No vehicle better captures Rocket/Jet-Age styling better than the ’61-63 Ford Thunderbird. The pointy nose and exhaust-looking tail lights make it look right at home next to an F104 Starfighter. The interior perfectly captures the sleek, modern look that so many imagined The Future as depicted by Syd Mead would be. It’s a clean departure from the late-50s bombast of last week’s Pontiac.

Underneath, it’s pretty typical early-to-mid-60s engineering with a 390ci V8, three speed C6 automatic and solid axle rearend. The front suspension is the same basic architecture shared with the Falcon, Fairlane and Mustang: coil atop the upper A arm and a “split” lower arm with a leading strut rod. You’ll never win at autocross, but the T-Bird’s a highway cruiser, so who cares?

Two separate eBay examples inspired this post, the first highlights the rare 3×2 manifold and a long list of part numbers above the condition of the actual car. A tri-power 390 is a gorgeous thing to behold (though a 406 would be better), but $7500 for a pile of parts and a car to go with them seems to put priorities in the wrong place. Bachelor number two is a more typical stalled project with almost no miles on an engine rebuilt years ago. It needs a brake booster, some floor work and sports what’s likely to be a polarizing grey-over-black rattle-can paint job. The upside? $1500 right now with no reserve.