1955 Ford Thunderbird in....TURQUOISE

[jersey-johny]

Just had to share this.... looks near mint condition, no? Georgia estate sale ongoing now.
Sometimes, when I see glorious stuff like this, I wonder what the hell happened to us?

http://tinyurl.com/yb9lt5am

 

[ea56]

A woman who is a family friend has a 55 Thunderbird just like this one with both the convertible and detachable hardtop that her parents gave her for her HS graduation in 1962. She has kept it in mint condition all these years and still drives it. I didn’t hurt that her husband is an auto mechanic.

Eddie

 

[iheartmaytag]

On i do love the birds. Only thing that would be more perfect would be a bubble top.

 

[funktionalart]

Always liked the 1st series of T-bird and sadly cannot drive one. Tall folks like me practically need to cut our legs off at the knees to get behind the wheel. The '61 Cadillac with bucket seats though....THAT one I would happily have. I used to drive a '63, so I know I will fit!

 

[rp2813]

I guess I've never paid that much attention to the dashboard on these early-birds.  I always equated the ignition to the left of the steering column with early Falcons.

 

[ea56]

Ralph

All the Ford products had the ignition switch to the left of the steering column from the early 50’s until about 63’I believe. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the starter buttons had been on the left, and when they when started to incorporate the starter into the ignition switch they thought this placement was logical since drivers were used to using their left hand to start the car.

This left hand placement was something that always interested me as a kid, because my parents never had a Ford product until 61’ when Mom got a Mercury Monterey convertible. It had the ignition switch on the left.

Eddie

 

[ea56]

Other interesting placements of the starter switches from days gone by were the mid 50’s Buicks, the starter was activated by pushing the accelerator all the way to the floor after turning the ignition key to the on position, and the early 50’s Studebaker’s, where to activate the starter, with the ignition key in the on position and the transmission in neutral, the clutch was pushed to the floor and viola, the engine started.

Eddie

 

[rp2813]

My 2003 Subaru Baja requires the clutch pedal to be firmly depressed to the floor in order for the starter to engage.  It's kind of a pain, but I'm in the habit of doing that with any manual transmission because it's less work for the starter.  It's just that with the Subaru, you have to almost stand on the pedal or it won't crank -- even though the clutch itself doesn't engage until about the last inch of upward pedal travel, which I've never gotten used to either.

 

I'm going to sell the Baja because the parking situation is really tight at the new house.  I love its versatility (this past week I hauled a 12' 4 x 4 in it) , and it's a tight and solid car without a single rattle, but I just don't have the room anymore.  The '50 GMC can do the Baja's jobs, but only on a local level, which is fine.

 

I was talking with a friend yesterday and she said she had read that a recent survey found that only 5% of drivers in the U.S. know how to drive a stick.  Unbelievable!

 

[ea56]

I had a 91 Mercury Capri Convertible and a 96 Toyota Tacoma, both with 5 sp trans.and they both required the clutch to be fully depressed or the starter wouldn’t engage when the key was turned to the start position. I think that this has been a safety requirement since the 80’s. The difference with the old Studebakers was that the starter switch was actually in the floor, under the clutch pedal, and the ignition key’s only function was to turn on the juice to the ignition, so when the switch was pressed with the clutch, the engine would start.

I think everyone should be able to drive a stick shift. Once you learn, you never forget, its like riding a bike. I first drove a stick in a 39’ Chevrolet Flatbed truck. I owned VW Bug,and those clutches were very tight and unforgiving, no play at all. And if you didn’t get it just right you killed the engine, the 39’ Chevy on the other hand was a piece of cake to shift.

The last vehicle I owned with a stick was the Tacoma, my left hip started getting bad, and driving home after work in the stop and go 101 traffic was just too much pain for me to tolerate. Now that I’ve had both hips replaced I wouldn’t mind driving a stick again at all, it can be a lot of fun.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 8/11/2018-14:27]

 

[goatfarmer]

A friend runs a repair resto shop, and redid a 55 'Bird, in the same turquoise. It was one of the first 100 built, did a beautiful job.

 

 

[lordkenmore]

I had a 91 Mercury Capri Convertible and a 96 Toyota Tacoma, both with 5 sp trans.and they both required the clutch to be fully depressed or the starter wouldn’t engage when the key was turned to the start position. I think that this has been a safety requirement since the 80’s.

