What do you think of this 'Bird? Too much?

[JamesR]

Well, yes...of course it's too much and too over the top, but does anyone else see the value in it? I usually hate seeing old cars modified to this extent, but think it's safe to say that the first dozen years or more of the Thunderbird could be characterized as an era that captured America's imagination. The "bird" part of the Thunderbird name was used to conjure up images of jet planes and rocket ships, as seen in the many of the interior and dash appointments. This car just takes that idea and runs with it as far as it can. From some angles it's pretty striking, from a few other angles, maybe not so much. It's my personal opinion, however, that most little boys back in 1962 who loved the production Ford Thunderbird would've loved this space age inspired car even more. I would've!

https://www.whichcar.com.au/features/19 ... underflite

[RedBird64]

I guess I kinda feel bad that what could have been a nice old car has been forever stricken to being an ornament created to one persons idea of art.

Scott

[JamesR]

Well, I agree with your sentiment a lot, too. I can only hope that they used a severely rusted T-Bird...or maybe just a collection of parts, to construct this heavily customized machine. Thanks for your comment.

[saenzm]

I appreciate the work it takes to build this; but I find it very unimaginative. Wow, another bullet bird has been converted into a bubble top space ship *YAWN*. To me, it's dated and lazy.

[Alan H. Tast]

Is this the car that was built for the series "Full Custom Garage"? If it is, then I'm keeping my opinion to myself as I've never really been a fan of TV "reality" series builds.

[JamesR]

Is this the car that was built for the series "Full Custom Garage"? If it is, then I'm keeping my opinion to myself as I've never really been a fan of TV "reality" series builds.

I honestly don't know if it was built for a TV show. I don't like those shows, either. TV has a way of ruining nice things. From what the article said, I think the idea the builder had was to come up with something that looked like concept car that Ford might come up with in the late '50's or early '60's, along the lines of Harley Earl's rocketship styled concept cars. As outrageous as it is, I do think it looks more like an industry concept car than an Ed Roth or radical California custom project.

[Wklink]

Personally?

Interesting but worthless for anything outside of an air conditioned indoor car show. I certainly wouldn't want to drive it in the summer time. No windows, bubble top and no A/C means a miserable drive no matter the temp when the sun is out. It would be like driving an EZ Bake Oven.

They put a 302 in it. I like the old 302 Windsor, great engine but I am willing to bet all that extra fiberglass and sheetmetal added to make the mod put a few hundred more pounds on the old gal and getting that thing moving with less HP and torque probably means it is something of a dog on the road. I'll give him some credit, at least he didn't put a 350 or do an LS swap.

I have nothing against a good custom, and this looks like a well made jetsonmobile to me. It looks like something you would see in the late 60s, something inspired by George Barris. Like most of his customs they were interesting and sometimes amazing but woefully impractical for anything except for shows. Again, nothing wrong with that.

As a piece of art; very nicely done. As a vehicle for transportation; totally impractical.

[JamesR]

I like the old 302 Windsor, great engine but I am willing to bet all that extra fiberglass and sheet metal added to make the mod put a few hundred more pounds on the old gal and getting that thing moving with less HP and torque probably means it is something of a dog on the road.

I agree...strange engine choice for that car. That kind of makes me lean towards the theory that this vehicle started out as a basic unibody (probably wrecked or salvaged) and a collection of parts...and the non-visual components - like the drive train - were selected because of availability or price rather than optimum application. Like you said, not a car for driving, and that side of it makes it unappealing to me. Purely visual.