One weekend in April 1987 when we were up in Big Bear, California, we were driving downtown and my wife saw this old Thunderbird on the used car lot. She had always liked the continental tire on the back and wanted her picture taken next to the car figuring that this is about as close as she would ever come to having one. About three weeks later we were back up in Big Bear again and the car was still sitting there. I suggested that we stop and ask the salesman what the price for the thunderbird was and one thing led to another and we wound up buying it and I drove it down the mountain to its new home.

The interior was shot and you could see primer in spots on the paint because it had never been repainted. The fibreglas top had cracks in it, but the car was essentially all there and the body was in decent shape. The first thing I had to do was to put power steering in it so Cindy could drive it comfortably. I wanted to redo the engine because it was tired and also redo the engine compartment. As the saying goes, if you do this part now then you should do this other part because if you don't then later on you will be overlapping your work. So to make a long story short, we had a frame-on restoration done over a period of nine months by Bob Cerritos of R.C. Restorations in Monrovia, California. He only restores the small birds and is a perfectionist.

The pea-cock blue body and white top is the original colors of the car. Our thunderbird has won over thirty trophies and is still a very nice looking classic. The picture I have sent was taken by two college students who were just starting a photography business. There company is called Light Works Photography.

We also have the original Ford accounting work copy which we obtained from back east. The original invoice cost was $ 2916.07. We are still enjoying the car and are driving it more and showing it less.

Cindy and Bill Tissot

Copyright © 1996 by Cindy & Bill Tissot

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