By Jim Brennan
Now this is what I’m talking about. This particular car is the one that really gets me going because its so kitschy, so cheesy, so very 70’s that it make me want to go out and get a pair of plaid pants, white buck shoes with matching white belt, and a brightly colored polyester golf shirt and move to a Florida Retirement Community. And I realize that none of you even know what I’m talking about….
Here we have the last year for the really, really, really BIG Thunderbird. It is hard to imagine a car built like this, with a hood that is long enough to land aircraft on it, doors that weigh at least a ton to open and close, and dressed in enough jewelry to make a drag queen sparkle. Just look at all this kit from 2-tone paint, to wire-wheelcovers, to 1/4 padded landau roof treatment, this is what surface detail was all about at the height of the Disco Era.
Inside is even more decadent with cream and gold vinyl/leather, pimp-o-licious shag carpeting, an AM FM 8-Track Stereo System, Climate Control, Twighlight Lighting Group, and more. This is the Cream and Gold Luxury Group, which was a $793 option for 1976. Ford produced almost 53,000 of these rolling aircraft carriers before the new, downsized Thunderbirds were introduced.
According to the listing:
This is a 1 owner car with a distictive color combination of the two tone and perfect tan original leather interior .This classic t-bird is simply a perfect show winning condition all original car. This is by far the nicest one you will see or find anywhere in the country. Everything is working on this amazing classic bird. The car is in factory laser straight condition inside and out and has truly gleaming chrome and brightwork. Fully Loaded and equipped with the original powerful and most sought after 460 v-8 engine. Ice cold factory a/c, power windows, power seats, am/fm factory radio 8 track all in working order. We challenge you to find a better example anywhere! The car rides and drives like brand new. You must come look, drive, even smell one of the best for sale anywhere. Fly in and drive home. Truly fully documented classic . We have all the original paper work and receipts since new!
Bidding has stalled at $11,950.00, again with an unmet reserve. Now, is this T-Bird appealing, or a rolling character of an actual car? I like it, but what about you? See the eBay listing here.
Jeff Glucker
I have a 1976 PINTO with only 186,000 miles on it!
Compared to the Torinobird that arrived for '77, this actually seems decent. But not 12 grand decent.
Oh, Lord.
<img src="http://dallasvintageshop.com/wp-content/uploads/Image/70s_disco_king_and_queen.jpg"width="500"/>
[youtube gFz2WkVAk38 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFz2WkVAk38 youtube]
Nice. It reminds me of Dirty Dancing. You know……the movie.
What was it about that era that made women forget to wear pants?
Probably LSD.
For the same price, eBay Motors has a 1970 Lincoln Continental Mark III with only 5,223 miles. Needless to say, it must be thoroughly checked out, but a good Connie Mark III is a zillion times more desirable in my book than a malaise-sy cream/gold Turkeybird.
<img src="https://vpix.us/dealerpics/216_V20101025093610.jpg" width=400> <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lincoln-Continental-Mark-III-S-MATCHING-VERY-ORIGINAL-CAR-RARE-OPTION-/280642840024?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item41579de5d8#ht_18124wt_1002” target=”_blank”>http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lincoln-Continental-Mark-III-S-MATCHING-VERY-ORIGINAL-CAR-RARE-OPTION-/280642840024?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item41579de5d8#ht_18124wt_1002
Hell, most of those miles were probably put on that car driving it to Florida from Michigan! 🙂
My father-in-law had one when Mrs. Alff was a kid. She still complains about the "500 pound doors" and the cave-like back seat.
At the current bid, that would be pimptastic fun. Wonder what the reserve is.
I actually had one of these (a '74) in high school. All the weight was over the front end, so that 460 would light the tires up no problem. You can lay on the hood and not touch either end. It was pretty ahead of its time, feature wise. Keyless entry (because the drivers side window could be slid down by hand. Keyless start (because the ignition cylinder was broken and could be turned without a key). Remote disable (because that puddle you couldn't see over the monster hood would splash up on the electrics and stall it out). Kinda miss the old pig…
The colour really makes the car here. This is a glowing golden beacon of… words fail me. Maybe if I was alive during this decade.
