Vintage Thunderbird Club International

I'm the new owner of a basket case '55 and am working on my plan of attack for a restoration. I've been reading this forum and have learned quite a bit and I am all over the place with my plans. Stay original? Mild mods? Modern engine or keep the 292? Or go big.

One of the things I am considering is body swapping my 55 onto the unibody and drivetrain of a 94-04 mustang, which has a wheelbase that is almost exactly the same as the tbird. I have found a few videos of people doing similar things with a handful of other cars, but no thunderbirds.

Thoughts? Obviously a very major project and likely full of issues I haven't thought of yet, but it would definitely be unique. Thanks in advance.

That is an interesting concept. I have seen a few body on frame swaps but not a body to unibody chassis.

My initial thought is about how to determine if the unibody will be rigid enough to properly support the TBird convertible body. These cars are pretty flexible even on the X-frame.

Then you need to determine the dimensional compatibility of the 2.

It's been quite a while since I let my imagination run away with me; maybe it ran off and never returned. Anyway, I can't help but ask WHY?

There are aftermarket tubular frames for 55-57 Tbirds that will accommodate modern suspensions, steering, and pretty much any engine you might consider.

It is pretty common for owners of unibody Mustangs to add subframe connectors, find damaged/missing torque boxes, etc. On the other hand, you could have a four-link rear suspension/independent rear suspension and rack-and-pinion steering on a Tbird without having to discard the original frame.

If you do your research, you'll find cases in which Mustang and Camaro owners have put full frames under their unibody cars for racing to prevent literally tearing their cars apart.

I see quite a few of these attempts go on the block only part way through. While reasons are not given for the sale, I can only surmise they got too complicated and expensive to continue with almost no returns.