Friday, February 19, 2010

The Tbird at the Beach. 1980.

B / W   N I K O N  /  F I L M   I M A G E  — My Diamond Blue 1964 Thunderbird coupe at Hammonassett State Park in 1980. I was given the car by my aunt in 1973, my 16th birthday. It needed some work though, and I had another car, a '69 Comet, so it sat for the next 4 years. Then my father had it restored for my 20th birthday, the same year he came home with a low-mileage '68 Caddy Sedan de Ville for me, lol. To drive a '64 Tbird and a '68 Caddy at the age of 20 was almost all any big-american-car-crazy-kid could ask for. 

Diamond Blue was almost white, a very pale powder blue non-metallic enamel. It suited the lines of the Tbird perfectly. The interior was a medium blue pleated vinyl, with bucket seats in the front and a wraparound 'lounge' in the rear, scooped out for two passengers with a center armrest. The trim was brushed aluminum and chrome inside, and the lighting at night was incredible-with white, green, and orange glowing lights and numerals stretched across the dash and central console. It was truly a flightdeck, as described in period advertisements.

I owned the Caddy until the mid '80s. The Tbird stayed around until the mid '90s. Great cars. Not at all as reliable as today's cars, no cars built back then were. the build quality of the Tbird was really suspect too. Both of them were just the greatest cars to look back at after a long drive. They both loved the arrival process of dropping off their passengers and being seen as the beauties they were. Nobody cared if they needed an alternator or a water pump the next day!


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