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First Post, so here goes. I'm Mark, aka, Smedley and I love my red 2005 50th Anniversary Thunderbird.
I bought my TB as a retirement gift to myself after 32 years working at Ford in the U.K and Detroit, Michigan. Before that 6 years with Jaguar. My last day @Ford, 5/31/2019.
I love cars and motorcycles. As a teenager, I once built a triumph in my mums back room in Coventry, England, finally sold it to buy an engagement ring, only to see it for sale 20 years later in North Carolina. "Slippery Sam".
The Thunderbird, or M205 program as it was known in Ford, was one of my first major projects when I came to Ford North America. My buddy Sam, aka General Zhukov, and I helped design the M205 assembly line at Wixom, Michigan using Virtual Reality to create the first digital factory representation of Henry Ford's moving assembly line. The project earned me a green card on the basis of National Interest, after Zhukov and Smedley were featured on the Peter Jennings 6pm national news and made the front page of the Financial Times. (our mums were so proud)
Last year I almost died of a stroke, my wife and Dr Kessler (the Henry Ford ER guy not the Whiskey) saved my life, so I'm enjoying every minute I'm still on this earth, and I've started blogging about the whole wonderful weirdness of it.
I found the car after a few years of searching in a small town, Gregory, Michigan. No cell phone service out there, but I did meet a young couple in their 80's who had looked after the car for the past 3 years and stored it carefully whilst wintering in Texas. Paul and Barb, grand folks with a beautiful self built house on the lake. I closed the deal with Paul with the incentive of getting Barb my then employee discount on a Lincoln. Enjoy Barb!.
I have big plans for the TB. I want to go the route of the 1957 version, red with a white hard top, white wall tires, maybe wire wheels (but not at $1000 each!) but thats down the road, for now Im just enjoying the smooth drive of my digitally assembled vision.
UPDATE I ADDED THE WHITE WALL TIRES FOR MY 60TH BIRTHDAY! Pictures Attached
cheers
Smedley, "Befriending the Red Herring"
stroke story: https://www.henryford.com/services/e...s/still-kickin
mad blog: https://synchronicitycity.blogspot.com/
I bought my TB as a retirement gift to myself after 32 years working at Ford in the U.K and Detroit, Michigan. Before that 6 years with Jaguar. My last day @Ford, 5/31/2019.
I love cars and motorcycles. As a teenager, I once built a triumph in my mums back room in Coventry, England, finally sold it to buy an engagement ring, only to see it for sale 20 years later in North Carolina. "Slippery Sam".
The Thunderbird, or M205 program as it was known in Ford, was one of my first major projects when I came to Ford North America. My buddy Sam, aka General Zhukov, and I helped design the M205 assembly line at Wixom, Michigan using Virtual Reality to create the first digital factory representation of Henry Ford's moving assembly line. The project earned me a green card on the basis of National Interest, after Zhukov and Smedley were featured on the Peter Jennings 6pm national news and made the front page of the Financial Times. (our mums were so proud)
Last year I almost died of a stroke, my wife and Dr Kessler (the Henry Ford ER guy not the Whiskey) saved my life, so I'm enjoying every minute I'm still on this earth, and I've started blogging about the whole wonderful weirdness of it.
I found the car after a few years of searching in a small town, Gregory, Michigan. No cell phone service out there, but I did meet a young couple in their 80's who had looked after the car for the past 3 years and stored it carefully whilst wintering in Texas. Paul and Barb, grand folks with a beautiful self built house on the lake. I closed the deal with Paul with the incentive of getting Barb my then employee discount on a Lincoln. Enjoy Barb!.
I have big plans for the TB. I want to go the route of the 1957 version, red with a white hard top, white wall tires, maybe wire wheels (but not at $1000 each!) but thats down the road, for now Im just enjoying the smooth drive of my digitally assembled vision.
UPDATE I ADDED THE WHITE WALL TIRES FOR MY 60TH BIRTHDAY! Pictures Attached
cheers
Smedley, "Befriending the Red Herring"
stroke story: https://www.henryford.com/services/e...s/still-kickin
mad blog: https://synchronicitycity.blogspot.com/
Canadian Provinces, 8 European Countries, 3 Caribbean Countries, Countless National Parks and have attended well over 100 TBN Events since 2001 and counting. Best of all ... fabulous friends.
VIN#16336
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