You must understand that the journalist's crucible is to be forever aloof. It's always easier being holier-than-thou when the barbs hit close to home. I think VespaFitz's pontifications are generally right on the money. Quite the opposite as I've come to find out - especially here in the ancillary forums. They only made 37 M code Sports Roadsters and about 1400 Z code Sport Roadsters and these are the only ones that bring any money.When I first started posting here, I sort of assumed everyone rode a hardcore, high-performance ADV bike. The 63 has better front end engineering/geometry than 61 & 62 and in my opinion is better looking as it has a feature break down the side which breaks the barrel sided look of the earlier cars of that series. Having said that there may be something simple wrong and it can be corrected easily, finding someone to work on it will be tough. An 89Z code car, a Sports Roadster is marginal and and and 89M code Sports Roadster with the 3 two barrel set up can bring big money. A standard convertible, a "Z" code car, will never be worth enough to make a bad top correct. I can not stress this too much, a car that is otherwise perfect could be a money pit to fix the top. The top mechanism is extremely complex both electrically and mechanically. I have owned several Thunderbird convertibles from nice drivers to perfect score cars that were trailer queens. I agree the 61-62 is nicer without the big hash mark in the door. Otherwise Rust is all that would worry me, or poor repair as they are a unibody car so you need to make sure the structure is good. I didn't know as much then as I do now so I didn't know that could be a problem. Steering was twitchy on the 61, but I think someone had the steering box adjusted a little too tight so it didn't readily self correct. It got to the point where it was a once up in the fall for winter and then down for the summer in the spring and have plenty of patience as it would trip circuit breakers and they would have to reset, so it would go some, then stop, wait, etc.Īside from that Both that 61 and a 63 Coupe I had ran and drove well. The 61 though it had a pretty new expensive top on it was very tempermental. The 59 had just been done and had a new top, everything worked properly though less complex as it didn't have the swing lid mechanized. If you want to split hairs I probably like the clean lines of the 61-62 better, but aside from that it's exactly the one I would have chosen.Įdited Octoby Angelfish (see edit history) Two weeks later a reasonably priced 1963 turquoise AC equipped convertible falls in my lap. It was about three weeks ago I told my son that, after looking for a Thunderbird for about a year, I was no longer interested, having developed an inexplicable attraction to older BMWs. Now the owner is moving across the country and he and the shop want it gone. They have been unable to get the rear deck to open. Maybe this doesn't scare me as much as it should, but I'm willing to bet there are people who know how to troubleshoot the top. This one has been topless at the upholstery shop for two years because they can't get the motors in the convertible top to work, the price reflects that. I know very little about these cars or where to look for rust or mechanical problems, so any ideas of what to look for would be appreciated. I'll be looking at it over the next few days. It appears to be be a very nice original car. *Edit: Don't buy a car on emotion! It was a wreck!
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