Jay Davidson's '59 Tbird

[YellowRose]

New member, Jay just sent me a pic of his white '59 Tbird engine bay. It looks like he has a 352 engine in it, and no AC, from what I can see. Jay said it is about 2/3'rds restored. The car looks to be in pretty good shape. He sent me some more pix to post for him. Here is what he sent me so far. Jay, you might check the Tbird Registry to see if your Tbird has been registered in it by a previous owner. John Rotella runs the website and is working on registering every remaining Tbird there is, crushed, parted out, or still in operation. Go to the registry at:

www.tbirdregistry.com

and enter your VIN # into the search engine. If it finds that VIN #, you can look at what the previous owner(s) had to say about it. If you do not find it listed, you can enter it into the registry by adding the VIN # and the Data Plate information. In fact, if you tell me what that information is in email, I can tell you what it left the factory looking like so many years ago.

[tbird430]

Looks great!! Keep the pics coming Jay!!

-Jon in TX.

[YellowRose]

Jay Davidson's '59 Tbird

Jay has pretty much completed the work on his '59 Squarebird. He got his bumper back today and is very pleased with the chrome job they did on it. Here is a picture of what it looks like before he started putting it back on.

[Dan Leavens]

Jay she is coming along quite nicely and the chrome application on the bumper will enhance the front. What is the exterior color Colonial White?

[YellowRose]

Jay Davidson's '59 Tbird

Jay sent me a bunch of pix tonight, after he and his wife got the front bumper back on last night. I think the exterior color is Colonial White, Dan. I think he pretty much now has the repairs completed. Here are the pix he sent me.

[Dan Leavens]

Jay she is real beauty and I am sure you are proud of how she turned out.

[FINSRIN]

Super duper build
Looks so pure in 1959ness appearance.
Can see it as sitting in a 1959 Ford dealer show room.
Also ideal for new movie set in 1959.

[YellowRose]

Jay Davidson's '59 Tbird

Jay sent me some more interior pix.

[YellowRose]

Jay Davidson's '59 Tbird

Jay sent me additional information and pix regarding his cars, as he gets ready for the car shows.

"Our BIG local show is July. I am ready. I should take first place in the THUNDERBIRD Class unless something gets trailored in. Rest assured you will get plenty of photos..............

I spent an hour playing with the tire pressure. Drive....add drive......subtract..... drive........add..........drive etc

The happy medium seems to be....... 27 front..........25 rear

Go below these numbers, and the car gets swirly..Go higher and it rides rough.

REMEMBER, these things were not designed for STEEL belted tires. They came with soft Nylon, Polyester or Rayon cord. Those you could pump up to 30+

But with the radials their seems to be no wiggle room. I found 27 and 25 to be just rite."

Here are some pix.

[scumdog]

Jay sent me some more interior pix.

Pic 5 - that edge needs something done about it, sorry to rain on your parade but it stands out like a pit-bulls bollocks on an otherwise really nice car.

[Restifier52]

I've spent time cleaning up edges in areas that will rarely if ever be seen. I'm sure it's on the list.

[Dan Leavens]

Jay she is a real beauty and like the interior color combo. Good luck at the show

[jopizz]

I like your Impala convertible too. It's rare to see one in nice condition.

John

[Dan Leavens]

John I agree it is rare. I especially like that Jay's garage is split with signage on the wals. One side Chevrolet sign and then the othe Ford sign

[YellowRose]

Jay Davidson's '59 Tbird

Jay Davidson has finally got his '59 Tbird up to par and ready to let it strut its stuff. Here is some of what he had to say today.

In the 27 months I have owned the 59 Tbird I only ran it around town and did not feel it was ready to get up on the Interstate. Well I felt toniite was the nite. I planned to go one exit, as I did not know what to expect. I entered the hiway and slowly accellerated up to 60 for the 3 mile trip.

You cannot believe the ride on the highway in this thing! Steady like a rock and I was amazed. The highway ride at 60 was smooth, no shakes, or shimmy out of the tires. This thing rides better than the 2 Retractables I owned. I was very pleasantly surprised. That Wixom plant produced great cars. The engine did not whine, the trans was smooth and the rear end was quiet, driveshaft no vibration.

It also drives better on the highway than my '66 Flairbird that I owned 10 years ago. It was all over the road and I did a lot to try to fix that, but ended up selling it.

I also think that the idler arm kit I put on my '59 is the best $ you can spend because it keeps the linkage tight and the car on track.

I also have to give credit to Diamond Back Classic Tire. They told me their radial WWW Tire was made bY TOYO and it rode like a TOYO.