Why do we own these cars?

[islandtime]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

When people ask me why I have my two T-Birds, my stock answer is
"Because I CAN!"

Live what you love!

[15AGAIN]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

I agree with all that have made comments--My screen name is why I have the Tbird, I was 15 when the 55's came out and I could not buy one--Now I can. Drive and enjoy, let someone else worry about what to do with it when you are gone Besides look at all the friends we have made because of the new Birds

[mikenormanrmn]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

Every once in a while I ask myself why I have all of this money invested in such a personal extravagance as my Thunderbird. With the economy as shaky as it is, I should get one of the more practical green cars. It would also reduce my insurance premiums. But then I get into my T-Bird, put the top down and head up the highway. Today I got onto I-35 heading towards Oklahoma City and with a clear road ahead, took it up to 100 in nothing flat.
(If any OK Highway Patrol are reading this - I did back off to the 70 mph speed limit). But it was then that I reminded myself that I really like my car. I like it when I am at a light and someone pulls up next to me and gives me the thumbs up sign. My wife tells me it is a chick magnet car. But i know if I ever did pick one up, she would take off with my car and I'd be sitting on the side of the road. I will probably keep it till I am old and grey. Oh, I am already there. But hopefully I will keep it for my grandchildren to fight over, and until then just smile while I drive it and enjoy the seat warmer...

I agree that when I get into my Thunderbird and drive toward Oklahoma City or any other Oklahoma Town or City it is absolutely the very best feeling one old man can get driving the bird! I wanted one when a girl at my high school got a new 1957 pink Thunderbird and now fifty one years later while driving the Thunderbird it takes me back to when I was in high school. Over the years I have had many sport or sporty cars and none give me the wonderful feelings that my Thunderbird give to me. Those cars included two 1955 Chevrolet coupe and four door, 1958 Ford hardtop convertible, 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible, 1965 Mustang convertible, 1965 Mustang coupe, 1974 Mazda RX2, 1982 (two) Toyota Celica’s, 1992 Mazda Miata, 1982 280ZX, 1985 300ZX and a 1991 300ZX that I still drive.

[BirdsAndBugs]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

Every once in a while I ask myself why I have all of this money invested in such a personal extravagance as my Thunderbird. With the economy as shaky as it is, I should get one of the more practical green cars. It would also reduce my insurance premiums. But then I get into my T-Bird, put the top down and head up the highway.

Good question. When I bought my grey Thunderbird in 2003, my wife and I owned a number of classic cars that we would take to car shows and car club cruises. We thought it would be fun to have a car that has those classic car elements of style, would be fun to drive on the open road but also have the reliability of a newer car, and if you did have problems on a roadtrip it could be serviced easily. The classic 55-57 Thunderbirds were a favorite of my wife and I always found that I kind of had a soft spot for the Thunderbird too regardless of the year. So our 2003 Ford Thunderbird filled that bill and we've enjoyed it. So much so that we bought a second one, a 2005 model, earlier this year.

Right now, I've kept these cars especially clean as we're treated them more like a special interest vehicle. We don't drive them daily but we've started using and enjoying them a lot more than we have in the past.

I kind of found in recent years that I got tired of being a museum. We sold off the classic cars we previously owned as we didn't use them much and I got bored with the car show scene (been there, done that). With some car shows going 2-4 days now, that's too much time for me to waste for a plastic trophy.

Along the same line of thought, or maybe it's just this economy that has caused my outlook to become more frugal, when our current daily drivers (a 2001 Mercedes SLK320 and a 2004 VW Passat) are due to be replaced in the years ahead, I'm thinking of putting the Thunderbirds into daily service. By that time, they'll probably be 10 year old cars so I might as well use them up before parts get totally obsolete as I don't think these cars will be as easily maintained like the classic Thunderbirds were. While I still love cars, being the gearhead that I am, I think any vehicle that I buy going forward will be for both enjoyment as well as daily transportation.

No more toys and no more car payments for many years to come. We'll just enjoy what we have, rebuild some of our financial security which has been impacted in this economy, and spend some of our money on doing things with each other and our families.

I'm dead serious although my wife would probably say "yeah right" if she read this.

[Daktari]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

Hi there,

I grew up and lived most of my adult life until nine years ago in England and later, in Scotland. As a young boy I always loved American cars, especially Mustangs and promised myself that when I could afford a second car it would be a Mustang.

Course, living over there meant that any American car was a novelty and there were not that many around. I never knew at that time that I would end up in my 40's actually living in the States.

Well, here I am and it didn't take long for most Mustangs to lose their appeal. There are just too many of them around for them to be that special. I then changed my mind from Mustangs to something old that had been renovated or even a hot rod. I spent around 2 years trying out all kinds of cars and for the price I could afford to pay, there was nothing I liked that both looked good and drove good as well.

It was my wife Rachel who first suggested looking at the Retro birds. They had that nice retro look about them, they drove pretty good and importantly, not that many around,(compared to Mustangs anyway).

So after test driving five different ones, last December we bought FLYAWAY and both of us love it. It's not a sports car or a hot rod but it is a real sharp looking grand tourer in the old sense of the word.

