For $25, this 1963 Thunderbird was a great starter car
Everyone remembers their first car. This was mine.
In the 1970s, I was mostly a motorcycle guy, but in 1975, a friend told me he’d found a car I needed to buy. “C’mon,” he said. “Let’s go see it.” On an L.A. side street, neglected beside a stucco house, sat a toothy-grilled ’63 Thunderbird Landau. Last of the “Bullet Birds,” it wore a textured vinyl roof bearing elegant “landau bars” (recalling ancient carriage hinges) on the rear pillars, and inside featured simulated walnut interior trim. Intended for 1960s social climbers, the Ford cost $4548 when new.
A middle-aged man answered the doorbell, and my friend demonstrated how to buy old cars for cheap. “Hello, we’re students,” he said respectfully. “It looks like your Thunderbird has been sitting for a while. We were wondering if it might be for sale.”
“What do those boys want?” a woman’s voice called from elsewhere in the house.
“They want to buy the Thunderbird,” the man said to her over his shoulder.
“Give them the car, Harold,” commanded the woman.
Just like in The Devil Went Down to Georgia, Harold knew that he’d been beat. All that remained was the price. “I just put in a new battery,” he protested, weakly. “It cost $25, so if you’ll give me that you can have the car.” I had $25. He had the pink slip. We traded paper, I walked over to the Thunderbird, climbed in, fired it up with some effort, and drove away. Shockingly, this magnificent, 4354-pound luxury hardtop that Ford advertising had called “a bold thrust into tomorrow,” had depreciated to nothing in just 12 years.
Harold swore the T-Bird had had gone only 25,000 miles, but it ran on seven cylinders and the tailpipes were sooty, making 125,000 miles far more plausible. And that once-elegant vinyl roof? Ripped to smithereens. The Heritage Burgundy paint and chrome were dull as well.
No matter, though. We dove into polishing the brightwork and muscling rubbing compound and Turtle Wax into the paint. After fitting new ignition parts and setting the timing, it ran better.
Installing a new vinyl top, purchased along with a quart of contact cement, was harder. The demanding and exacting process ideally required two people, but I somehow managed it alone on a nearby vacant lot, finishing the T-Bird off beautifully.
Later, as I squired to junior college in my first car, I felt proud, successful even, and on the way up. Ford got the Thunderbird Landau right—even the $25 ones.
How cheap was your first car?
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My first was a ’59 Plymouth Savoy two door sedan. It was the most basic model they made, not even a radio. It had been a “mill car,” used only to commute to one of the local steel mills, where it sat daily in an open parking lot and accumulated lots of acidic dust, which gave what remained of its green paint the texture of 60-grit sandpaper. The rear windows had never been rolled down. I paid too much ($295) at a Dodge dealership but it was good enough for getting to my summer job. Even the tire that gave up in the first week, and the oil soaking the rear brakes from a bad seal did not much dampen my delight. Learning to drive a stick shift and slip the clutch without stalling at hilly stop signs were part of the experience. My mother didn’t much like the car — the sound of its 230 cu in flathead six was the same as that made by her father’s ’36 Plymouth (in which he’d died several years earlier). I sold it the next spring for $50 after I scraped off the passenger door handle getting it out of a narrow garage. Time to move on!
1960 VW Beetle for $35-no rust, no compression-thanks to a generous friend of my parents. Rebuilt the engine and after investing about $300 and untold hours, sold it for $450. It’s not as easy as it looks to make money with old cars. But I did learn a lot. Wish I had it now.
1968 Red VW Beetle for $800. That was in 1975.
In 1971 I bought my first car for $20, a 1963 Tempest from some good people across the street from friends. It had been sitting awhile, I was told it had a bad clutch which turned out to be a cracked bell housing. It was about as basic as could be, 4 cylinders, 3 on the floor with a non-syncro 1st gear, hand choke, no backup lights or even an oil filter. It had an AM radio and heater. The leaky windshield rusted out the floor so I replaced that and painted it while the glass was out. Also rebuilt the engine, added ac and other upgrades. I learned many skills with that car from senior HS year through college and traveled from Illinois to Texas, Wisconsin, and West Virginia. Kept it for 9 years but parts became difficult to find in those pre-internet days. I sold it to someone that wanted to build a race car but he decided it was too nice for that fate so he sold it.
My first car was a ’59 Chevy given to me by my older brother in 1969 when I got my drivers license. But what I really wanted was a ’57 Chevy and a year later my dad found a nice low mileage Bel Air that a friend from work was selling for $400. The ’59 was sold for $200 and the under dash Sears air conditioner in the ’57 brought $150, so my ‘tri-five’ wound up costing all of $50. The amount of fun I had with that car over the next decade or so is priceless.
