1961 Ford Thunderbird

Convertible Convertible

Automatic

1Y73Z125032

Clear

Gasoline

1961 Ford Thunderbird Convertible Low Reserve Auction! We are regrettably offering my favorite car ever due to an upcoming move. It's my 61 Ford T-Bird convertible. I drive it every day to work and to run errands. She runs great and the retractable-style soft top works well. The car is a driver, not a perfect show queen. She's a real beauty and we'll miss her. We bought her about a year ago and have driven her with no problems since. The previous owner had taken extra good care of her and had a lot of restoration work done. She had a new top installed including all new hydraulics and electronics. Additionally she had new vinyl upholstery and carpet added to the interior. She also purchased a factory-styled am/fm cassette player and unfortunately cut modern speaker holes into the lower portion of the door panels. While they sound good, they detract from the originality of the car a bit (an easy fix). The dash appears to be an original with touch up work done at some point. I’m sure the body has had some repairs over time, but looks good overall. I wouldn’t consider it to be show condition or perfectly restored. But she still garners massive amounts of attention wherever we go. There is a small scrape in the paint on the driver’s side rear quarter panel below the four chrome spears, but it is under the curved body line and goes unnoticed by most. There are also a few touched up rock chips. I will include a photo of the scraped area. The stainless is in fair shape while the chrome has recently been redone. Most of the emblems and mirrors have been purchased new. The underside of the car looks nice with recent undercoating and new exhaust. Mechanically the car has never given us problems. As mentioned, I have driven the car daily. We haven’t taken her on a lengthy road trip, but she has proven to be dependable around Phoenix. She’s a great cruiser at 80 on the freeway. The carburetor appears to have been rebuilt recently. That’s all I really know about the drive train. We’ve changed fluids and driven her. She doesn’t use oil, but does drip some fluids on the ground. That’s not to say she wouldn’t benefit from a tune up and brakes. The whitewall tires are fair and usable. As mentioned, we are sad to see her go, but hope that her new owner will enjoy her as much as we do. I have a friend that can deliver the car as far as west Arkansas for $500 immediately following the auctions end. He also may be able to take her further for additional cost. I can also assist in worldwide shipping by delivering the car to the port in Long Beach, CA for a $250 additional fee. Please email your telephone number and a good hour to call for fastest response. The Thunderbird had the personal luxury market all to itself in 1961. The stylists had come up with an incredibly clean and distinctive design for the Thunderbird, a design which was sleek, smooth, and cylindrical. Shaped like a rocket ship, it looked like something The Jetsons would drive, had they been created at this time. (Original show aired from September 23, 1962 until March 3, 1963 - just 24 episodes!) Up front, the hood and bumper met each other at a point, with the chrome bumper bar sitting quite high off the ground. A massive chrome bumper guard ran below the bumper, which was inset with horizontal grille bars and a single vertical bar at center. Stainless trim ran atop the fenders, doors, and quarter panels and terminated at a small angled tail fin in back. In an ingenious move, the stainless trim itself became the door handle on the doors, further contributing to the uncluttered 1961 appearance. Below the tail fin, two large red tail lamps looked like jet after burners. The tail lamps were surrounded by chrome pods that had small fins on their lower extremities as well. Restorers today call them rear bumper "Qs" due to their shape. Everything on the car was very fluid, rounded, and smooth. There wasn’t one bit of unnecessary body sculpturing to be found anywhere. The design was a sensation, and everyone knew instantly what it was, despite its very changed appearance from the previous series. A new Thunderbird emblem featured a jeweled turquoise insert, and was featured prominently on the hood just above the bumper bar, on the roof side panels on Hardtop models, and on the deck lid. Full wheel covers were new to the list of standard items for 1961, and had a very elegant design. A series of four chrome spears were mounted horizontally on the rear quarter panels, these being the only additional decoration added to the car by the designers. Inside, a completely new interior greeted delighted Thunderbird passengers. Both the front seat passenger and driver found themselves cradled in cocoons that literally wrapped around them. The color-keyed padded instrument panel was molded to emphasize the two separate seating areas, and ribbed aluminum trim flowed down the center console and wrapped its way across the instrument panel and onto the door panels where it swept backwards before terminating on the rear quarter panel just in front of the rear seat back. The anodized aluminum panels were tinted to coordinate with the interior color, and were available in several shades. Interiors were upholstered in all crinkle grain vinyl, crinkle grain vinyl with nylon bedford cord inserts, or genuine leather. Front bucket seats returned for front passengers, and while the back seat could accommodate three passengers when necessary, the design was