I envy Frits having this car in Europe because it would be great sometime to drive down through Germany and Austria, over the Alps and down in to Italy.
What I hope to do here someday is drive up the west coast in our bird, - it's just finding the time.....

Anyway, that's how we ended up with ours.

Happy Halloween ya'll, Gordon.

[maxkemp]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

Why do we own these cars? Because my wife, who came from absolutely nothing and is not a material girl, told me it was her DREAM CAR! What could I do but make some life changes and make it happen. I don't believe she'll ever grow tired of admiring her beautiful machine. I'd have to be at the point of almost being naked before I would even consider selling her T-Bird. Someone once replied to one of my posts that the T-Bird is only a machine, and I'd have to agree, that's until the ownership of that machine means more than that to the person that you’ve given your life to. ***very deep, but wait till you meet my wife Shelley***
You asked the question….

[texasbird]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

WAY TO GO, MAX. Those who think commitment to another is a 50/50 arrangement are WRONG. It's 100/100. We've been together 29 years, and still enjoying every second.
James

[nj susan]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

Why? Because it's the most fun car I've ever owned. I always loved the '57 Tbird and at one point I thought about purchasing one. I know, big investment. When my brother, who is also my mechanic, moved from NJ to AZ, those thoughts went with him. I couldn't rationalize purchasing a 45-50 year old car and not have someone I trust with maintaining it.

Then I saw the plans for the retro bird on the internet and fell in love. Around here, the dealers were adding $10,000 or more to the sticker price. I decided to wait, and did until July 2002. Mike was driving around and saw one at a dealer about 20 miles from here. When he came home and told me he found exactly the car I wanted, we went to look at her, then came home to review the finances. We bought her about 3 weeks after our first look, and never ever regretted it.

I have a lot of physical problems, but I am never in pain when driving this fabulous car. 6 years later and I love it as much as the day I drove her home, and every year when the hard top goes on, it's like a new car all over again.

Enjoy your birds everyone - they are truly special.

[Mintgrn]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

Why, because I have never owned another car where I continually get thumbs up, nice car shouted at me as I drive, or like the other day at the Burger King drive up window, "YOUR CAR IS AWESOME, IT'S A THUNDERBIRD. How can you go wrong. My turbo-charged Saab was a lot of fun to drive. But no one ever said "nice Saab."

[Ski]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

I got it today at BJ's. A guy was looking so intently at the Bird he walked right into his SUV. Cool!

[2FAST4U]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

Why do we own these cars?...Frankly, I don't know anymore...don't get me wrong...I do love my T-Bird, but it seems that I'm the only one in my area doing so...
When I enter car shows with it, people just walk by without paying even attention to my 'Bird...Maybe it's too recent, maybe it's not popular here...or maybe there are more cars worth looking at in the same show??
Yes, people do look at it at some "Thunderbird-related shows, but other than that, it mostly goes unnoticed... I even mentioned to my girlfriend a few weeks ago that if someone who'd really be interested in made me an offer for it, I'd seriously consider it...and maybe get a nice '71 Chevelle SS454...

Claude

[BirdsAndBugs]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

Claude, I assumer you're taking your Thunderbird to car shows primarily for classic cars? Nothing wrong with showing off your car and being proud of it but it probably won't generate a lot of interest from the people that frequent classic car shows. However, as the years go by that will change. Sometimes I'll go to a car show now and you see a real clean original example of a more recent vehicle. At the last show I went to there was a really nice 1981 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am and a 1987 Oldsmobile 442. Now you don't normally see these vehicles daily; and when you do they're probably kind of rough. Kind of nice now to see nice examples of these recent classics that 10-20 years ago you would see everyday but have kind of disappeared over the years.

[Steve Legel]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

For the second generation owners, this is an old, old thread that we shared early on...Let the Stories Continue. It was a take off on Ford's marketing story of Let the Stories Begin...we all had stories. And now you are living many of these same stories.

http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forum...ories+continue

[RareOldBird]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

Why do we own a TBird? The comments the looks the drive & of course the TBird legend. What other car can give you all that. Greg I agree with your comment about Claude's problem at car shows. People comment on our cars daily but at a car show they don't want to see Modern Iron they want classic. If I still had my 63 or 66 Birds at a car show the interest be on cars of that era not 02Blue. As for the comments the other day my wife came out of the grocery store & a guy asked her if she bought any paper towels because all the guys were drooling over the TBird. Nough said. Now get the keys & go crusin.

[Goldwing]

Re: Why do we own these cars?

Why? When they first came out I wanted one, went to a local dealer they wanted about 10k over sticker, nothing I could afford. But in 2004 they were selling below sticker and I had a 2004 Ford Explorer that I called my BUS.
Told the wife I was going to look at Thunderbirds she said"Whatever" Now after be married to me for sooooo many years she should know when I say I'm going to look it means I will more then likely get it.
Found a Silver at one of our local dealers and I liked the deal, called the wife told her to get ready I needed to pick her up to sign the papers on my new Bird. Agin "Whatever"
The rest is a history. 4 years and 46K miles later and I still love getting in and driving be it to work on just out with the top down and the tunes going.
I plan on keeping it and driving it, maybe when I'm gone the bother will have some miles in it to enjoy himself.