Welcome, alnukem !!

[jopizz]

Welcome to Squarebirds, alnukem! Tim hales from Pennsylvania and does not own a Tbird but may be looking to buy a Squarebird. If you let us know what year, model, color, etc., we may be able to help you find one. If you do find one, look at the Technical Resource Library (TRL) on this Forum. Down at the bottom of it next to last, you will find the Vehicle Check List that members created to help someone who is looking to buy a Tbird. The link to it is always part of my signature element. Print it out and go over it. Take it with you, if you wish, or at least learn what to look for when inspecting one of these old Birds as a prospective buyer. The check list can help you select or reject the car you are looking at. It might save you a lot of money and headaches down the road or confirm that you think the car is worth buying. I would recommend that you save my phone number should you ever need to contact me. Should you have any problems navigating our Forum, please contact me, Ray Clark ~ YellowRose, or Dave Dare ~ simplyconnected, our webmaster. His phone number is 248-544-8834. Enjoy The Journey!

[Guest]

Thanks for having me! I am from Western Pa/Eastern Ohio, In between Pittsburgh & Youngstown. I have mostly Corvettes, C3's, C4 ZR-1's & some C5's. I also have a 67 Cougar XR7 I've been straightening out.
I am kinda looking for a Older, Cool Looking Car with Big Block type Power. These 58-60 T'Birds look pretty interesting. The points I see about them are the Unique Styling, FE engine under the hood & not so heavy.....and they seem to be in my price range. After that, I don't know squat about them, I haven't even seen one in person that I can remember.
If anyone somewhat local to me is going to be showing their car or just wants to show me their car, please let me know, I know this is a unusual request. I really don't want to go to a guy selling a car under the guise of being interested, when I am just trying to understand if one of these is for me. Please feel free to PM me.
Thanks again for having me! Tim

[YellowRose]

Welcome, alnukem !!

Hi Tim, I just searched our System for someone who owns a Squarebird in Pittsburgh, but did not find anyone. If there is someone in the Rochester/Pittsburgh area who owns a Squarebird and is willing show theirs to Tim, please post. The other thing I could suggest is to google pix of the 1958-1960 Squarebird and look at the many pix you should find to see if you like the body style or not. If you do, I would suggest the '59 or the '60, with a 352ci engine. Not the 430 MEL, because parts for that engine are not as easy to come by and can often be more expensive. Another suggestion is to see if you can find some car shows to go to. Someone there might have a Squarebird they are showing that you could look over. Here is a link that you might want to look at to see if the Squarebird is the car that grabs your attention. Take a look at the various years and see which style grabs your attention.

http://automotivemileposts.com/contentstbird.html

[Guest]

Thank you very much. I am a "Hard Top" type of guy, I am bald & really prefer the simplicity of the Coupe. I have looked at Photos online....but, it's hard to get a feel until you're there.

[YellowRose]

Welcome, alnukem !!

Hi Tim, I have put my nose to the ground, being the "Bloodhound" that I am when it comes to sniffing out Tbirds. I have found a couple of leads for you. There is a fully restored '58 Squarebird in Monroeville, PA you could possibly drive to see, that is for sale for $100,000! Not that you want to buy it, but you could tell the seller, a car company, I think, that you want to look it over. Here is a link to that.

1958 fully restored Squarebird, Monroeville, PA

http://classiccars.com/listings/view...sylvania-15146

Or consider this. Here is a better idea. I checked with the Pittsburgh CTCI (Classic Thunderbird Club, International) Club in Pittsburgh, PA. Luckily, I was able to contact a couple of club members, one who told me this. They have several '59 & '60 Squarebirds in their club, and they should be at the huge Classic car event in Pittsburgh on July 16-17th with their Squarebirds. It is the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. If I were you I would attend that on Saturday. Here is some contact info for you. Call Peter Sarkis or Jerry Longstreth for more details. I spoke with Peter but not Jerry, and explained what you want to do, physically check out some Squarebirds. Here is their club website.

http://www.pittbirds.org/index.html

http://www.pittbirds.org/contacts--links.html

This will put you in contact with a long standing Tbird club in your area. Hopefully, you will be able to check out some Squarebirds and make a decision. If you do, look at the Welcome posted to you, and print out our Vehicle Check List before looking to buy one. Look for rust issues. There is much more I can tell you, so if you have questions, call me.

Please let me know how this works for you. If you will shoot me your phone number in an email or PM, I can call you and give you a lot more information on what to look for in a Tbird...

