TPLS 59
Purchased April 15th (ha, ha tax man) 2000.
- It's a small world after all...
It was a dark and stormy night.....(just kidding)
- It was Tuesday evening, January 22, 2002 and this evening I encountered my first, albeit minor, obstacle while
disassembling this car for restoration. The car is a 1959 Thunderbird convertible. No,
unfortunately it's not a "J" code (430 CID). But A Tbird convertible none the less. All Tbirds are beautiful cars to me. I
currently own 16 of them in various stages from parts cars to show
cars. My prize is a '62 "M" code (three deuces, tri-power, 3X2) Sports Roadster. I've
become known in the community as "Tbird Tom".
- On Saturday, January 19, 2002, I began dissassembling the car. I started at the back,
removing the deck lid first, the convertible top frame and pump, then the interior back seat, front seats, quarter windows and
moved up to the drivers door. I like to remove the windows, locking mechanism and other door insides before I remove the
door itself from the hinges. I disassembled the drivers door and removed it and its hinges from the body and called it a day.
On Sunday I had committed to a friend to help him with some cosmetic work on his '63 Sports
Roadster. We will be installing new weather-stripping (cat whiskers) and door rubbers, trunk seals, a new convertible
top and trunk interior over the next few weeks. Jim has always been there when I needed help building the additions to the
Bird Nest, and other projects, so in return, I am helping him. Maybe he doesn't know it, but I'm getting the best part of the
deal because I really enjoy these birds. Don't tell!
- I got back to the '59 that Tuesday evening, and I was removing the passenger door when it happened.
- .............................I had gone to Scottsdale AZ January 10-21st (2002) with my brother Ray, to attend the Kruse, Silvers,
Russo & Steele and Barrett Jackson collector car auctions as we have for the past 3 or 4 years. I purchased 2 cars this year, a
very nice 60 Tbird Convertible, and a solid 65 convertible project car.
- I live in a rural area with a well and septic system, so while I'm away, I always shut off the well water pump, septic pump,
water heater and turn off the water to the Bird Nest (garage) just in case something happens to the furnace out there. Yes, I
have water in my garage (oh, and a furnace).
- Well, as I said, I was taking apart the passenger door and removed it from the hinges, then began removing the hinges
from the body. The top hinge came off fine, and the three top bolts in the bottom hinge came off fine.
- The bottom bolt on the bottom hinge was rusted in solid.. These bolts are screwed into nuts that are pressed into the body,
and the nut busted loose inside the door jamb so the bolt would just spin and not come out. Of course you can not get a
wrench inside there to get at the nut so I had no choice but to resort to "zippo" my acetylene torch, also affectionately known as
"liquid wrench" to cut the bolt off.
I don't know what the attraction is, but for some reason our little furry friends aka "!#$%$ mice", seem to like cars as
much as I do. In fact, they even go a step further than me and live in the cars!
This 59 is no different it turns out. Although the "!#$%$ mice" are long gone, their cozy little nest remained.
- and, it happened to be inside the passenger door jamb right under where I used "zippo" to remove that stubborn bolt. A
small fire erupted as the nest caught. No big deal, I'll just grab the hose, turn on the water and douse the flame.
NO WATER!
- I hadn't turned the water back on to the Bird Nest after returning from Arizona.
- I had to dash into the house, open the water valve and dash back out to the garage where I promptly grabbed the hose and
extinguished the smoldering nest. I'm sorry (hehehe) to say the nest was a total loss.
- Back in June of 1987 I heard about a '59 Tbird convertible in a shop up the street from my office . It was owned by a
man who had a battery business there.
I walked over one day to see it and it was pushed into the back corner of his shop and had a bunch of boxes and other msc
items in and on it.
I asked the owner if he was interested in selling it and he told me he couldn't sell it.
He went on to tell me that the car belonged to his 22 year old son who was recently killed in a car accident and the Tbird had
sentimental value to him and he wanted to keep it. I told him I was sorry to hear that (about his son... and
about not selling me the bird) I gave him my card and said if he ever decided to sell it to please contact me, and I left.
- On a typical workday morning in early April 2000, My sister Sue called me at work and said "Hey Tom, do you want to
buy another Tbird convertible?" The first words out of my mouth were of course, "OF COURSE!", an then I asked her where
the hell she got one of them.
She told me the mother of one of the guys she works with has one and wants to sell it, and when she heard the words "Tbird
for sale" she shouted out "MY BROTHER TOM LOVES TBIRDS!" and she told the guy she'd have me call him. When Sue
called me, she didn't know what year or anything else about the car or it's condition, but she gave me her co-workers name
and phone number.
- I recognized the last name of the guy, and it turns out I went to school with his father and mother. Anyway, I called him,
quizzed him about the car, and he told me it was a '59, and where I could look at it. It was only about 20 miles from my
home. I made arrangements to meet him there on Sat. morning April 8th, and called my pal, and fellow Tbird Enthusiast (60
Sunroof 430 Air car and 63 Sports Roadster) Jim Kolar and he was (as usual) happy to accompany me to inspect the car.
- I knew right away when I saw the car that I had seen it before, and that I was going to buy it. We hadn't even mentioned
anything about price during any of our conversations, but I knew I would be buying it.
- It turns out that Mary (my former classmate) used to work at a local pawn shop. About 2 years earlier, a guy came in
needing some money and wanted to use his '59 Tbird convertible as collateral.
He never came back to redeem the car and Mary eventually purchased it from the Pawn Shop.
- She drove it for a year and decided to sell it because she knew it needed restoration, and she couldn't really afford to
restore it.
Here's where I come in.
- I can only speculate that the previous owner must have taken the car to the Pawn Shop so that it was easier for him to deal
with his sons death. Having the car around must have constantly reminded him of his sons tragic death. Hopefully he finally
has found closure.
When I'm through with the car, I may drive by and see him.
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Thomas G. Maruska
Duluth, Minnesota
Copyright © 2002 by Thomas Maruska