Also, those are the most prominent rub strips I've seen on not-a-Pontiac.
It's the seventies equivalent of an escalade or navigator. Still, I dig the two-tone inside and out.
Was that a self portrait of the "original" owners? And do their clothes come with the car?
As I said in the podcast a few weeks ago, this is where you purchase the perfect apparel to go with this car.
<img src="http://www.pimphats.com/ecatalog/images/Products/disco/discocostume_snf3.jpg" alt="" />
<img src="http://www.pimphats.com/ecatalog/images/2010images/pimpsuit_edgeblksno3.jpg" alt="" />
http://www.pimphats.com/ecatalog/index.php
The only way this thing could be more Disco/Malaise Era chic would be if it had a CB radio and T-tops.
Dy-no-mite!
The steering wheel mounted cruise control buttons seem pretty forward looking for 35 years ago. Other Detroit automakers were still cramming their short lived cuise control switches onto multifunction stalks a decade later.
I actually like that the stalk for my 1987 Buick wagon is the same as my mom's 2004 Montana. Call it design longevity. And we still have yet to standardize cruise functions between manufacturers.
Nothing is more annoying than fumbling around at night with no idea how to turn on cruise when all you want to do is set it and fall asleep.
It sounds like a new Mercedes Benz is what you’re needing. I don’t even like it when I see one near me in traffic thanks to all those, “I was sleeping, but my Mercedes Benz wasn’t,” commercials.
Hah exactly, now to find a motorcycle that will let me sleep [OHMYGODTHATISSCARYIWASKIDDING].
Whenever I see one of these, I picture two silver-haired older gay men inside tooling around Palm Springs.
Then…and now.
Such a baller ride. I would buy it in a second
Wow, complete with a GM power steering pump, GM A6 A/C compressor, and hydraboost power brakes. I remember those.
My first boss had one of the downsized '77 T-Birds, the fully-loaded Dove Grey edition with Dove Grey interior, and a 400. I consider 1977 the height of the disco era, since that was the year of Saturday Night Fever. Believe it or not, I didn't see that movie when it first came out, and I've never seen it. I hated disco, and I was listening to stuff like Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, and Randy Newman. But I dug that Dove Grey T-Bird.
Colonel Mustard on wheels.
Gorgeous, too bad it brings back such horrible memories for me. My Dad had a 1979 Thunderbird Heritage when I was in High School. He needed my truck for work, so lucky me I got to drive the Thunderbird. Unfortunately it met its demise when I had a run in with a train. That car saved my life, with such a long front end that is all that was across the tracks, and with all that steel around me it was like being in a tank. I walked away from the incident with nothing more than a bump on my leg from kicking the underside of the dash.
People talk about how much safer cars are today, and I don't deny that, but I believe if I had been driving any of the other vehicles my family owned that day, I would have been severely damaged.
We had one too, '79 with T-tops in Midnight Blue Metallic, power everything. It was an early special ordered dealer-demo/showroom unit that had made it's rounds in California. Oddly, it had the 400 engine and no landau roof. Had we known what a special car that was…
I always thought the '79s were just a bit better looking with the tail light treatment. But damned if I can find photos of the Heritage Birds. The '78 Diamond Jubilees are pretty close though.
<img src="http://i418.photobucket.com/albums/pp264/Britishboyatheart/78_tbird_dj_ad.jpg" />
Laser straight body? Couldn't have come like that from the factory in '76, they were too busy drinking at lunch and hiding the empties in the body.
You're making me nostalgic for those innocent days before the UAW discovered meth and absenteeism.
This is an exact replica of the “Bird” I was the proud owner of ! It would pass anything on the road BUT a gas station !!!