[Guest]

Wow....what can I say????? Thanks much! I will contact the club, I did do a rudimentary search & did not come up with any T-Bird club in Pittsburgh. I will make plans to attend.
I also sent out some feelers of my own & a fellow I went fishing with invited me to a "open house" of his 90 year old father's 3 floor warehouse of "old cars", he does have T-Birds, but I have no idea of what era. He seems to think me & his father will "hit it off".
As far as the $100K car.....it's not me, I am in the cheap seats. I would not mind if somebody dropped a 427 Mid-Riser in there & put aftermarket wheels.....but it sounds like they screwed up a good car, but, to each his own!
Thanks again for giving me the lead. I will follow up on it & PM my phone number to you.
It's really nice to have a supportive forum. I think it's really comforting, a little unique & just totally awesome! Thanks Again, Tim

[YellowRose]

Welcome, alnukem !!

Hi Tim, I see you must have received my email, or just happened to check the Forum. As for the '58, I had found that first and posted it just to let you know that there was at least one Squarebird not to far from you. Not that you would want to spend that much money on one, but just to give you something to look at in the way of a Squarebirds. All three years of Squarebirds, have basically the same style. The major differences are that the '58 is the rarest of the three years because they had a late start in production. However, the '58 has coil springs in the rear, instead of leaf springs. They were thinking of air bagging it, but changed their mind. I would go with a '59 or a '60. The '58 and '59 have four tail lights in the rear, and the '60 has six. You can make your '60 have sequentially flashing tail lights if you wish. That information, along with a lot more about Squarebirds, is in our Technical Resource Library, a link to which is always part of my and John~ jopizz's signature element. Except for that, there are some minor chroming differences. The '58 has chrome strips on the doors in the area of that arrow point. The '59 has a chrome piece on that arrow area, and in the '60, they took that pointed chrome spear off, and put chrome strips on the rear end. Other than that, all three years pretty much look the same.

Over the weekend, I would give Peter Sarkis a call so he can tell you where that car show event is going to be held at. Also, he can tell you when and where their club meets. It might be one that you may want to join. See if you can find out who is going to be bringing their Squarebirds to the show, so you can meet them. Look for their display area for the PittsBirds. They should not be hard to find. As I said, you might make it a point to attend that show on Saturday. What can happen on Sundays is that often times, people will start packing up and leaving and you could risk missing seeing the Squarebirds.

I see you have another opportunity to view other Tbirds that friend's Dad owns. I would certainly take advantage of that quickly. Take a look at the 1964-1966 Flairbirds! You might like them better, and if I knew then what I know now, I would have bought a 1966 Tbird, because I like the style even better. If he has any Flairbirds in his collection, take a good look at them, inside and out. In fact, here is the link to the 1966 Flairbird. I would go with that year, if you like the style, because it has some improvements that the Squarebirds and the '64 & '65 did not have. Including a 390ci engine and C6 tranny, and an optional 428CI engine, if you can find one with it in it, and they are out there. The interior of the Flairbirds is much more stylish than the Squarebirds, IMHO.. The '66 also comes with flashing sequential tail lights on it and a lot more improvements the Squarebirds lack, like front disc brakes, and you need them!

http://automotivemileposts.com/tbird...lections.shtml

There is sooo much more that I can tell you when it comes to looking for a Tbird. Thank you for your comments, as they are much appreciated. We try to help all we can, whether it is getting their Tbird back on the road, restoring it to original condition, or customizing it. Or helping someone find the Tbird of their dreams. So send me a PM with your phone number and a good time to call and I can fill you in on a lot more. In fact, if you are still up, you can call me, because I will be up for quite a while yet...

[Guest]

Wow....they gained 600 pounds!

[YellowRose]

Welcome, alnukem !!

Yup, the Flairbirds weigh a bit more. When you look at them, an easy way to tell the difference between a '64, '65 and a '66, is to look at the grill. Only the '66 has that long, beautiful Thunderbird emblem on the grill. You can also look at the Data Plate and it will tell you the year. The Data Plate on the Squarebirds is located on the drivers side post, where you close the door on, and where the overhead light button is at. Once you open the door wide, you should see the Data Plate riveted there. On the Flairbirds, as I recall, that Data Plate is on the end of the door, where it latches to the body. The first number in a VIN number back then tells you what year the car is. On a Squarebird, an 8, 9 or 0 tells you it was a '58, '59, or '60. Same thing for a Flairbird, the 4 tells you it is a '64, a 5, a '65 and a 6, a '66. Here is a website that explains the breakdown and location of that plate.

http://tbirdregistry.com/1960-1980-thunderbird-vin.aspx

[Dan Leavens]

Ray you mentioned the 58 the seller is asking $100,000 in Monroeville, PA Perhaps I should ship down Marg's 58 to this seller as a comparison?
Looks like the restorer opted for new motor / tilt steering wheel and leather seats. Not too original but good luck with getting the asking price...

[YellowRose]

Welcome, alnukem !!

Yup, they are asking a lot of $$ for that one! I looked at all the pix of it and they have customized it a lot. Quite the engine an tranny in it, for one thing.. I just happened to find that one while trying to find a Squarebird for Tim to look over, just to see if he liked the body layout, interior and engine bay, since he had not actually seen any other than pix..