1959 Thunderbird with overdrive

[Alexander]

We have a new member with an interesting and rare Squarebird. It is a 1959 with the rare 3-speed manual transmission with overdrive. Less than 1 percent of 1958-1960 Thunderbirds were ordered with this. No wonder it was dropped for the 1961 model year.

Pictures of this car and the transmission setup can be found here:

http://www.squarebirds.org/users/peaveyt40/

Thanks Michel for joining Squarebirds.org.

Alexander
1959 Hardtop
1960 Golde Top

[Guest]

RE: 1959 Thunderbird with overdrive

Thank you Alexander for all of your assistance. It is indeed an honor to be part of squarebirds.org.

[maddmax]

59' Square bird

I just joined this web site, and just bought a 1959 Square bird with a 3 on the tree with overdrive. I love this car!
I just wish I was able to drive this beauty off the show room floor!

[jopizz]

Congrats. A manual Squarebird is a rare piece. Make sure you go to the Thunderbird Registry and if it's not already registered add it.

John

[maddmax]

59' t-bird w/od

I recently bought a 59' w/od. Except I just found out I have a bad solenoid. I was wondering instead of dropping $300 to $500 for a new one is there a way I can just by pass the solenoid and keep it in overdrive full time. I really don't need such low gears since I'm not towing a airstream trailer or anything at all?
Thanks,
Phil

[jopizz]

Are you sure it's the solenoid and not the relay or kick down switch. They're usually more prone to failure than the solenoid.

John

[simplyconnected]

Overdrive is probably the most misunderstood option. It is not for hauling. If it is not on, your final drive is 1:1, like any other transmission, including automatics.

The benefit of overdrive is for interstate high speed driving, let's say above 50-mph.

If you allow your engine to 'lag' from running with rpms too low, your bearings will wear out. This happened to my father's '54 Ford station wagon (Customline Country Sedan). It had a Mileage Maker six with overdrive. This was big stuff back then.

There were seven of us, with my 17-yr old brother doing most of the driving. Dad navigated. We hauled a small trailer (to hold the tent and camping gear) and a car-top carrier (luggage carrier) from Detroit to Los Angeles & back. By the time we got back to Detroit, the 30,000 mile engine was losing oil badly.

Once all the bearings were replaced, the engine was fine.

The lesson learned was, only use O/D when cruising at high speed and on flat land. That overdrive governor is your friend, to pull the engine OUT of overdrive. - Dave