 

I'm not entirely sure how much of a requirement this is. My last car was a mid 1990s VW, and while it's been a couple of years since its demise, I'm thinking there was no requirement to have the clutch pushed in. Past, of course, common sense... But it's entirely possible, too, that something broke--plenty of minor stuff was broken on that car when I got it--or the car could have been been modified.

 

 

[lordkenmore]

I was talking with a friend yesterday and she said she had read that a recent survey found that only 5% of drivers in the U.S. know how to drive a stick.

 

I could probably drive a stick...but it's more practical driving a car than a stick! LOL

 

[lordkenmore]

The last vehicle I owned with a stick was the Tacoma, my left hip started getting bad, and driving home after work in the stop and go 101 traffic was just too much pain for me to tolerate.

 

The only time I didn't like having a manual was when I sometimes did substitute newspaper delivery around 2000. The route required driving much of it--it was in a semi-rural area. My car then had a clutch that required a degree of force to work, and so my left foot (at the least) always felt the effects after doing the route. It was also plain tiresome doing the stop and go driving, while trying to deal with newspapers.


 

I only did newspaper delivery occasionally, but I think if I'd done it regularly, I might well have reconsidered my bias against automatic transmissions.

 

[ozzie908]

Confused please help

Me being from the UK where most of us learnt to drive a manual car where the gear lever was on the floor is this what you refer to a " stick shift" ? and in pic 5 of that lovely Thunderbird is it a manual or automatic as although its on the floor it looks like it only moves up and down and does it say P R N D L down the edge?

Others commenting on stop and go traffic I found it killed my arthritic hip so 6 years went to an automatic and this chap has never looked back nor will we have a manual out of choice its just so much easier without a clutch.

Austin

 

[ea56]

Austin in the US when we say “stick shift”, we mean a manual transmission, sometimes also referred to as a “standard transmission”, because many years ago most cars came with a manual transmission as standard equipment, hence the term standard transmission. You had to pay extra for an auto trans. Now, almost all cars here come with an auto trans as standard equipment.

The Thunderbird in the picture is an automatic transmission, one of the very first in the US with the control lever floor mounted.

And I’m with you, when I suffered from an arthritic left hip, driving a stick shift was murder. Now that I’ve had it replaced I think driving a stick wouldn’t be a problem.

Eddie

 

[rp2813]

I had a '97 VW Passat GLX that I loved to drive.  It had a stick.  That car didn't need the clutch depressed to start it.  I wonder if it was only certain makes that adopted such a requirement.

 

To clarify the term further, a "stick" means "four on the floor" (or these days six or more), but (steering) column shift manual transmissions were ubiquitous up until the '70s or so.  They're often referred to as "three on the tree."  They used the same "H" pattern as a stick, but it was mounted sideways and the lever was much smaller.  This is what my '50 GMC has, and youngsters have no idea how to work it.

 

I agree with Eddie about how easy it is to drive a vintage manual GM transmission.  When I tried to learn on the GMC when I was a kid, I gave up, but once I got the hang of it on my sister's stripped-down '65 Chevy Biscayne with a column shift, driving the Jimmy was completely enjoyable.  It still is.

 

Here's a stick story for you:

 

On a trip to Mexico with a friend of mine (who happened to be a Mexican citizen) in 1978, we drove from Acapulco to Ixtapa in a rented VW "Safari" (aka "Thing" here in the U.S.).  About halfway through, the "stick" detached itself.  We took turns driving and would pound on the stick to keep it in place when we needed to shift.  We later encounterd a check-point, as can appear randomly along the Mexican highways, and a group of armed Federales walked up to the car.  We really didn't want to stop because that meant going through the gears again, but we had no choice.  We removed the stick to show them what we were up against -- my friend explained in Spanish.   One of them grabbed a rock and tried to pound it back into place, and gave us the rock to use on the remainder of the trip.  When we got to Ixtapa, we located the car rental agency and walked in with stick in hand.  They gave us another Safari.  The stick stayed put on that one. 

 

The T-bird in the OP has an automatic transmission.  This floor shift automatic really came into its own on the more sporty cars in the '60s.

