![]() ![]() ![]() A 3-speed Ford-O-Matic automatic transmission, Swift-Sure power brakes and Master Guide power steering were popular options in 1959. ![]() ![]() Befitting its image as a stylish personal luxury car, it features wide whitewall tires on Kelsey Hayes-style chromed wire wheels with spinners, fender skirts, chromed dual sideview mirrors, tinted glass, power windows, an AM radio with rear antenna and Magic-Aire heater. Additionally, the power-assisted braking system was improved with a dual-circuit master cylinder for increased safety. The subtly restyled 1959 model in convertible form introduced a fully automatic power top, and a new, more powerful engine option, the J-code Lincoln 430/350 HP V-8 that famously powered Johnny Beauchamp’s T-Bird racer to a photo finish with Lee Petty’s Oldsmobile at the inaugural Daytona 500.Įlegantly adorned in Casino Cream paint with a black leather bucket-seat interior and new power-operated black convertible top, this 1959 Ford Thunderbird convertible is one of 1,168 built with the J-Code 430/350 HP engine, which was upgraded during a comprehensive restoration with an Edelbrock carburetor and Mallory solid-state ignition inside a Ford distributor. Despite its introduction during the recession of 1958, sales of the new Thunderbird were more than double those of 1957. Offered in both hardtop and manual convertible form, the new Thunderbird featured stronger unibody construction, an upright, formal roofline allowing seating for four adults and considerably bolder styling. Even as Ford delivered the first new Thunderbirds to showrooms for 1955, work had begun on a radical redesign that would debut for 1958, the result of research that determined the original two-seat “Baby Birds” held limited sales potential. ![]()
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