clearly intended for just two. "Thunderbird Country is a place where everything is magic. The horizons are closer, the roads are straighter and the distance between two points is enchantment. It happens this way only in a 1961 Thunderbird." One television ad spoke of something new, and featured a Thunderbird Hardtop and a Convertible with their attractive young owners out enjoying a Fall day. The Hardtop kicks up fallen leaves as it flies down a country road. The narrator encourages the viewer to visit their Ford Dealer. The ads were all very high society, but that was the target market, and how enticing would an ad be that showed the car being loaded with sacks of groceries at the market? Or picking up the dry cleaning? The T-bird was associated with a young, well to do crowd, even though many of its owners were more middle aged, and lived a more mundane life. All of the ads were effective at getting their message across, and that message was that your life would be so much better if you owned a new Thunderbird. And even if you didn’t take sunset walks on the beach, or attend fancy dress balls, you could if you wanted to, because you were a Thunderbird owner. The new Thunderbird was front and center for two of the nation’s biggest events in 1961. The Orange Ball and Inaugural Parade festivities of President John F. Kennedy utilized 50 1961 Thunderbird Convertibles. Most were painted in a dark brown metallic called "Presidential Mahogany," (paint code Y), which was a Lincoln color that wasn't listed as available for the Thunderbird. White convertible tops and Pearl Beige Metallic Vinyl (code 54) interiors completed the package. Cars built for this special order can be identified by their ROT sheets, which are often found tucked in the springs under or behind a seat, under the carpeting, etc. The cars were delivered to Region District 26 (Washington), with a scheduled build date of "30M", and would have the designation "ORANGE BALL INAUGURAL PARADE" printed on the bottom section. There are reports of one car painted Honey Beige as well as another painted Corinthian White, but it's not clear if these were part of the 50 built for the event, or if they were last minute replacements. The other big event was the running of the 1961 Indianapolis 500 Race, in which a 1961 Thunderbird Convertible was honored as the Official Pace Car of the May 30, 1961 race, and a total of 34 Thunderbird Convertibles (including the Pace Car) were built to serve as official cars of the Golden (50th) Anniversary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Built under PAO (pre-approved order) 8479, the space for the paint code on the door VIN tag was left blank in recognition of the special gold metallic paint finish (code J 56949) used on all the cars. The Official Pace Car was the only one with a Pearl Beige Leather interior (trim code 84), the rest had Black Leather (trim code 86). For more details, visit the 1961 Ford Thunderbird Indianapolis 500 Pace Car page. Popular television shows of the time would make the 1961 Thunderbird a star in America’s living rooms each week. 77 Sunset Strip (Aired Friday nights on ABC from 1958-1964, starring Roger Smith, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., and Edd Byrnes) would feature a 1961 Thunderbird Convertible on many of its episodes that year. At the time, this show was the coolest of the cool, "It’s really the ginchiest" as Kookie (Edd Byrnes’ character) would say. The cool Corinthian White Convertible with Light Beige vinyl interior was often seen in the parking lot of Dino’s Lodge, which was a real restaurant that was owned by Dean Martin at the time, hence the name, Dino’s. It was located at 8524 Sunset Boulevard near Alta Loma, in Los Angeles. Here, for 1961, is the most dramatically beautiful new line since Thunderbird last started a trend. Even at rest it looks like adventure - but when it begins to move, it is elegance come alive - a sports car in spirit, a luxury car in action. The distinction of this unique 4-passenger automobile is based on a number of remarkable engineering advances. The new optional Swing-Away Steering Wheel glides out of your way for easier, more graceful entrances and exits-yet locks safely in place before you can drive. Doors are wider, windshield projections have been eliminated. All horizons come closer with the new high-performance Thunderbird 390 Special V-8. And three power assists - all standard equipment - double your pleasure in getting there. New Cruise-O-Matic Drive introduces you to the silk-on-silk smoothness of vacuum-controlled shifting. New Power Steering reduces steering effort by 65%. New Power Brakes are larger, more positive - and adjust themselves automatically. And, with the Thunderbird’s familiar trim dimensions on an even wider tread, you can corner flatter, maintain a sports-car grip on the most wildly twisting roads. Add durability features like three-phase rust-prevention treatment of the body and triple-life aluminized mufflers, and you realize why Thunderbird has the finest resale record of any luxury car. The 1961 Thunderbird should be a most bankable item. We think you’ll agree the temptation to Thunderbird is now more irresistible than ever. On Jun-14-10 at 16:19:49 PDT, seller added the following information:I tried to capture a photo of the ID tag for a few of you and it did not want to take. So, here's the info from the tag: Serial: ly73z125032 Body: 76a Color: M Trim: 84 Date: 31a Trans: 4 Axle: 6 Hope that helps. Please contact me with any questions.