Why I purchased and LOVE my T-Bird

[Carmino]

After reading Deams Come True this morning, and by the way, congrats to both of you and we hope you enjoy your new toy in good health, I wanted to share my story. We also want to formerly introduce ourselves to the TBN members. We are Carmino and Mary Crisostomi from the New England area. As the weather gets better and dreams of long sunny rides frolic in our heads...this is a great day to share how we ended up with our lovely Whisper White '02 Bird. Ok, here goes.

As a child, my friend, Joan, and I would hang out at the marina where her parents had a 32' cabin cruiser. It was a nice marina with tennis courts and, as one would expect, several boat owners owned very nice cars, Corvettes, T-Birds, etc. which were regularly parked around the tennis court lots. Many of the cars ranged from the late 50's to early 70's. I always admired the Birds the most and wanted one in the worse way. But at 15 with approximately $50 in the bank my outlook for car ownership was looking more like I'd end up with a beat up Honda Civic (true story ). Any way...much time passes and as you know the bird took on many body styles, some of which I liked and others...not so much. The Roadster was always my favorite and still my dream car. My husband knowing how much I love the Bird and wanted me to finally have one, surprised me last summer, as I was cooking dinner. He found one on Auto Trader.com for sale in Florida...yup that's where it all began. In this economic environment, I was a bit hesitant, but the car was a cream puff, an '02 with only 2900 miles. Carmino did a lot of searching on eBay and ended up finding this car on Auto Trader.com, it is one nice car. The original owner, was the Comptroller of Melinex Ford in the Orlando area and was great to do business with. After a few days of communications with him, we had a deal. It must have broken his heart to sell it...as he tells the story, he wanted to keep the car and his wife wanted a boat. As luck would have it, our best friends live 20 minutes away from him and were a great help in coordinating the transfer of the car - that's another story LOL. The pic you see on my page is our car parked in our friend's driveway in Florida. So, after a short (1500 miles) car transporter ride from Florida to Rhode Island, there she was in MY driveway...I tell you, I could barely speak as I pulled up after work and saw it there...So, yes dreams do come true. Now my husband is bugging me for a motorcycle...he'll have to wait a bit because I'm still not fully awake from this dream. We've owned many cars and motorcycles over the years (mostly Carmino's toys LOL)...now that I have my hands on this car, it's not going any where (God willing) and we're looking forward to meeting and sharing our experiences and good times with other TBN members who also understand and share our feelings about this beautiful American Icon...the T-Bird. Happy, safe and healthy driving to you all. Don't be afraid to dream.

[Thunderdogs]

Re: Why I purchased and LOVE my T-Bird

Great story and hope to read more stories from owners.

jerry - Houston

[FritsB]

Re: Why I purchased and LOVE my T-Bird

That is a great story Mary. Thanks for sharing.
I guess it's your turn now and buy your hubby what he wants most

[Nicky-The-Squid]

Re: Why I purchased and LOVE my T-Bird

That is a nice story Mary. Looking forward to meeting you and Carmino at some of our gatherings here in New England. Now tell us about that 55 in the avatar.

[Carmino]

Re: Why I purchased and LOVE my T-Bird

Nick, the 55 is a pic from my personal collection - YA RIGHT! only kidding. It comes from a TBN thread that someone posted about celebrities and their cars. The thread could not confirm that Elvis owned it, but someone caught a pic of him in the car. And Fritz, as for my buying Carmino what he wants, he's going to have to wait at least one more year. Carmino has done a lot of drag racing over the years and we could have purchased a flock of Birds for what we've spent on that sport...so as the song goes it's my turn...:). I do have a good Bird story to share. Carmino has been doing business with a body shop owner who owns 3 Birds, one of which is the original white Bird used in American Graphitti, the one that Suzanne Sommers rides. We'll be getting together with him in the near future and will definitely take pics of his cars and ours and will share the pics with you all. I know he has a black '55 that will be going up for sale soon, I'm going to post a pic of that one on TBN when he gets ready to sell. Keep on eye out. Mary:sun:

[1mintjulep]

Re: Why I purchased and LOVE my T-Bird

Carmino and Mary, welcome and thank you for sharing this great story! Sounds like someone's hubby is as thoughtful as mine

These personal stories are my favorite thing on the forum. I think it would be fun to have a dedicated forum topic about how members here came to love and/or find their dream Ts!

