosion issues. I am guessing that the car has only been given a basic wash since emerging into the daylight. It would be interesting to see what a good polish would achieve.

The interior is going to need some work, but there is certainly some potential there. I don’t think that this color is the most striking, but maybe I’m just being fussy (in reality I could live with it). This one features the swing-away wheel and unlike the last one at least the dash doesn’t appear to be cracked on this one. There are a few parts missing in here but given the list of parts that come with the car, I think that there is a fair chance that they may be there. The owner has the factory radio but it isn’t fitted at present. Sadly, this is another Thunderbird without air con.

The rear seat upholstery looks fairly sound and would benefit from a good clean. The front seats have covers on them, so I can’t be sure what’s going on there. However, this may not be an issue as you will discover further down the page. The driver’s seat is a power seat which is a nice little option. Unfortunately, this is an ad with no engine photos, so I am relying on the text from the ad. This T-bird has had the automatic transmission rebuilt, new brakes and the front end has been rebuilt. The car also has a new power booster for the brakes, but the brakes will need bleeding. It seems that whatever health issues are afflicting the owner, they are impacting him quite markedly. The car also features power steering. The biggest worry is that the 390ci engine hasn’t been run for 7 years, so we don’t know its condition.

The owner also has a pile of miscellaneous parts that will be going with the car. Some are new while some are second hand. These include new interior pieces (headliner, driver’s seat foam, front and rear seat covers, door panels), inside and outside mirrors, fender skirts and seals, choke heat riser and choke, mufflers and “H”-pipe. Used pieces include a taillight, heater controls, and fender skirts. Also included are a wiring manual, shop manual, and several supplier catalogs.

As you can see from this photo the car looked an absolute picture following its respray. Given that this was done some time ago and the car still looks pretty good I think that it’s fairly safe to say that it was probably a quality job. With the work that has been done and the parts that will come with this one, I think that this has the potential to become a very nice weekend cruiser. Could it be yours?