New Bird in the Nest

[ASASki]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum. I've had a 2002 Triple Black since September of 2008. In the past my wife and I had matching 89 Thunderbirds. But I've always wanted a classic. Yesterday I took delivery of this 1965 Hardtop.







I would have said antique but the truth is I never thought that would be the same year that I graduated from high school - classic does sound much better.

I'm looking forward to learning a lot about the flair birds here and where ever I can. Fortunately this one doesn't need much work.

[ASASki]

More picture here. My grandson and I were on our way to his Young Marine community service project, collecting letters for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Got a shot of my 02 Bird and now garageless Durango.

65 Thunderbird pictures by jmarkowski - Photobucket

[Frat_man-du]

Nice! I remember my first...vintage 'Bird still have it 30 years later, it will soon be my daughter's first car... Enjoy it

Welcome!

[ASASki]

My son has the car in Hagerstown and is doing some work on it for me. Nothing drastic but making sure it's safe. One job is installing new seat belts in the front and rear seats. He finally found some rust under the rear seat, driver's side. Even that's not bad.



Ski

[Frat_man-du]

ah yes had that in my coupe as well - just driver's side - water got in from the belt line moulding holes and pools there -yours is not bad at all.

[ASASki]

Originally Posted by Frat_man-du

ah yes had that in my coupe as well - just driver's side - water got in from the belt line moulding holes and pools there -yours is not bad at all.

My son asked if you would tell us how to prevent it and what you did to fix the rust hole?


John (aka Ski)

[Frat_man-du]

I had the belt line moulding rechromed (now there are reproductions available). and when I reinstalled I added a blob og silicone sealant around the bolt holes and when done added more over the top of the nuts. You cna do a number of things to fix the damage, the right thing to do is cutout a good piece from a donor car, as reproductions are not availble for this area and weld that in. What I did was cut out the old metal and take a scrap piece of metal and pound it in to shape as close as I could get and welded that in - I didnt pay attention to what the original piece looked like enough as I had a heck of a time getting he rear seat bottom to fit again - I had to jump and jump and bounce to get the seat back in place - so make sure you pay attention to the shape very carefully.

Enjoy!

[ASASki]

Thanks for the tips. My son and I both appreciate it.