[Carmino]

Re: Why I purchased and LOVE my T-Bird

Pat, loved you're story (which inspired my story). These cars are very special and we are lucky to be able to own them. Good luck to you and your hubby and enjoy every minute of your new toy . :)

[Blue Heaven]

Re: Why I purchased and LOVE my T-Bird

Mary,
Great story! We hope to meet you and Carmino real soon at one of our New England events.

Dino

[texasbird]

Re: Why I purchased and LOVE my T-Bird

As far as back as I can remember, there's been a T-bird at our house. And this tells how I went full circle...

The first probably cost around $.29 and was purchased from the toy department of the local "five and dime." It was black plastic with red plastic interior and undercarriage, and I played with it in the dirt for hours.

Later came a stamped tin Thunderbird from Japan, that was purchased from the Christmas Toy Department at Sears, with a listing price of $3.96. It was a larger scale than the plastic one. Metallic red, white interior, rubber tires, friction motor and knobs on the rear bumper that rolled the windows up and down, and made the top disappear into the trunk. THAT one I still have in my collection and have seen them go for as much as $300. on E-Bay.

Even as a toddler, I had always been a car (and T-Bird) lover, and have later attributed that to never having a car at home when I was young. My parents had divorced and my mother didn't drive, so we either rode a taxi or hitched a ride with friends or family. I always saw having a car as our way of gaining our independence from havnig to rely on others. Our first car was the one I purchased at the age of 16.

While in high school, I had the opportunity to drive a Continental Mark IV, owned by a close friend's parents. I was sold on the long hood, ultra smooth ride, and more features located in the cockpit style dash than I had ever seen. When it came time to replace my 2nd car, I started searching for used Mark IV's in my price range. Having found one that had been quite abused, I later found my first REAL T-Bird, a 1973 model to be basically the same car as the Mark IV, with lower miles, in much better shape and at a better price than the Mark.

Kept that Thunderbird through college and until after Linda and I married. It was my daily commuter to my first full-time job after college and was finally sold with over 175K miles on the odometer, 120K of which were mine. A lot of miles for a vehicle in those days.

I had always wished for a baby-Bird, but they were always out of reach, and climbing in value faster than my income. I was never much impressed with the downsized Torino-Birds or Fox-Body models, so other cars took over my interest as time went on.

Then came the Retro-Birds. Still more than I could afford when new (let alone the dealer premiums being paid the first year), but came well within reach as they started showing up as used models. Once the search was on, the Black with Red interior was the only logical choice (remember the 29 cent toy?). Texasbird was found in Dallas through Cars.com, and has been the neatest experience ever.

Since buying her, she has helped us get to know some of the greatest people in the Dallas area through TBN, as well as create long distance relationships with folks around the globe that I may never get to meet. She draws attention wherever she goes, hardtop, soft top, or topless (still talking about the car, y'all). Like many, I don't see us selling her in the near future, and I do believe from the reactions we get when we take her out, that she and others like her will always be cherished above and beyond the everyday people movers that are out there.

James

[VABird05]

Re: Why I purchased and LOVE my T-Bird

CONGRATULATIONS, Mary. You sure came to the right site, and we're so glad you did.
Great stories, everyone!

[Carmino]

Re: Why I purchased and LOVE my T-Bird

James, I LOVE your story. Isn't it great how childhoold experiences lay the path to inevitable adult decisions. It lives on in our subconscience until we give it the opportunity to experss itself and manifest it into reality. Thanks for sharing. I hope many other share their stories of how they came to be T-Bird owners. I'm sure all owners have a special relationship with their cars, regardless of when they were introduced to it. Please share, these are great.

[Carmino]

Re: Why I purchased and LOVE my T-Bird

Thanks Marilyn...it's easy to share with such a great group. We love our car and hope to see many of you at upcoming events. Can't wait to meet everyone and make new memories.