I’ve always found the act of customising a TBird a brave task to undertake.To take a classic piece of American automotive engineering/styling and then rip into it with your oxy & cutting wheel astounds me. Not that I don’t appreciate the end result, infact – far from it (when it’s done tastefully). But where would you start?

I think I’d find it an easier task if you started out with a slightly damaged example, maybe a baby bird which had collected a little rear end bunkle while parked outside the local 7/11 & the owner was inside getting that desperately needed bottle of ‘Pepto Bismol’ for his wife who had partaken in one too many ‘Mad Men’ moments.

I don’t think David Guymon ever had these problems. I’ll let Ryan over at ‘The Jalopy Journal’ tell you the story.

This is the car Don Draper dreamt of… the 1966 Ford Thunderbird Convertible. And folks, this one is in the same condition as it left the showroom floor. Actually, that’s a lie… it’s better.
Ray has restored this baby to the best of his anally-retentive, over-achieving, fastidiously-perfectionist, capabilities.

If you owned this car, you would be constantly looking for an excuse to cruise down the highway to pick up a case of Heineken, Bombay Sapphire, or an Air Hostess or two.
Probably all of the above.

Ray will never recoup the dollars he’s spent on this restoration, but he’s asking a paltry $85,000. Never will the mechanics who worked on this regain their sanity, but records of their painstaking work will be passed on to you, and stand as a testament to one man’s obsession (he puts J. Edgar Hoover to shame).

Reluctant sale, blah, blah. Tyre-kickers and test pilots will be used as wheel chocks.

Contact Ray: Mobile 0412 727 757.

Yes, Perth Thunderbird owners. That time of year everyone has been dieting for… the annual Tbird Pancake Brekkie at the Kiosk!

Celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or fixing the radiator leak, by taking the Bird out for a run. It’s an early start, so we get the best spots in the car-park, and frankly some of us insomniacs are starving by 8am.

So come along and meet some fellow Tbird owners and chew the (bacon) fat. Rob, please Fly back from PNG - we missed you last year!

View details of the Pancake Run, and other upcoming events here

©image via JalopyJournal

While lurking on the JalopyJournal (mother site to the GarageJournal), I came across this interesting interview with the custodian of this Custom ’55 Thunderbird.

For those of you who like your Tbirds stock-standard and concourse-correct, please turn away now.

This post may be a month late (the main blog-writer has been hard to pin down) so finally, here are some pics from Perth’s annual 4th of July cruise.

The 4th July run was organised by the American Car Club of WA. Unusually for mid-winter here in Perth, the weather was gloriously sunny. A great turnout of retro metal rode the freeway to the finish post at Whiteman Park, for a show&shine Picnic.

The usual suspects attended, with a fiery red ’64 convertible taking centre stage.

See more pics in the Gallery.