My first car was a faded green 1953 Ford 2-door Ford Ranch Wagon with all the bumps, rust, thumps and bangs one could imagine. But it had new “Mercury motor” and it ran smooth and quiet. I worked for it–My landlord in college had me paint all the white trim on a Craftsman style rooming house. Several weeks of climbing up the trim, ripping off rain gutters, etc.
My Dad bought me my first car in 1968, a 1955 Chevy with a 265 and three on the tree. Over the next three years the only mechanical thing on that car that I didn’t replace was the glove box hinges and the right rear window regulator. The 265 mysteriously “blew up” and I replaced it with a 283. When the column shifter “locked up” I couldn’t get it adjusted right so had to get a Hurst Mystery shifter. When I look back I realize I wasn’t fooling my Dad at all, he was just letting me get some experience.
Mine was a navy blue ’63 Corvair Monza convertible, white top, 4-speed, Muntz 4-track tape player I bought for $250 in 1968. It had 75k miles on it and ran well, though the brakes weren’t great. When it rained, water came in through the passenger floorboard. I replaced the stock 1-bbl carbs with a JC Whitney ram induction manifold, topped by a 4-bbl carb, to improve performance, but this setup degraded performance. Reverted to stock setup soon after, never ordered from JC Whitney again. After a summer’s fun, sold it for $350 and drove my Dad’s ’67 Mustang for the next 12 years.
1960. I was 16. Bought a ’48 Crosley wagon (CIBA engine, mechanical brakes) from a coworker of my dad for $10.00. Went to Sears to get tires for it (4.50×12 trailer tires), got it running and alley-driving. Dad wouldn’t let me register it until I could afford insurance.
Turned 17, quit school, joined the Navy, came back on leave after boot camp, it was gone, Dad sold it to get another parking space in the yard. He also had sold the ’50 Pontiac derelict he had given me when I was 12 (got it running but never driving).
In the summer of 1979 I bought my first car — a 1961 Rambler American four door wagon — for $100. I’d been driving the 72 Pontiac Catalina wagon (clamshell tailgate, 400/2V… couldn’t get anything bigger!) that dad kept for us kids instead of trading in. That thing drank gas, and we lived out in the country. I couldn’t afford to go on a real date (movie and Pizza Hut) unless one of my friend’s without a car wanted to double date, and he paid for half the gas! That little Rambler wagon looked a whole lot better! It belonged to a furniture company that had used it as a TV service vehicle from about 63-74. Had over 100K miles on it and the trans was jammed in gear (T-96 three speed column shift). The store owner was a friend’s grandfather, and he suggested I ask gramps about it. I did, and he said it needed to go, been in the parking lot for five years.. if you can get it running you can have it for $100. To cut it short, I got it running. Front seats were shot, got buckets from a junkyard (that also fully reclined.. old Fiat buckets). Front end was worn out, but I could keep it on the road! I bought a parts car, a 62 American two door sedan, from a local tow company since it had a rod through the block and no one came to claim it. Intended to rebuild my 61 flat-head six and put the 62 front end under it, but the 62 drove better being flat towed (only about 10 miles…) than mine did under power. I contacted the DMV and six weeks later they gave me a “provisional” title to the two door, so it got my rebuilt engine instead. They told me I was good unless someone came up with the original title, and there was little chance of that.
My first was a 66’ 2dr Impala, 40K one owner original miles. 275 HP- 327 w/a power glide got it more $1500.
Loved it, had many other cars over the years, but that one always made me smile.
First car I bought on my own was a 1988 Ford LTD Crown Vic for $300 from a friend’s dad. Was from down south and a clean car. That was in ‘06 or ‘07. Had a lot of great memories in high school with it. Have loved full size Fords (and other makes) since I was a little kid and it was like a dream come true.
Now after many other vehicles; some great, some not-so great, I currently have another dream car of mine. A ‘63 Galaxie box top.
My first car was a 1963 Impala SS with a 327 4 speed and a blown clutch. paid $50 off a friend and then spent a whole week replacing my first clutch. Wish I still had it
First car was a 57 Buick special I bought from my brother-in-law for $150. I thought it was a tank, now they don’t seem so big. Drove it for a year and traded it in on a 1963 Pontiac Lemans coupe, 4 cyl, 3 speed a real nice cruiser with great lines.
A bag of weed ( going rate $20 in 1972) for a 1959 Rambler with fold back seats & I think a 427? Had FUN until the front right trunnion gave out.