 

 

[wayupnorth]

I had a couple of column shifts, AKA "3 on the tree" before getting several 4 or 5 on the floor. After over owning over 40 vehicles, an automatic is all I want now days. People said I changed vehicles like most changed underwear. That T-Bird is nice, but I like my Vette better that I have owned since 1984.

 

[ea56]

I had a 71 Maverick with a 3 on the tree, but we always called any manual transmission a “stick shift” n whether the “stick” was located on the floor or the column.

I really thought that 3 on the tree was the easiest manual transmission I ever drove. The need to shift was minimal, mostly only down to 2nd to make a turn. And once, the clutch linkage broke in rush hour traffic at a red light. I had it in 1st already, with the clutch depressed, ready for a quick take off, and the light changed, I lifted my foot and the pedal stayed right where it was, but the car moved forward as I gave it gas, so I thought, what the hell, I have to get out of this traffic anyway, so when it engine sounded like I needed to shift to 2nd, I did and it did, so I just drove it the 12 miles home in the traffic, shifting without the clutch. The next day I took it to the garage and they fixed the linkage, and the transmission was no worse for the wear.

This was a basic, fun little car to drive. I drove it fo 5 years, helped me to save the money to get out of debt.

But of course it doesn’t compare to Tim’s beautiful Corvette. I’ve never had the space to own more than one vehicle. But I sure appreciate all kinds of vintage autos.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 8/11/2018-20:39]

 

[maytag85]

My '86 Cnevy Camaro Z28 has a 5 speed manual in it. I could put a automatic transmission in it if I really wanted to, but since it originally came with a 5 speed manual, that is what I am putting back in.

 

[dartman]

My first car was a 42 Ford GPW Jeep, my second was a 41 Dodge closed cab weapons carrier 1/2 ton pickup so I learned to drive a manual trans early on. The Dodge had a 4 speed crash box with absolutely no syncros and indestructible square cut gears.
You had to double clutch it to manually synchronize the gears so I learned that as well. It also had the original floor push button to engage the starter. The jeep had one too but it had been disabled and moved to a spot below the key slot that was added to pretty much all of them once they were auctioned off after the war.
The Jeep had also been converted to 12 volt, the PW was still the original 6 volt system, though most were converted to 12 volt with the 6 volt starter still in place. They never seemed to burn up and of course turned over super fast which was helpful.
I prefer a automatic these days, much less work to drive and no clutch to burn up and replace though neither vehicle needed a clutch while I had them.

 

[rp2813]

The '50 GMC has a separate starter pedal to the right of the gas pedal.  I have to be careful because with size 13 shoes, it's easy to depress the gas along with the starter, which can lead to flooding.  The starter will operate independent of the key.  It truly is an ignition switch and nothing more.  The linked video clip shows the procedure on a Chevy of similar vintage.   It sounds to me like it was upgraded from a 6 volt to a 12 volt system.  The Jimmy is still 6 volt and it doesn't crank anywhere near that fast.

 

And yeah, no syncromesh on that thing either.

 

How about those '50s cars from GM that you could start without a key?  It sure was a different world back then.

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYUBtzHTEEA

 

[ozzie908]

Maybe we should have started a new thread about vintage cars

I have to admit I do love to ask you folks questions and get an answer I can understand and I can say I recall only ever seeing one car my Father owned it was a 50's Wolsely 444 he had before a 666 which I learnt later meant it was a 4 cylinder 44 horse power and so on it was a huge black car that was shown on TV as a police vehicle with a silver bell they rang not nearly as fun as your 50's police cars. But back to the one we had it had bench seats with a armrest in the middle on which I used to sit as I was too small to see over the dash ! No need for car seats back then nor seat belts it didn't have any. When we sold the family home I cleared the garage out and found books about Wolsely's and parts which someone bought for a restoration they were doing. Dad had to sell the big black beast because Mum was learning to drive and refused to drive it because it had " 4 on a tree " as you put it lol so it was got rid of and a more boring Morris 1300 with new hydrolastic suspension in British racing green and no armrest so a cushion had to do instead Oh my how the mind remembers all this is amazing....!!!

Thank you all for clarifiying for me Austin