I had given it a complete new brake system, and a complete tune up. When I took it to car shows, i could not leave it due to concerns of possibly someone scratching it. I decided to sell the car because i could not really enjoy it, because i could not drive it without concerns of putting miles on it. I still have videos of the car and a photo of myself standing in front of the car on the day of the parade with Dennis Gage, of “My Classic Car” when the street was opened to traffic sometime around 2000. I drove it to car shows, and it was featured in our local newspaper in a parade down main street in Evansville, In. My two grown sons begged me not to sell it. It was always garaged, never driven in the rain or during the winter. This was such a rare car that i just became its care taker. Everything was in working order, except the cruise control which i never did get repaired. It had the very rare 428 engine that developed 345 BHP. The 67 was red with white Landau top and white leather/vinyl interior. He had kept every piece of paper work, including yearly inspection papers, oil changes etc. I purchased it from the original owner in 1999, when it had 52000 original all documented miles. This really brings back recent memories because i sold my 1967 T-Bird 2 door hard top Landau in 2003. Just remember, the purchase price is the cheapest part of owning one!īehind that highly stylized “thunder bird” lies a solid-state controller for the sequential turn signals-prior to October 1968, the sequential blinking was mechanically performed by a motor-and-cam.Īnd so we leave our friend for now, hopefully to be seen again out on the open road- “Unique in all the world!” (5.4kg) to the car, and–incredibly– you could also get the Fordor in Landau trim!) Many of the significant changes to the fifth-gen Thunderbirds were made to move the car further into the luxury car segment since the Mustang was really starting to encroach on Thunderbird sales.Ī new Thunderbird purchased after Januwould set you back a cool $4,964 ($29,183 in 2010 dollars), making it (at least by today’s standards) a solid mid-level luxury/sport car. (Incidentally, the Landau roof added 12 lb. There was also a Tudor Hardtop model available which wasn’t very popular. While not of my subject car, I included this photo to demonstrate the “Fordor” model’s suicide doors–yet another “better idea” from Ford!” And did you notice the fake roof supports on the inside of the C-pillar? There were 49,272 Thunderbirds produced in 1969, and about a third of those were equipped with the optional front bucket seats and center console. Front bench seats had become standard in 1968 and remained the most popular seating choice regardless of trim level. For some reason, that horn ring looks a bit antiquated to my eye, but of course this might be an earlier model T-bird interior. 000 on interior shots so again, this one has been lifted from the Interweb. I personally like this grille design more than those sported by the other fifth-generation ‘Birds. Yes, Virginia, those are hidden headlights exposed for the moment. The nose on the fifth-gen T-bird changed several times, which is how I was able to ID the model year. Here’s what normally would have been found under the hood: the 429 cu in Thunder Jet V8, which made 360 (gross) hp, and the only engine choice available for 1969. With a four-barrel carb, dual exhaust and 10.5:1 compression ratio, this mill must have really motivated the 4,360 lb (that’s 1,978 kg, or 2.8 VW Beetles) car, albeit at sub-10 mpg (presumably premium) fuel consumption. Nevertheless, I took a different route home and was rewarded with this ’69 Thunderbird, which sat at a garage just off my exit from the interstate…įrom the nose-high attitude, I suspect it’s awaiting an engine. I recently missed my chance at a ’68 LTD four-door in the small town where I’ve been shooting a lot of my recent finds – it had been in someone’s driveway for three or four days I made it a point to go shoot it this morning, but it was gone. It’s been a busy week out on the farm, with not much time for CC-spotting.

Photos of 1969 thunderbird