1973 Ford Thunderbird With 24k Original Miles Is a Running, Driving 429 V8 Treasure Trove

‘Big ol’ dinosaur does run good. I imagine it would really run good in a little car.’ If, of course, said prehistoric monster could fit in a little car. Let’s eliminate the confusion: the ancestral lizard referred to is a big-block eight-cylinder ogre from Michigan. Dearborn, to be specific – a 429-cubic-inch earth pounder.
The car it’s in is THE personal luxury automobile – a 1973 Thunderbird. With 24,001 miles on the clock and pretty much everything on it, it is still original. And somehow, this half-century relic didn’t sell for two grand. The car was dug up from its residence in Missouri state by a car nut from Arkansas who brought it back to his shop to wrench on it a little bit before tearing it apart for its vital entrails.

The big Ford belonged to a nice lady who had it since it was new. With the timely passing of the owner, the survivor Ford was sold by the inheritors, and Steve from the Dead Car Rescue YouTube channel claimed the jackpot.

1973 was a big seller for T-Birds, with 87,269 examples in a single body style (the hardtop) - the third-best year in its history up to that point. Beginning with the sixth generation of the nameplate, in 1972, the ThunderChicken beefed up tremendously and shed all formalities regarding guise, settling for a single proposal. It was also the biggest model of its bloodline – hence, the nickname ‘Big Bird.’

Between 1972 and 1976, the T-Bird shared its underpinnings with the Lincoln Continental Mark IV. The brochure lavishly advertised all dimensions of the luxo-barge: 218.9 inches long, 120.4 wheelbase, 79.7 width, 4,742 pounds heavy, 63-inch-wide track (5,560 mm long, 3,058 mm between axles, 2,024 mm wide, 2,151 kg, 1,600 mm tread).

To put it into a Thunderbird perspective, the original two-seater T-Bird from 1955 was a midget by comparison, with 175.3 inches (4,453 mm) from bumper to bumper, 102-inch wheelbase (2,591 mm), and 2,981 lbs (1,352 kg). Suddenly, the 201-hp (204 PS) net output of the 429-cube V8 (seven liters) in the '73 wasn’t that outstanding anymore.

But it was enough to get the land yacht going at a steady, relaxed, and quiet pace (according to Ford’s own measurements, riding in a ’73 T-Bird was quieter than flying in a glider, at 65 decibels on the ground vs. 82 dB in the air). Maybe the T-Bird rescued from Missouri isn’t all that silent nowadays, but it’s not too shabby.

The YouTuber only had to replace the ignition lines to make the big V8 run smooth (after all, at 24,001 miles / 38,625 km, the motor is only six oil changes old) and put some fresh gasoline in the tank to make it even better. a sip of transmission fluid in the carb was the quick fix for the sore quadruple throats. Speaking of gearbox - the Big Birds had an automatic, Ford's Cruise-O-Matic three-speed.

The rescuer’s declared intentions from the get-go were clear and simple: salvage the drivetrain, scrap the rest – unless someone is willing to pay a couple of grand for it. The man initially put the car for sale on the Facebook marketplace for $2,000, but he wasn’t happy with the offers he received. So, if you’re in the market for a luxury Ford Thunderbird from 51 years ago, there’s one in Arkansas worth saving, with very little wear and low mileage.